The Cost of Knowing
-
-
5.0 • 1 Rating
-
-
- $16.99
Publisher Description
Four starred reviews!
Dear Martin meets They Both Die at the End in this gripping, evocative novel about a Black teen who has the power to see into the future, whose life turns upside down when he foresees his younger brother’s imminent death, from the acclaimed author of SLAY.
Sixteen-year-old Alex Rufus is trying his best. He tries to be the best employee he can be at the local ice cream shop; the best boyfriend he can be to his amazing girlfriend, Talia; the best protector he can be over his little brother, Isaiah. But as much as Alex tries, he often comes up short.
It’s hard to for him to be present when every time he touches an object or person, Alex sees into its future. When he touches a scoop, he has a vision of him using it to scoop ice cream. When he touches his car, he sees it years from now, totaled and underwater. When he touches Talia, he sees them at the precipice of breaking up, and that terrifies him. Alex feels these visions are a curse, distracting him, making him anxious and unable to live an ordinary life.
And when Alex touches a photo that gives him a vision of his brother’s imminent death, everything changes.
With Alex now in a race against time, death, and circumstances, he and Isaiah must grapple with their past, their future, and what it means to be a young Black man in America in the present.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Since surviving the car accident that killed his parents four years ago, Chicagoan Alex Rufus, 16, has secretly lived with near-constant anxiety as well as a "curse"—psychic visions that show him the future of anything or anyone his palm touches. Faced with a vision of his solitary 12-year-old brother Isaiah's impending death, Alex throws himself into bridging the gap grief drove between them before time runs out. But Alex isn't the only Rufus with secrets, or with powers, and it will take both siblings, together, to tackle the curses that have ruled their young lives. Morris (Slay) delivers a searing indictment of respectability politics as seen through the eyes of two Black boys with every reason to fear the anti-Black society in which they live and in which generations of their ancestors have died. Despite some muddled worldbuilding around the Rufuses' powers, Morris succeeds in blending moments of "Black boy joy," superhuman abilities, intergenerational trauma, mental health (including a description of self-harm), and loss into a resonant story of fraternal love that first compels, then devastates, and will be remembered for a long time. Ages 12–up. Agents: Quressa Robinson and Kristin Nelson, Nelson Literary.
