A contemporary YA mystery that’s perfect for fans of Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, and Jason Reynolds.
PLAY THE GAME
by Charlene Allen
Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins, January 2022
Four months after his unarmed friend Ed was shot and killed by a white man in a Brooklyn parking lot, VZ doesn’t know what he wants to do or what he believes. He’s got some kind of feelings for Diamond, the cute girl at work, and he might want to finish the video game that Ed designed and enter it into a contest that Ed was determined to win. Go to protests about Ed’s murder? Nah, that’s his friend Jackson’s thing. But when Singer, the man who killed Ed, ends up dead—in the exact same spot that Ed was shot—VZ has to step up, because Jackson is the cops’ number one suspect.
Everywhere VZ turns, evidence points to Jackson as Singer’s killer. But Jackson didn’t do it, right? As the video game pulls VZ into Ed’s quirky private world, the murder investigation sends him through hostile Brooklyn neighborhoods and deep into a world of crime. Can VZ play both games and do right by his friends? And will he figure out what to believe?
A story about teenagers who have every reason to not trust the system, Charlene Allen’s powerful debut novel is both a compelling mystery and a celebration of Black male friendship.
Charlene Allen received her MFA from the New School Creative Writing Program in 2018, and she was named a top ten finalist in the Tennessee Williams Literary Fiction Contest judged by Michael Cunningham. An attorney in Brooklyn, Charlene is an activist for criminal justice reform and an advocate for restorative justice. The people she’s met through this work have profoundly influenced her writing.
After the events of 
Robert Mazur spent years undercover infiltrating the Medellín Cartel’s criminal hierarchy. The dirty bankers and businessmen he befriended – some of whom still shape power across the globe – knew him as Bob Musella, a wealthy, mob-connected big shot living the good life. Together they partied in $1,000-per-night hotel suites, drank bottles of the world’s finest champagne, drove Rolls-Royce convertibles, and flew in private jets. But under Mazur’s Armani suits and in his Renwick briefcase, recorders whirred silently, capturing the damning evidence of their crimes.
La société de production A24 a acquis aux enchères les droits audiovisuels du roman MEMORIAL de Bryan Washington, paru hier chez Riverhead Press aux Etats-Unis et déjà acclamé par la critique. Scott Rudin et Eli Bush produiront l’adaptation pour A24, avec qui ils ont déjà produit Uncut Gems, Ex Machina, Lady Bird, Eighth Grade, et First Cow. C’est l’auteur lui-même qui écrira le scénario.
Catalina Quiroga is a Condesa without a country. She’s lost the Inkasisa throne, the loyalty of her people, and her best friend. Banished to the perilous Yanu Jungle, Catalina knows her chances of survival are slim, but that won’t stop her from trying to escape. Her duty is to rule. While running for her life, Catalina is rescued by Manuel, the son of her former general who has spent years searching for allies. With his help, Catalina could find the city of gold that’s home to the fierce Illari people and strike a deal with them for an army to retake her throne. But the elusive Illari are fighting a battle of their own―a mysterious blight is corrupting the jungle, laying waste to everything they hold dear. As a seer, Catalina should be able to help, but her ability to read the future in the stars is as feeble as her survival instincts. While searching for the Illari, Catalina must reckon with her duty and her heart to find her true calling, which is key to stopping the corruption before it destroys the jungle completely.