Trouble the Saints was not what I was expecting. I attribute this to the synopsis, which provides a misleading description in my opinion. It fails to mention any of the fantasy aspects of the book and the fact that Phyllis is only one of three narrators. I am torn writing this review because the concept is intriguing, and the discussions of racial injustice and oppression are important and poignant. At the same time, the world-building and plot felt poorly executed, and the writing style made this short book feel incredibly long. Each section is so different in content and quality that I will need to discuss each separately to review the book properly.

Part 1: 2 Stars
In this section, we are introduced to Phyllis (often referred to as Pea), an assassin who works for a mob boss named Victor. Phyllis is white-passing and dealing with the complications of living in two separate worlds while coming to terms with the fact that she might not want to be "Victor's Angel" anymore. This was my least favorite section of the book. The reader is immediately thrown into this world with no world-building or explanations. It felt like the author did not want the reader to understand what was happening. At first, I thought it might just be me not understanding. But after reading some reviews, I became aware that many other readers had this problem as well. Not only does the plot not make any sense, the writing is extremely dense in this portion of the book. Sadly, I believe these issues will cause quite a few people to put this book down before reaching the other sections.

Part 2: 3 Stars
Next, we have Dev, a half-Indian man who works for Victor but is also a cop and is in love with Phyllis. Thankfully, the plot becomes more interesting in this section, and the writing less dull. This allowed me to genuinely enjoy reading for the first time. We finally get a better picture of what the hands are and how they may be a gift or maybe a curse. My biggest issue with the section is the time jumps that happen with little to no warning. Sometimes I did not know if I was reading the present or the past. I also did not enjoy the relationship between Dev and Phyllis, but that is just my personal opinion.

Part 3: 4 Stars
Finally, we get Tamara's perspective, which is by far the best. It may be because her part came last, but she felt like the most well-written and genuine character I had read. Her ability of reading the cards as the Oracle was fascinating. I emphasized with her as she dealt with her internal struggles and insecurities. Her journey questioning if she is "better" than Dev and Pea or if they are all imperfect in different ways was very well written.

Averaging out these ratings, I give this book 3 stars overall. This book has important things to say and an incredible premise. Unfortunately, the dense and confusing beginning may scare readers away from what ends up being a great, impactful story.

Truly, what can I say about this book? It's unflinching, gorgeously written, deeply nuanced and deeply felt. Alaya Dawn Johnson has prose that reads like poetry, and a talent for breaking your heart.

Set in 1940s New York, TROUBLE THE SAINTS is divided into three sections that follow three different—but deeply interconnected—characters. Phyllis LeBlanc is an assassin, an angel of justice, for the biggest mob boss in the city. Devajyoti is her barkeep-informant ex-lover. Tamara is his ex-lover, and her best friend. The three of them are blessed with certain talents, believed to be God-given or its exact opposite, and the each of them must reconcile how they've made use of said talents—what true purpose those gifts might serve, and if they have done enough to deserve them. The stakes are high from the beginning, and with each section, they keep rising.

If this plot sounds confusing or vague, it's because it is. This isn't really a book with a clear end game, so I don't recommend going into it with that kind of mindset. Rather, it is a more philosophical book that meanders between the choices these three characters make, or are forced to make, and how they carry those choices with them through to their bitter end.

This book is not a happy one, as you. may have well guessed from the subject matter—the characters in this book are mobsters and assassins, who are on the darker end of morally gray, and they get the kinds of endings that one might expect from that life. Johnson doesn't pull punches about the kinds of violence that exists in this world, and moreover the kinds of violence that exists in the world in general for people who aren't white. This is a book about power and trauma, about the endless cycles of violence that people suffer—and sometimes, that they choose in order to feel like something other than the victims. This is a book about how history has a long and bloody reach, one that cannot be outrun or rejected, only embraced.

Johnson doesn't hold your hand through this novel. Her writing is incredibly immersive and opaque, with worldbuilding so tightly woven into a plot that the reader is just dropped into with no real footing. That might put some readers off, but I urge you to slow down and continue, because it is definitely worth it. I think it really captures the ways in which our cultural histories, their stories and their legacies, are so deeply embedded in how we live our lives that it can't be explained except through the act of living them.

If I could give this more than 5 stars, I would. I honestly think the comps are way off—this is not really a book for readers of Erin Morgenstern, who I also love, but is a little more fluffy in terms of the topics she tackles. Johnson has written something more gritty and raw, not to be taken lightly.

