A review by bookishchef
Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Damn, this kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. 

I read the Get Out comparison and somehow I still didn't expect ALL of the white people to be in on it. 
I kept assuming it was either Jamie, Jack or Belle (in that order from most likely to least). So when the answer turned out to be "yes, and also all of the other characters", I was shook.
 

I really enjoyed the ride though, even though I thought the final plottwist
(with the news outlet being evil and the school going up in flames)
was a tad predictable.
The entire time while Terell and Chiamaka were chatting about breaking the story to the news, I was very sceptical. It felt so dumb? Especially after all they'd been through and the Belle revealing there were way more people in on it.
 

There are also still some things that puzzle me:
 

1. Was Scotty in on it too? If so, he's a damn good actor if he convinced both Devon and Chiamaka that he didn't do it. His storyline got dropped halfway through the book so we never really got a resolution there. 

2. What happened to Belle? She told Chiamaka what was happening and I don't assume that her family took kindly to that. 

3. How did Devon end up the way he did? We get a little bit of an answer to that in the prologue, which shows that he's living with Terell and his mother but... How? He obviously wasn't getting into Juilliard and he dropped out. Yet the epilogue letter calls him "professor". So what did he do? How did he manage? 

4. What happened to Andre? Is he still serving time? Am I not supposed to care? 

5. Why did Devon's mom hide his father's death from him? It is said in the epilogue that Devon and his mother weren't on speaking terms for a while after he confronted her... And then what? How did that conversation go? This subplot feels unfinished now. 

6. Was Peter the Hacker in on it too? If so, why did he help Chiamaka by revealing what pc the messages were send from? Why did he ask her to put in a good word for him with Belle if he knew Belle's family was in on it too? 
And if he wasn't in on it, how did Aces expect the black students to not (accidentally) ask one of the students that wasn't in Aces for help? 
 

I also have a minor headcanon/conspiracy:
 

We're told by a news anchor that the fire that burns down Niveus was caused by electrical issues. Which seems fair because those issues were mentioned many times before. 
Only I thought those issues were just Aces manipulating the cameras, etc. With how it was set up, I assumed Jamie burned down the library. He was set up as a pyromaniac early on, and then threatened Chiamaka with his lighter. So, when she left him, angry and alone, in the library with his lighter, I assumed he was the cause of the fire. 

Which he may still have been. After all, the book tells the reader many times that the media covers up white crimes all the time. But Jamie, according to the news broadcast, died in the fire. So that would mean he burned down the school without giving himself an escape? Or was he really that upset about being attracted to/friends with a black girl? I guess we'll never know. So, headcanon land it is.
 
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