Minneapolis, MN : Carolrhoda Lab, [2014]
293 p. ; 20 cm.
In spite of the generally positive reviews for this book, I've got to give this novel a mixed review. I appreciate what G. Neri is trying to do - get inside the minds and hearts of kids involved in "knockout games" - the brutal crime of attacking a random stranger with the idea of knocking them out with one vicious blow. He tries this through the main character, Erica, who has landed in a rough area St. Louis after her parents split up. She has a talent for video editing and ends up involved with the group of high school/middle school kids who are victimizing strangers in her neighborhood with their random assaults. She especially gets in deep emotionally with Kalvin, the charismatic leader and "Knockout King" of the group.
The novel is set in St. Louis and closely parallels the real knockout game story that transpired there. Neri does a pretty good job of showing how peer pressure, boredom, and machismo create a lure for the "game" but I just never found myself drawn in to the main character's motivations. Frankly, she's kind of a repulsive character, getting off on editing videos of the attacks and even assaulting one of the victims herself.
Neri seems to want to just tell the story, and not preach a lot, which is fine. But I think what he really fails to convey is the absolute terror and life altering experience that being a victim of the knockout game would be. He tries to in the one case that goes horrifically wrong, resulting in a murder - but that is it.
I will say that the pace of the novel picks up as it goes on, especially as all of Erica's really bad decisions and actions begin to have consequences for her and those around her.
I won't be recommending it to students, but I will be curious to see and hear what students think of it if they do read it.
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