Highly recommended for fans of Catherynne M. Valente's DEATHLESS, Lara Elena Donnelly's AMBERLOUGH Dossier, Carmen Maria Machado's HER BODY AND OTHER PARTIES, or River Solomon's THE DEEP. Dark and dazzling, and full of very cool vibes. Literally could not recommend enough.

the three different POV’s on this book really grew on me and i loved the difficult choices that the characters had to make because they were people of color. i also enjoyed books that are very character driven and this one especially aligned with my tastes

This novel is set in New York after WW2 in Harlem, New York and involves a combination of gangsters, corrupt police and magic. It is split between two character POV which usually I don't particularly like, but it worked as the characters were so likable and developed well in such concise parts.

I felt that the main theme of the book was the struggles of our protagonists as they try to navigate an America that will always see them as other. The theme of race and racial prejudice was explored thoughtfully and beautifully. The theme of morality was well explored also through the thought processes of an assassin, who was not predominantly cold and disassociated, as they are often portrayed, which I found interesting and quite unique.

However, overall I am sad to say that the book was not for me. I think the trouble lay in Phyllis' account, which I found extremely confusing. I could not for the life of me work out what the “hands” and the “dreams” were, despite re-reading the first fifty pages to check I hadn't missed anything. It was eventually made clear, but it limited my enjoyment of the book up until this point and made it quite a frustrating read. I just wish this had been done earlier as from this point I could fully concentrate on the themes and characters, which I found fantastic.

I would still recommend this book for its unique exploration into legacies of trauma and racial tension and to anyone interested in experiencing a unique exploration of morality.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Two buzzwords for me that makes me want to pick up a book are grey characters and assassins - and wow, this books is filled with those.

While I struggled the first part to really understand the plot, to get the setting and to be able to, in some capacity, know what was going on - the later part of the books had my eyes read as fast as I possibly could. I read half the book in one sitting cause I couldn't put it down. Even though, I at some times, felt the book went over my head and I didn't really understand what was happening, it stills manage to left me intrigued to continue to read.

I really liked the three kind of main characters; Dev, Pea and Tamara. For me to enjoy characters I do really want them to feel human, to be gray and to have some undergoing problems. And these characters were full of those gems. Even though, I would have liked more backstory for all of them and even to get a little more understanding over how they met and what makes them who they were. I tho very much didn't understand the magic system, and I'm unsure if I even do it now even though I've finished the book.

The writing style is the thing that really keeps you continuing this book. It gripped me in a way that no other writing style has done before, and I can't wait to pick up more books by Johnson.

This book also very much deals with what it meant to be black during the upcoming of World War Two, but also handling a bit of colorism, racism and sexism. This is a book that is split up in three sections and follows a different characters thoughts - and I think that this book is built to be reread.

Reading the description of this book, it had every potential of being one I would enjoy including elements of magical realism, a historical setting, and deeper themes exploring race and equality. However from the start I couldn’t get a grasp of what the “hands” and the “dreams” were and being confused by this even at 30% of the book left a bad taste in my mouth so I couldn’t fully immerse myself into the plot. I will say the author does an excellent job giving a certain “feel” to the book through her writing and it was very reminiscent of film noir. I wasn’t invested enough to finish and felt like I was missing out on the deeper meanings behind the story and what the author was trying to accomplish in saying.

