Reviews

Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley

desireeslibrary's review against another edition

5.0

the fact that this is based on a real-life Oakland PD scandal is appalling. that being said this was beautiful.

bookscoffeehayley's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley was my pick for this month for my IRL bookclub hosted by the amazing @backstagebookreview 

 

Mottley writes a deeply heart-wrenching and extremely realistic fictional story based on true events from the mid 2010s Oakland. This was such an incredible read. I mostly listened to the audiobook, read by one of my fave narrators Joniece Abbott-Pratt, and she does such a great job. 

 

Mottley began writing this debut novel when she was only 17! I’m excited to read more of Leila Mottley’s writing! 

cindy_freez's review against another edition

5.0

Nightcrawling hit my radar when novelist Ruth Ozeki, winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction praised Leila Mottley for her debut novel during her acceptance speech. The premise for this book picqued my interest because I’m from the East Bay Area and worked in Oakland. Little did I know that this would be one of the best written books I’ve read this year. Mottley wrote this novel as a teenager living in Oakland and was inspired by an investigation surrounding corruption within the Oakland Police Department and a teenaged sex worker.

This novel contains themes of survival, poverty, sexual violence, prostitution, drug addiction, abandonment and police corruption. This may not be for everyone. This first-person narration by Kiara (Kia) is so real and invokes empathy in the reader, but it is also heavy. Seventeen year old Kiara lives at the Regal-Hi apartments in Oakland with her brother Marcus and takes care of nine year old Trevor who was abandoned by his crackhead mother. Behind on their rent and Marcus not working to focus on his music aspirations, Kiara finds herself in a situation where she gets paid after a drunken sexual encounter. Desperate to keep a roof over their heads and feed Trevor, she starts Nightcrawling, or prostitution. She gets entangled with police officers who continually take advantage of her and threaten to arrest her and her brother if she exposes them. Kiara gets knee-deep in a police investigation surrounding these involved officers, and when Marcus gets arrested, Kiara has to make a decision that could set him free.

Even though this novel takes on heavy themes, the use of lush language and poetry are richly evident in the writing. It’s exquisite! I see this as a love letter to Oakland and gives a voice to black women who are exploited every day.

sinnie's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

rubius_pepperwood's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

beet_queen's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

elisahjn's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

octopie89's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

embersthebold's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

watson_my_shelf's review against another edition

4.5

 

In my opinion, Nightcrawling is a book that is hard to read but is important to read. This book is based on a true story of an Oakland, California (the setting of the book) case involving an underage sex worker, 28 officers, and sex trafficking. Nightcrawling focuses on the point of view of the character based on the sex worker, of the voice we don’t usually hear. The book is very well written and will keep you interested. I found it hard to read at times because I know the raw descriptions of poverty, hunger, exploitation, drug abuse, and systemic racism are very accurate. 

Throughout this story, we see how many people in Kiara’s life have disappointed her. Her parents, her brother, and her extended family. One of the beautiful things about the story is we get to see Kiara fight for her found family and fight for survival. The reader gets to see Kiara find herself in a way as she enters adulthood. We also get to see glimpses of joy in Kiara’s life in her relationship with her neighbor-turned-sorta-son Trevor and her more-than-friend BFF.