Invisible Son by Kim Johnson is a young adult thriller that tells the story of Andre Jackson, a teenager who is wrongly accused of a crime. After spending six months in juvenile detention, Andre returns home to a world that has been changed by a pandemic. He is determined to clear his name and win back his girlfriend, but he faces many challenges along the way.

The book has been praised for its social justice themes and its portrayal of the Black experience in America. It is a fast-paced and suspenseful read that will keep you guessing until the very end.

Invisible Son by Kim Johnson is a story about a kid who goes away to a juvenile detention center for a crime he didn’t do. On top of that he is released at a time that coronavirus is spreading throughout the world.

This book touched my soul in such a way that is so hard to describe. I could feel the pain and the suffering of the characters as I still remember when the virus was spreading and we didn’t understand what was going on. I remember the protest against the police of what happened to George Floyd. This book was an A+ read!

Thank you Netgalley and Random house for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book offers so much - truth, hope, and an amazing sense of how does one recreate their lives after a wrongful conviction?
Andre's conviction is overturned - finally proven innocent in the eyes of the court, he must now convince his community. Piecing his life together, tracking down his friends during Covid. Claustrophobia plays a huge role - almost a character of itself.
So well done.

Kim Johnson is a master at portraying the complex ways society and individuals deny personhood to people of color. It affects the court system, at the community level, in healthcare. And there was no point in our shared recent history where that was more evident than in 2020.

Andre is a relatable protagonist because he just wants to be a good kid, but is faced with circumstances where no one around him believes that. Andre, Sierra, Boogie, and so many of the characters here are interesting and sympathetic, and there are so many important discussions here.

Despite the intense subject matter (while dealing with the pandemic and BLM movement from 2020, there are also discussions of transracial adoption, child abuse, sexual assault, and gentrification), it doesn’t hit as hard as This is My America. It’s a good book, but doesn’t transcend to greatness.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

"Invisible Son" by Kim Johnson is a gripping and thought-provoking thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. I was captivated by Dre's journey to reclaim his identity and solve the mystery of his wrongful incarceration, all while navigating the complexities of family, friendship, and first love.

From the moment I started reading, I found myself rooting for Dre, the resilient and determined protagonist. Johnson's writing is so realistic that I felt like I was watching a True Crime documentary, completely immersed in Dre's quest for justice. The incorporation of the COVID-19 pandemic added an extra layer of realism to the story, shedding light on issues of systemic racism and the disproportionate impact on communities of color.

One of the standout aspects of the book is its exploration of complex social issues, including wrongful incarceration, the juvie system, and gentrification. Johnson tackles these topics with thoughtfulness and fearlessness, sparking important conversations about race and justice.

Despite the weighty themes, "Invisible Son" is also a story about personal relationships and the power of resilience. Dre's journey is not only about seeking truth and justice but also about navigating the complexities of family dynamics and decoding mixed signals from his crush.

Overall, "Invisible Son" is an engaging and mysterious thriller that will leave you wanting more. Johnson's masterful storytelling and compelling characters make this book a must-read for anyone seeking an immersive and thought-provoking literary experience.

Let me first say that the cover is an artistic masterpiece! Classic tale of a young black boy accused of a crime and sent to juvie. Saddens me due to the school to prison pipeline for our boys of color but it's an unfortunate reality. Bound to the code of not snitching, Andre doesn't. He resolves to make some changes in his life amid the COVID pandemic at the same time trying to prove he's innocent. The ending was amazing! I enjoyed this book.

3.5 stars rounded up. I would be lying if I didn’t say that the author’s note, the playlist, and the ending didn’t influence my rating. This book was written very well, the story was interesting, and the characters were like able.

This is a story that needed to be told. The trauma of 2020 and the deep depression that a lot of us including myself experienced. Some of the things and topics in this story made me have flashbacks and a visceral reaction.

The ending honestly blew my mind and i can’t honestly say it made me wish I would have focused more in the middle of the book.

The book started off very good but somewhere between 30-75% it was very repetitive and the focus on the pandemic was so tiring. The constant reading about the masks, social distancing, and Covid talk was so tiring and bogged down. I do wish that part was not so much.

Overall it was a good read. I would love to read more from this author.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for gifting me an advanced reader copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review and opinion.

Thank you @prhaudio and author @kcjohnsonwrites for this book in exchange for my honest review.

I had the opportunity to meet Kim Johnson when the community college I work for read This is my America as our community read a few years ago. She is amazing and I loved hearing her talk about her writing process and how she develops her characters.

Invisible Son is her second book and is just as good if not better than her previous book. Her writing style flows easily and the way she weaves complexity into both the story and characters is top notch. She has the ability to hook me from the start and fully immerse me in the story. I literally can’t put her books down or in this case hit the pause button.

She’s definitely an #autobuyauthor for me and I can’t wait to read her next book!