Thank you to Netgalley and Tor publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Honest Review - Have you ever listened to the track, "Sinnerman" (the Nina Simone version)? I first heard Nina's powerful and hypnotic voice singing, "O Sinnerman, where you gonna run to" as a background score in the pivotal scene of the movie, "The Thomas Crown Affair" (Pierce Brosnan as rich playboy and a daring art heist! What's not to love?) 🎶
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In case you are wondering that I have started reviewing movies or music instead of books🙈 well, that's not the case. I remembered Sinnerman when I was reading this brilliant book by Alaya Dawn Johnson because the theme of this book gravitate towards sins and sinners.🎶
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🎶🎶"Sometimes I don't know how we will survive each other. Sometimes the greatest violence you can do to another person is to love them".🎶🎶
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Some books have a great story, some have memorable characters and some like 'Trouble The Saints' have mesmerising writing. This is not a fast read. Specially in the first part, I was rereading various sentences as I savored their intricacy. Just like a melancholic melody where the ghost of the music lingers even after its ending. 🎶
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This book is divided into three parts. First part is told from the PoV of Phyllis Green a.k.a Pea, a gifted woman from Harlem who is given the gift(?) of 'hands'. There's a backstory of these gifted 'hands'. Some people (from the oppressed races) were blessed with certain dreams around puberty after which they can perform unusual things with their hands. Pea acquires uncanny marksmanship with knives and becomes an assassin for a White mob boss - Victor. Victor is a racist mobster who wants to get the power of 'hands' for himself and he manipulates Pea into killing many people just to get their 'gifts'. This part reads like a poem. There are so many subtexts and layers of meaning to each sentence. Pea realizes at last that she has misused her power and maybe her 'hands' will now turn against her. She wants a safe haven with Dev but also knows that dream of such life is ephemeral at best.🎶
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Second part details the story of Devajyoti a.k.a Dev, biracial lover of Pea. Dev is born of British mother and Hindu father who is deeply in touch with his Indian roots. Dev works for Victor and is madly in love with Pea even if he knows that this love has the power to bring him down. He also has the gift of 'hands'. His hands can detect threats. I was enthralled by the meticulous research undertaken by the author to bring the character of Dev to life in these pages. Very few books by non-Indian authors feature any character of Indian origin prominently. Apart from the stereotypical Indian, I rarely see any book where such character is pivotal to the story. Kudos to Alaya Dawn Johnson for that. 🎶
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Third part is narrated by Tamara. She is an exotic dancer at the club owned by Victor and she is an Oracle too. Her cards speak to her. Her desire for self-preservation competes with the burden which the cards foretell for her. She grapples with fate, unwilling to shoulder the guilt till she can't fight her destiny anymore.🎶
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Set in New York just at the advent of WWII, this book brings alive that era in mannerisms, prevalent racism and people's desire to get better in life. While it is a slow read, it makes up in writing. For first few pages I struggled to get the gist as it detailed dreams and numbers (a lottery system) but I think that is because I am not versed with the culture. I would be happy to read #ownvoices reviews for this as they can describe it better than me.🎶
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The first part is the most lyrical. The setting of the integrated club, Pelican which is owned by Victor provides a glimpse into the NY mob scene. The scene of how Victor snatched the reins of an already running operation from Barkley Brothers is a ruthless depiction of owning control just because "they are ni***rs in a nice suit", and the silence of Pea at her first witnessing of gruesome violence is masterfully crafted. Even with three main characters, Alaya Johnson has meticulously rendered the character of Victor and his second in command - Red Man, peeling layers of their characteristics slowly. 🎶
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This book is best enjoyed with a bottle of wine and a generous helping of R&B.🎶
Thanks to the publishers and netgalley for providing me with an eARC.

"Sometimes, the greatest violence you can do to another person is to love them." ✨
- Trouble the Saints, Alaya Dawn Johnson

Trouble the Saints is a historical fiction with magical realism elements in it. Set in pre-WWII, this book is like a film noir on paper with Alaya Dawn Johnson's brilliant and captivating writing style, plus her nuanced deeply layered characters. The setting is dark and gritty, with morally gray characters and insinuated topics that are very relevant to the present.

Some people are gifted with hands. From being lucky, highly skilled, removing memories, etc. Phyllis Green, has a talent for knives. Most, if not all, of who has gifted hands are people of color, and they are visited in their dreams by saints and bear them the heavy burden of special hands. And Phyllis wields it for a mafia boss named Victor. She takes lives because she is told it is for justice when she realizes that maybe her version of the truth was slightly skewed.

We are posed with a book with 3 main parts and point of views which the author tied in so perfectly. The story is also very heavily character driven and gives us an important discussion about morality and mortality, racism and prejudice. The hands are bestowed to people of color only and slowly they are getting killed, their hands literally taken from them. And this is such a beautiful euphemism to empower the opressed by giving them literal powers with their hands to push back from white supremacy.

But above all, Trouble the Saints is also a beautiful love story across three characters. Phyllis, Dev and Tamara are imperfect and morally gray characters who are willing to sacrifice for their loved ones. They are eager to do anything for the people around them, even if the price is too high.

Thank you to Tor Books for an advance copy of the book. Literally stole my breath away. I will definitely be watching out for more from Alaya Dawn Johnson.

