Review By Gabrielle
Brace yourself for all the feels with Rainbow Black.
Favourite Quote:
“Thoughts of blood consumed me. Time stopped having meaning, and minutes felt like hours. It disturbed me that my body could just go on while this was happening – heart still beating, lungs still breathing, all the basic biological functions going off without a hitch. That while my mind was breaking down, I could somehow still be a person.”
Goodreads Synopsis:
Lacey Bond is a thirteen-year-old girl in New Hampshire growing up in the tranquility of her hippie parents’ rural daycare center. Then the Satanic Panic hits. It’s the summer of 1990 when Lacey’s parents are handcuffed, flung into the county jail, and faced with a torrent of jaw-dropping accusations as part of a mass hysteria sweeping the nation. When a horrific murder brings Lacey to the breaking point, she makes a ruthless choice that will haunt her for decades.
This book will haunt me for the rest of my days. And I mean that in a good way (I think). Incredibly intense and atmospheric, it sucked me in and didn’t let me go. Ask anyone that lives with me and they will tell you I stomped around the house like a dark storm cloud for the three days I read this book. I was consumed by it.
If you like your books on the lighter side of the rainbow, keep scrolling friend, this is not the book for you. This book will make you sad, and it will make you angry. I can’t even tell you how many times I cried or wanted to throw things. It’s also a thinker; I had to put it down more than a few times to just sit and think.
Masterfully written, the book is described as “part murder mystery, part gay international-fugitive love story” and I suppose that is true, but nothing about the book jacket prepared me for this story. It’s categorized as a mystery/thriller, but to me it reads more like a memoir as we follow the life of Lacey Bond from her later childhood through her next twenty years. From the moment of parents’ arrest, things go sideways for Lacey and though there are some brighter spots and experiences, most of it is very dark. I will say at the end there is a welcome tiny glimmer of hope, so hang in there for that if you chose this book.
There is an underlying theme running throughout the book about the ways in which our criminal justice system fails to do what it is designed to do. It’s a topic that most of us don’t encounter or even think about in our everyday lives except as entertainment through the consumption of true crime podcasts and shows. What Maggie offers here is almost an antidote to that. Many of us have a blind faith that the system works as it’s supposed to, but through Lacey’s eyes, we see all the ways it can fail us. The systemic oppression and relentless ruthlessness that also exists. How certain people in positions of power can twist and manipulate the system towards particular outcomes. It’s a wake-up call and an alarming one at that.
Tragic and deeply moving, Rainbow Black is a worthwhile read for those looking for something that will make you cry.
Thank you, HarperCollins for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
