Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. But the uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend, Khalil, at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.

Soon Khalil’s death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Others are taking to the streets to protest in his name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. But what everyone wants to know is: What really went down that night? The only person alive who can answer that is Starr, and what she does—or does not—say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.

Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, Angie Thomas’s searing debut about an ordinary girl in extraordinary circumstances addresses issues of racism and police violence with intelligence, heart, and unflinching honesty.