This one took me much too long to get interested in that I would want for any book. The concept is interesting and the three sections by three characters is done well, but the story seems to drag and does not get interesting until the final pages. The supernatural elements are intriguing, but don't get an explanation soon enough to really have an appreciation for the purpose. Had the book been a bit more engaging in the first two sections I would give it a higher review. Relevant to the times, but not revealed in a manner that kept me interested. I wouldn't have kept reading if I didn't feel compelled to finish every book I start.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a DARC in exchange for my honest review.

Ok first off I found the authors exploration of race and racial violence to be incredibly moving. I loved how the author built a magic system around it, it made it much more impactful. On the other hand the writing for the book was all over the place. When you first start reading you are thrown into this world without a very clear idea as to what is happening, it only becomes clear about midway through. This detracted from the story. One thing I wish I had been made aware of before starting was that the book splits in 3 parts each focusing on a different character. This was really well done, but was unexpected.

Sigh. I wanted to like this so much more than I did. I'm struggling with determining a star rating for this one -

Part 1: 3 stars.
Part 2: 2 stars.
Part 3: 3 stars.
Concept: 4 stars.
Execution: ... 2 stars.

I loved the use of magic "hands" as a way to explore the legacies of exploitation of people of color through American history. The noir feeling in the beginning of the book was perfect too: I was right there in alternate history New York, wearing a trenchcoat and smoking cigarettes and referring to women "dames" and "broads" and speaking at 1.5 speed. But the book kind of lost itself as it went on. It read more like an endless short story than a novel. Morally grey characters are difficult to write in a way that is relatable and likeable, and it just didn't work for me here. I expected more depth from such a cool concept and important message. It's a very topical and powerful message, but the book itself is forgettable.


- Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for the ARC! -

DNF 30%
How disappointing...
I don’t even know how to rate this book.

The plot seemed perfect for me.
There should have been magic, an interesting historical setting, a morally gray main character - an assassine, and the underworld of New York.

Unfortunately, I could not find anything that was promised.
The assassine, does not kill anymore, which in my opinion made her lose a lot of my interest. I was also unable to connect with her and any other character.
The magic system lacks explanations or at least a few more details to understand in what it consists off and how it works.
At least in the first part, the one I read, you only know you are into an historical setting because the author keeps inserting sentences that reference what is happing in Europe at the moment the events are taking place. Which, in my opinion, it’s a bit forced. There was no real reason to put those references in, if not to remind the reader that technically they are reading a novel set in the past. However if you had a good setting you should not have to be doing so.
The writing is not bad, just plain. It did not encourage me to move forward and it did not make me want to keep reading.

I was really hoping to find something new and interesting and with those problematic characters that I love so much. Unfortunately, this was not the case.

This book wasn’t quite what I was expecting, but honestly what I got was even better.

I absolutely adore Phyllis, she’s such a great character, and think so complicated in all the right ways. And Dev and Tamara are just as well crafted. Their character arcs are absolutely fascinating and in places heart-wrenching. A particular character that I loved was actually Walter Finch (known as Red Man). Now I’m gonna be honest, at first I literally flinched because fuck… but I was glad to see that the author actually engaged with it and that Walter was a fully realized character with a backstory, and a family and in the end I really did love him.

And that world building. It’s a perfect mix of familiar with just a touch of magic. I love the concept of the hands. This is one book where the tone and atmosphere are just absolutely on point. It nails the gritty tone of a noir book, while remaining character driven at its core and having sweet moments of pause. There’s the pressing claustrophobia of the impending second world war, and the tangle of racism and trying to navigate in world that works against the characters. And then on the other hand are these quiet beautiful and poetic moments. It’s a book that absolutely captures the multi-faceted ways in which being non-white is so complicated.

Part of why I enjoyed this book so much, is that it was a little quieter than I expected. It’s the kind of book that tackles really important topics in a captivating whisper, and shares important insight into intergenerational trauma, justice, racism, the struggle of passing privilege and so much more.

I absolutely would recommend this book, it’s so much more than a book about assassins or a love story, it’s the kind of character driven book that wriggles into your head and makes you feel in powerful ways. Anyway, fully recommend.

In Trouble the Saints, the same story is being told BUT from three different POVs. Phyllis (Pea), Dev and Tamara. All have “the hands” in some form or fashion.

