“White Lightning” By Melissa Yi

Starting off a book with a quote by a legendary gangster will surely make your book interesting, specially when the quote is funny, and then, to top THAT, and to ensure that the expectations of the readers are high enough, follow it by a quote by Oscar Wilde on sex and power. Yes!

Well put mysteries and slowly rising tension, make this book interesting from the start and the book starts off great with Melissa Yi setting the tone to many possibilities, and none of them good, as two boys put themselves in a risky situation on what it seems like an orphanage, and we start asking ourselves what are the boys into and how are they relevant to the story as we are taken back to the present, to our main characters and the start of their little adventure on what it turns out to be a historical place for bootlegging and rumrunning called the Rumrunner’s Rest, but this place has much more mysteries and lessons for them than they might imagine.

An unexpected love triangle in a mysterious pursuit of the truth of three cases – the bones in the old chimney, who is White Lighting, and who is the ghost that Tori saw – dare us readers to ask one question above all: “how are they all connected?” while trying to figure out who is the mysterious stalker that is trying to destroy our main character’s, Hope Sze, life and why is he, or she, still trying to get into her life?

Although we are not told enough for us to grasp all that happened in the past, and in the three side-stories, we can see that there is a small progression to every plot that increases and starts making sense, little by little, not obviously, but ingrained in a plot that seems to develop in complexity as it moves forward, with questions that pile up with possibly deadly consequences, involving human-trafficking, murder and kidnapping.

We have very interesting characters with different personalities and quirks that add to the story in many ways, we have Hope, our main character, that is astute, brave and a hopeless romantic, Tucker the attention-craving fiancé, Tori, the quiet wise best-friend, and Griffin, the mysterious boyfriend of Tori, and although Hope is the main character, Tucker is the focus of the plot in the book, as he can possibly hold the link to all of the mysteries of this place, and can probably be related to the famous Gangster, Al Capone.

Melissa’s narrative is interactive, sarcastic and suggestive to the reader as she, through our narrator, Hope, asks questions of reassurance to the reader, makes ironic comments towards things and even mentally scolds herself when she does something she shouldn’t. It’s very interesting to read that, and the way it was written increased the likability of the story.

The way Melissa Yi implies things is interesting, and the usage of side-characters to move on the plot is a tactic that fit very well to this story due to the historical nature of this piece and all the circumstances and it’s super nice to see that Melissa Yi actively reminds how Black and indigenous people are unfairly treated by society in the US and Canada, and how that reflects on society as a whole, and the way she can integrate that into the story seamlessly through one of the best characters on the story.

A cool thing about this book is that it actually talks about the bootlegging period on the US, when the Prohibition was enforced, and we can see that many historical references were given here and that the author took time to explain what is bootlegging and rumrunning, how it happened, when it happened, while taking that to create a story and mix  it up a little with possibilities and lots of fiction that paint a light on part of the history of the country and of that period, and the fact that Al Capone is cited and talked about a lot in the book is something super cool.

This is a cool book for people that love quirky facts of History, and certain old periods of societies, the implications of those times, forbidden romances, alcohol, parties, ghosts and mysteries. This is a good book to spend the day reading for those who want to have fun, exercise their brains with a little complex set of mysteries while learning History.

Note: This is the book #9 in the Hope Sze Medical Mystery Series, so you want to check the others after you read this.

Pros:

• Interactive narrative that will make you engage with the book
• Cool mysteries that will keep you asking questions throughout the book
• Great characters and character interactions
• Solid personality profiles on the characters
• The activity and relevance of side-characters is impressive, it seems like everyone partakes in the action or mystery in one way or the other
• The villain keeps himself, or herself hidden for a long time
• The love triangle is cool and understandable
• The Alien Queen is cool
• The fact that most main characters are Asian, is awesome

Cons:

• None

Lesson from the book: “Know your roots”

Favourite Character: Griffin

Cover Score: 8.8/10

Book Score: 8.0/10

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