Review by emily_mh - Chester Keene Cracks the Code

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emily_mh 's review for:

Chester Keene Cracks the Code by Kekla Magoon

3.5

emotional lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

This wasn’t quite what I was expecting, as the focus was much more on a family and abandonment theme rather than treasure hunting and clue-solving, which was less enjoyable for me personally (I am unsure whether Magoon handled the subject matter well as I don’t have personal experience with it, but my estimation is that for the most part it was!). I do believe better choices could have been made in title, cover, and synopsis to set the right expectations for the read, although this is obviously not up to Magoon! Another element which stifled my enjoyment was the frustration I felt around Chester’s mother, regarding both how long it took her to tell Chester the truth, and that she lied so deeply in the first place. Of course we learn her reasons behind this, but that didn’t take away the frustration I felt for most of the book over these decisions.

I also struggled with the way that Chester was written as autistic-coded. I had two problems with this. The first is that in her FAQs, where Magoon is answering the question “What is really wrong with Z?” (a question about a different autistic-coded character of hers, and a phrasing she doesn’t challenge) she includes the outdated term “Asp*****’s”. If you haven’t done enough research on autistic people to know that term is offensive, and to know that considering autism as something wrong with an individual is what’s wrong, then it’s not a good idea to write an autistic-coded MC. Because it leads to my second problem with this, in that it’s poorly written representation. Chester’s autistic traits are treated as character quirks rather than disabling; they are not treated as products of an autistic brain when that is clearly what they are.

My final criticism is that I didn’t enjoy the audiobook. This isn’t a critique of the book itself of course, but a warning to audio readers. The narrator, Elijah Boothe, didn’t differentiate voice between the characters, making it hard to tell who was speaking and so interrupting the flow of my reading.

I do want to talk about what this book did well, though. I can see it being particularly helpful to MGs understanding their emotions around having a voluntarily absent parent. It could also be validating to MGs facing the prospect of a parent re-marrying and consequently gaining a new family. I particularly liked this area of the book myself. It’s kind of like reading the found family trope (when the family the MC is gaining is nice), which is undoubtedly one of my favourites. I really loved seeing Chester and Skye’s bond develop and change in really realistic ways.

Despite the focus not being on the clues as much, this plot line was a lot of fun to follow. The clues had a solid level of difficulty for the audience, and gave the plot good momentum too.

While this book may not be one I personally recommend, I am clearly in the minority as plenty of people love it. I’m still really keen to read more by Magoon, especially The Secret Library.

Rep: biracial Black MC, biracial Japanese-American SC

Content Warnings