This story is set in New York after WW2 with the backdrop of Harlem, gangsters, crooked cops and magic...hoodoo, voodoo depending on who’s naming it. Even though the story is broken up into its separate three parts, all three of our protagonists are involved with one another in some way. We read the struggles of our protagonists as they try to make their lives as livable as possible in a America that will always see them as other. But then when you add their gifts into the fray…

Trouble the Saints is a interestingly woven story. The world building was at times a bit convoluted especially Phyllis’s part BUT I truly did enjoy the way this author set it up. What really does this story justice is the unique combination of genres our author takes. We aren’t just dealing with fantasy and historical fiction...Alaya Dawn Johnson is generous with horror and macabre here as well. With magic as the backdrop and History at its doorstep, Trouble the Saints is wonderfully enriching and I believe any lover of historical fiction with a little extra on the side will love it for what it is.

I feel really conflicted about Trouble the Saints. But I also think it's important to say off the bat: While it wasn't the book for me, I would absolutely still recommend this book for its unique exploration into legacies of trauma in BIPOC communities, and to anyone intrigued by preternatural assassins grappling with morality and mortality.

I confess that I struggled for a significant portion of the book. As soon as the first page, we're thrown into the thick of the fantastical world-building and gangster conspiracies without fanfare or context. Many times I'd drift or zone out because the words refused to cohere into any sort of plotline for me. I also found it convoluted and didn't quite understand the magic behind the hands and numbers, making hard to connect with the characters or their stakes.

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Trouble the Saints is a triptych of stories—three sections, three intertwined narrators—that presents an alternate history of New York on the cusp of WWII. It's a noir, too: gritty, dark, embedded within the city's mobster underbelly.

In this world, people of colour are occasionally bestowed strange powers called "hands" (which are indeed tied to their physical hands). Some hands parse out your darkest secrets. Some are lucky with lottery numbers. Others—like those of Dev Patil—sense threats. And the hands of Phyllis Green? Hers itch to mete out murderous justice.

The book is definitely cerebral—literary spec-fic on racial themes (very much like Stephen Graham Jones's The Only Good Indians, which I also highly recommend). And the hands themselves pose an interesting question: how are certain people blessed/cursed with these talents? From where do they arise? Why do the hands even exist?

Perhaps they are a way to empower people who have for so long been disempowered. Perhaps they will tip the scales in favour of people marginalized by white supremacy. As the story unfolds, we come to understand that the hands are indelibly tied to histories of violence and inherited trauma that Black and brown folks faced (and still face) in America. The hands, like this history, are a complicated entity that empower as much as burden their bearers.

To me, though, Trouble the Saints is above all a love story. Among a mostly hazy storyline, this stood out in sharp relief: the complex love that Phyllis, Dev, and Tamara hold for the people in their lives. Alaya Dawn Johnson's prose is so precise and perfect in these moments, it literally snatches my breath away. She writes:

"Sometimes I don’t know how we will survive each other. Sometimes the greatest violence you can do to another person is to love them."

Her characters betray, protect, endear, and hurt in equal measure. They grapple with what they are willing to sacrifice in the name of love. Sometimes the price is too high—sometimes being with someone means owning up to the ugliest truths about yourself.

"There would be no more revelations. No more holding my despised pieces to the light and finding them, improbably, precious."

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CONCLUSION: Even though I struggled with parsing meaning from an often ambiguous plot, the meaning found me anyway. That's the power of Trouble the Saints.

This is a rich, layered and nuanced book filled with flawed and memorable characters. I was engrossed from first to last.

The magical elements served to underscore the plight of people of color in this country. Although it is a historical novel, it is relevant to present day society.

I am thankful for the free ARC I received. I am leaving my honest review.

Welcome to assassins and morally grey characters galore!

Trouble the Saints is a story set in New York just as WWII begins to dawn on America. Phyllis, a notorious assassin, wants nothing more than to escape her killing life, but her past isn’t that set on letting her go just yet. Coupled with magic and a bit of supernatural, Trouble the Saints bases itself off a very interesting premise. And said premise really got me hooked!

What an epic story!!!!!! What can I say about this story? The characters are amazing! Dynamic. Realistic. And relatable. The plot was absolutely amazing! My attention was held the entire time. Twists. Turns. Suspense. I love the entire story!!!! I was sad when I finished. Amparo has an amazing story!!!!

This book--a historical novel with fantastical elements--dramatizes the psychic burden that people of color have endured in white America.

