Stand your ground

*Starred Review* Janice Johnson's 16-year-old son, Marquis, is usually well behaved. One of few African Americans at an elite preparatory school, he is a good student and has the grades to prove it. One of his few offenses, smoking a joint, has been dealt with, and now that he is no longer grounded, he takes his white girlfriend to the library. But Marquis never comes home. He has been shot to death, and the murderer, a white man, claims a stand-your-ground defense. Janice is devastated by the loss of her only child. Her husband, Tyrone, wants revenge, and in his fury, he turns to his brother, Raj, a member of the militant Brown Guardians. Meredith Spencer can't believe her husband shot a teenager. She feels bad for the family of the slain youth, but knows if she shares the secret about that night, the world of wealth and luxury she has come to know will only be a distant memory. A mother's anguish, a community divided by racial prejudice, the vilification of the victim by the press, the sickening media spin of the murderer as victim this all-too-familiar scenario has become part of our lives. Murray, winner of several African American Literary Awards for fiction, powerfully captures the nuances and tragedies engendered by stand-your-ground laws. A must-read.--Mosley, Shelley Copyright 2015 Booklist

*Starred Review* Janice Johnson's 16-year-old son, Marquis, is usually well behaved. One of few African Americans at an elite preparatory school, he is a good student and has the grades to prove it. One of his few offenses, smoking a joint, has been dealt with, and now that he is no longer grounded, he takes his white girlfriend to the library. But Marquis never comes home. He has been shot to death, and the murderer, a white man, claims a stand-your-ground defense. Janice is devastated by the loss of her only child. Her husband, Tyrone, wants revenge, and in his fury, he turns to his brother, Raj, a member of the militant Brown Guardians. Meredith Spencer can't believe her husband shot a teenager. She feels bad for the family of the slain youth, but knows if she shares the secret about that night, the world of wealth and luxury she has come to know will only be a distant memory. A mother's anguish, a community divided by racial prejudice, the vilification of the victim by the press, the sickening media spin of the murderer as victim—this all-too-familiar scenario has become part of our lives. Murray, winner of several African American Literary Awards for fiction, powerfully captures the nuances and tragedies engendered by stand-your-ground laws. A must-read. Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.

Murray (The Ex-Files; Friends & Foes) has written a tension-packed novel around the hot-buzz national topic of an unarmed black youth shot by a white male, an act then subjected to the Stand Your Ground rule as a legal defense tactic Tyrone and Janice Johnson finally feel comfortable in their 17 years of marriage and look forward to sending their son Marquis off to the University of Pennsylvania.Tragedy strikes when a white, middle-aged man guns down Marquis in a wealthy Philadelphia neighborhood, claiming Marquis "came at him." As the trial is dissected by the national media, readers will feel Janice's emotional agony as she grieves for her dead child; but they will also be drawn to Meredith, the shooter's wife, who worries about revealing what only she knows about the killing. Orbiting around the situation are the Brown Guardians, a local neighborhood watch group waiting in stealth mode for their opportunity for vengeance. VERDICT Murray's writing admirably shows the often overlooked human emotions following racial violence. At one point Janice sadly summarizes her son's death. "A white man, a black teen, a gun, a dead black teen." Although several characters come off as cartoonish, the shady legal maneuverings are totally believable and the pulled-from-the headlines storyline will captivate readers. (c) Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.