A review by breesbookshelf_
Hollow Fires by Samira Ahmed

5.0

Another great read by Samira Ahmed! At this point she is definitely an auto-read author for me! This was a book that was actually based on a real life crime, which I had no idea about until I read the author’s note at the end. This book focuses on two MCs. Safiya Mirza, senior who dreams of becoming a Journalist. She loves reporting and investigating to find the truth. On the other hand we have Jawad Ali, a smart and bright 14 year old who built a cosplay jet pack that a teacher mistook for a bomb. He was then labeled a “terrorist” by the media eventually leading to him getting killed. When Safiya founds out about this she no longer trusts that the police will strive to bring justice for Jawad’s story, and since no one is taking her seriously she decided to conduct her own investigation… Jumping from the time of the incident to a year later as she interviews people from what happened we see as Safiya uses her own detective skills to figure out the truth of what happened when Jawad Ali went missing. Throughout her investigation she is guided by Jawad’s haunting voice which ultimately helps her solve the mystery. This is a story that everyone needs to reads. It explores how racism, islamophobia, and white supremacy play a role in how corrupt our society is. This is story of a young teen with much promise, who was kidnapped simply because he was an Arab American who made a jet pack for a science project and a teacher thought him to be a terrorist. It’s crazy to me because even though this is a work of fiction this type of story isn’t. I see it day after day marginalized innocent people of all different races getting killed or even murdered because of racial prejudices. This book is an ode to all of those that were innocently killed simply for existing and making someone else feel “inferior”. I loved how Samira weaved between Safiya and Jawad’s povs so we are able to see both sides of the story. Another I enjoyed was how the chapters varied from the different POVs to news articles, interviews, and blog posts etc… These things made it a much more interesting novel. As Karen M. McManus says it is a “A powerful, timely, and relentlessly compelling read.” Please please please check it out! No matter what genre you are into everyone needs to read!!