On the cusp of WWII, Phyllis, Dev, and Tamara are all employed by a white mob boss in New York who in different ways takes advantages of their powers, called (for 2 of them) "saints' hands."

The book is full of action and has a noirish feel that kept me turning the page. Assassins and exotic dancers and undercover cops! But it is also a book that expertly draws its characters, through triangulating points of view, and viscerally portrays the reality of African Americans and peoples of color.

For much of the book, the details of the "saints' hands" are obscure. One of the characters, Dev, gives a hint: the Indian Goddess Kali. I googled her, and I'm glad I did, as her mythography added a layer. The author makes sense of the supernatural elements in a series of visions in the final third of the book.

Trouble the Saints is advertised with reference to The Night Circus and The Underground Railroad. I see the comparisons, but I'd also like to highlight the book's "godmothers": Zora Neale Hurston and Nella Larsen, both Harlem writers whom the Harlem-born main character reads, and Octavia Butler, who imagined the effects of oppression transformed in Black bodies to produce a new power.

Thanks to Tor Books and NetGalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3408738169

Trouble the Saints is an ambitious novel, but one that doesn’t quite reach all of its aspirations. While I was drawn in by the glittering, dangerous world, with its blend of unearthly magics and rich historical reality, as well as by the intriguingly complex characters, the meandering, uneven pace and confusing structure left me cold until the strong ending.

The book is divided into three parts, each from a different character’s perspective, each concerned with a different character's choices and destiny, though all follow the same story. We start with Phyllis LeBlanc, Phyllis Green, Pea, as she is variously known, a world-weary assassin with saint’s hands (the fantastical element that is left unexplained for large swaths of the book, tantalizing but unsatisfied until near the end) that give her supernatural dexterity with knives, a skill she puts to use as a mob boss’s “angel of justice.” In Pea’s part of the story, we meet the other two characters who will take up the storytelling mantle eventually, namely Dev, Pea’s half-Indian erstwhile lover whose magical hands give him the ability to trace threats of danger and violence to himself or others, and Tamara, a dancer with a penchant for fortune-telling and aspirations of being the next Josephine Baker. These three, along with a few other memorable characters, wind their narrative way through Manhattan’s violent underworld, the smaller-scale but no less violent politics of small town upstate New York, and the impending doom of America’s entrance into World War II. But the winding narrative doesn’t lay out a course as easily visible or predicable as that makes it sound, and the off-kilter pacing made it hard to get a grip on the story’s bones for far too long; for example, just as I thought I could see the direction things were taking, what I thought would be the major story line was abruptly resolved, only a quarter into the book. Pea’s narrative would have been more enjoyable if it hadn’t come first, but it’s spent too much in just trying to figure out what’s going on and where we’re going from here, leaving little chance to really get to know Phyllis, the lethal angel, who's been passing for white to work for a white mob.

It’s Dev’s turn next, and his section is the messiest of the three, with jumps in time that aren’t signified quite well enough, and a sometimes overly would-be poetic voice that was a bit off-putting. By the time we get to Tamara’s story, on the other hand (pardon the pun), we’ve seen her through Pea’s and Dev’s eyes, and that may be why her character and her story are the easiest to grasp and sink into. Tamara’s character feels the most wholly drawn, her struggles and flaws the most real, shot through with a thread of cohesive characterization that Pea and Dev seem to lack. By this time, too, the stylized language feels deliciously dreamy again, as it did in Pea’s first section but not so much in Dev’s; it feels like it serves a purpose, rather than being vaguely symbol-heavy just for its own sake. By the end of Tamara’s section, which is the end of the book, I felt like I’d finally gotten a hold of what Trouble the Saints really is, and what it’s trying to do, and was far more fond of it than I’d been for the first two thirds. The ending, finally, at last, really got me in its hooks, and felt genuinely earned, satisfyingly tragic, heartbreaking and enraging all at once.

Trouble the Saints is ultimately an uneven book, both in the range of quality between its three sections and in the literal pacing of the back-and-forth plotlines, but it’s one that still has a lot of strength in it. The world is captivating, the characters are complicated and sharply drawn, and some of the narrative’s turns of phrases are legitimately exquisite. Its supernatural approach to interracial violence and oppression is both original and fascinating, and gives the whole book an electrifying muscularity despite its slippery plotting and uneven structure. It’s one I’d recommend, albeit with reservations.