Reviews with content warning for Rape - Nightcrawling

Dark, gritty and real, Mottley captures the reality of the 2015 Oakland police department sex explotation scandal from the viewpoint of a girl in the middle trying her best to survive. A truly horrific reality but Mottley gives a voice to the survivors through her fictional character of Kiara.

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h_eliz's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

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devmin's review against another edition

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dark emotional

Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

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tuesdaymendoza's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative tense medium-paced

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

5.0

There are certain books that transcend the transaction of purchasing a book to read into feeling like you’re getting away with something by having access to something so well-written.

For a novel that she began at 17 years old, Nightcrawling is brilliant. Leila Mottley has a wonderful writing style that shares an incredible story intentionally. She plays with using descriptive imagery and cold factual phrases so the reader can experience the intensity, detachment, and jaded nature that Kiara, and those around her, use to survive.

For a first time reader, I’d say to take note of the following: fingers, shit pool/water, colors throughout the book, the relationship to emotions the characters have, and the dynamics Kiara has with Trevor vs her own brother.

Some ways Mottley puts the reader into Kiara’s world:

“This morning is different. The way Dee’s laugh swirls upward into a high-pitched sort of scream before it wanders into her bellow.”

“Alejandra’s hair is silky and black, spilling from the bun on top of her head. Her skin is oily, slick with the sweat of the kitchen she has spent the past twenty minutes in.”

“Funeral day is a reckoning, when we mimic thieves and really just find excuses for our tears, then light up, eat until we have never felt fuller, and find somewhere to dance. Funeral day is the culmination of all our past selves, when we hold our own memorials for people we never buried right. The funeral always ends, though, and we all gotta get back to the hustle.”

Overall, fantastic!

Content Warnings

murve's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

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