Better Must Come

April 1, 2024
Jamaican teen Deja works with her uncle and his friend Mr. Wallace on his boat Gregor catching fish to make ends meet. While she learns to pilot boats, Deja also eagerly anticipates receiving American goods such as clothes, food, and treats via barrel from her mother, who is working in Brooklyn. Everything comes to a halt when Deja’s mother is robbed of all her money, an event that will have a dire impact on Deja and her siblings’ lives. As Deja struggles to figure out how she’s meant to survive now that she’s no longer a “barrel girl,” she meets Gabriel, an orphaned “gangsta boy.” When the two connect again at a party, Deja can’t deny their easy chemistry. After Deja
discovers a seemingly
abandoned boat she knows belongs to a drug dealer, she finds a man, barely alive, who urges her to deliver a money-filled briefcase to Webber—a shifty shipping agent known for illegal activities. And if she succeeds, Webber will reward her. Hall (Your Corner Dark) presents an expansive exploration of how class and privilege intersect within Jamaican culture through the eyes of teens in this intimately narrated tale told via Deja and Gabriel’s dual POVs. Ages 14–up. Agent: Faye Bender, Book Group.

May 1, 2024
Two Jamaican teens cross paths at low points in their lives, but an immediate connection and a lot of luck help them escape dangerous circumstances. When Deja's dad abandoned his family to work in Costa Rica, her mother was forced to do the same. She went to New York, leaving Deja, who's skilled with boats and fishing, to care for her two younger siblings alone. Despite not fully committing to their acts of violence and criminality, Gabriel gets caught up in a posse, or gang, right out of the orphanage. Both have financial struggles and harbor pent-up resentments without having many healthy outlets, but they have a meet-cute on the fringes of a bashment, a party in their neighborhood. This romantic and hopeful encounter gives the teens an opportunity to open up about their struggles. The nonlinear dual narration reveals how smitten both young people are and moves the story along swiftly toward Deja's pivotal discovery of a dead DEA agent and a briefcase full of money, while Gabriel navigates the likelihood of betrayal and death as he struggles to find a way out of the posse. These storylines intertwine with the unwieldy and convoluted involvement of law enforcement agents, but ultimately the two kindred spirits cut through the confusion and arrive at a neat resolution. Criminal intrigue and the unique vulnerabilities of Caribbean youth make for high-stakes hijinks with a lot of heart. (Thriller. 14-18)

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Starred review from June 1, 2024
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* While out fishing, Deja comes across a dying man who charges her with delivering half a million American dollars to a person she's never met. Deja is a "barrel girl," one of Jamaica's lucky few who receive barrels of provisions, courtesy of her mother, who immigrated to the U.S. to afford a better life for her three children. But despite the aid, Deja still can't make ends meet. So she takes the opportunity and sets forth to make the delivery for a promised reward. On the other side of town, Gabriel, a young member of a street posse, is tasked with investigating the disappearance of two fellow posse members who were supposed to exchange drugs for money--the same money Deja now has in her possession. Fate has set them on a collision course that will leave both of them forever changed. Hall showcases a Jamaica beset by poverty and corruption, a place where many try to escape their situations through crime and drug abuse. His gritty descriptions create the perfect backdrop for this tense thriller, creating a foreboding atmosphere where very few can be trusted and violence can erupt at any time. Yet he also makes sure to show it as a place where family and community are strong, instilling young people like Deja and Gabriel with intelligence and compassion. A well-plotted, taut page-turner.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.