INVISIBLE SON by Kim Johnson

Published by Random House Books for Young Readers, June 27, 2023

Probably the best YA novel I read in 2023, INVISIBLE SON may sound familiar. It was highly recommended by fellow blogger, Laura Fineberg Cooper, in her Writers’ Rumpus post of November 21, 2023, and appropriately so.

Set in 2020, we all lived the truths that threatened Andre Jackson.

A seventeen-year-old black youth from Portland, Oregon is wrongfully sentenced to juvenile detention for petty theft.  As the story opens, Andre is headed home, having been released after only two months, into a program offering restitution to promising youth. 

What’s worse, being held in detention or coming home to find your parents aren’t there to greet you? Andre understands his mother’s shift at the hospital, but Dad owns his own bookshop, he could have stepped out. Andre must win back the trust of his family, his teachers, his employer, and his neighbors – all except the Whitakers, the multi-racial family of five kids who have always been welcoming to Andre. And as excited as Andre is to see his crush, Sierra Whitaker, smiling at him from their home across the street, it is her twin brother, Eric, who Andre most wants to talk to.

Eric is his best friend. Eric knows the truth of that night last January when Andre’s life turned upside down. Andre doesn’t know why Eric hasn’t spoken in Andre’s defense. What he does know is that Andre didn’t tell anyone about Eric’s involvement even though that truth might have kept him out of detention. Andre and Eric will figure out how to fix this now that Andre is home. The only problem is Eric went missing the day Andre was arrested.

Eric and Sierra’s parents say Eric had had enough of their strict rules, and at almost eighteen decided to pursue his own life plan. Andre and Sierra know that Eric never would have left Sierra behind.

Andre not only has to prove his own innocence, but he also has to find Eric. Difficult tasks to begin with are become nearly impossible when school is cancelled due to COVID, his grandfather is in the hospital and there is no visitation, his mother won’t live at home because she is exposed to COVID cases every day, his original probation officer doesn’t believe in him and wants him back in custody, George Floyd is killed by arresting police officers in Detroit, and Black Lives Matter protests erupt and turn violent in Portland, Oregon, Andre’s home.

At first, I questioned this being marketed as a Social Justice Thriller and yet I had a hard time putting the book down. Not as dark and scary as I generally define a thriller, this novel creates plenty of suspense to keep you engaged. You will find yourself rooting for Andre and his friends as they face tense and dangerous events.

Kim Johnson is an award-winning novelist for her debut novel This is My America, Random House, 2020. Her third novel, The Color of a Lie, is due out in June, 2024.