This took me 3 tries to get into. After living through 2020, this felt like just a repeat of life in America that year. We see Andre's experience with social distancing, masking, and loved ones falling ill with COVID-19. Andre talks about videos of George Floyd, the death of Breonna Taylor ("We aren't safe in our homes, we aren't safe anywhere"), and attending BLM protests. This is all handled well, I just struggled with it having lived through the hell of 2020 myself.

Through all this, Andre is trying to prove his innocence as yet another young black teen charged with a crime he did not commit. Secrets are revealed along the way, and the mystery element of the book was very well done and finally hooked me later in the story.

If I hadn't lived through the hell of 2020 myself, I would have liked this book much more.

It's hard for me to even know where to start with this review. This was one of my favorite books of the year, and it reached that pinnacle with such well-crafted, subtle, unassuming prose and richly formed characters that tug at your heart. This is the first book I've read that incorporates the pandemic into its story -- in fact, it's front and center -- in a way that truly captured everything that the pandemic was for so many people -- the uncertainty, the fear, the surreality, the anger, the bizarreness, the unfairness... I could go on and on. I strongly feel that people in the U.S. have not even begun to reckon with or process the gaping psychic wound that the COVID-19 pandemic left us with, much less the necessary but painful racial reckoning that came with it, but this is the first book I've read that even attempts to help with that processing, and it's a wonderful, successful, valiant attempt at that. I felt the pain of the protagonist as he searches for answers, and I appreciated how real and accurate the portrayals of all aspects of the pandemic and how it progressed were. I reported on the pandemic as it was happening, so I'm deeply intimate with the timeline of events and the emotions that accompanied each new even in that timeline, and I was astounded at how well the author captured all of it without skipping over parts or feelings or trivializing the uncertainty and fear. She also portrays the complexities of race relations accurately and fairly, and she clearly knew the history of Portland and expertly weaved in that knowledge into the narrative such that the setting became a character as well. I will be recommending this book to everyone I can.

Kim Johnson could write down her bedtime routine and I’d read it happily. She just knows how to suck you in to a story.

Kim Johnson writes amazing contemporary fiction with mystery elements. The only other author who is writing this genre to the same caliber as Johnson is Angeline Boulley--and I highly recommend them both!

This book faces the issues of wrongful incarceration, the juvie system, and the systemic racism against Black people and people of color with so much thought and fearlessness. Invisible Son is also set during the COVID-19 pandemic. I hadn't read a pandemic book yet and was honestly avoiding them. I didn't know the pandemic would be a major factor in this book, but it was flawlessly incorporated and the issues it brought up (like POC being affected more than white people) were integrated perfectly.

But don't get it twisted--this book is engaging and mysterious and lovely. Our main character, Andre, deals with complicated family dynamics which are exacerbated by his parole, he's trying to figure out what happened to one of his best friends while he was in juvie, and he's trying to decode the mixed signals from his crush. I adored the personal relationships in this book and the mystery element as well.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

Take an already difficult situation - a kid released from Juvenile Hall trying to make things right with his family - and add in the complications of COVID and a missing neighbor. It's a bit too much. The plot is disjointed to the detriment of all three major plot lines. Too scattered and doesn't give characters enough development.

INVISIBLE SON was an excellent, tough, emotional book, one that pushed aside other entertainments and obligations, one that I had to finish before bed because Andre and others felt so real, so courageous, and I cared about them.
The dealings with police, the implications of COVID, and the scenes of BLM protests in Portland were intense, like being there, angry and scared and determined to set things right. This is an important book, one I’d include in high school curriculum and in every library.

Accused of a crime he didn't commit!

17yo Andre returns to his home in Portland, Oregon feeling angry, confused and disgruntled after serving two months in a juvenile detention center for something he didn’t do. He also has to adjust to pandemic life because everything seems to have changed. Andre was framed for robberies when someone placed a backpack of stolen items in his locker and that’s the evidence that sent him away. He has an idea of who did it and he wants to know the truth. When his friend Eric goes missing, the danger builds and secrets are revealed as Andre tries to find his friend and get justice.

Likes/dislikes: The chapter titles are fun since they’re named after songs. The history of our country’s turmoil during the pandemic is represented well. I enjoyed the book and read it straight through. The story reminds me a bit of The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, because of the harsh reality brought to life, but with less swearing.
Language: R for 45 swears and 4 f-words.
Mature Content: PG-13 for underage smoking and the mention of underage drinking.
Violence: PG-13 for mention of attempted murder suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning.
Ethnicity: Ethnicity is predominantly white with the Black main characters of Andre, Sierra and Eric. Luis is Mexican American.

As the blurb promises, this is a book about being a young Black man in America. There is the injustice Andre faces when he is accused of and held responsible for something he didn't do. The book also touches on the protests following George Floyd's death, the effects of Covid on people, and the importance of family and community. The author does a good job with the main character and many of the secondary characters as well. I thought the mystery aspect of the book was good and I was quite surprised by the ending!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a free e-ARC of this book.

OOF this actually brought back a LOT of early 2020 bad feelings

We start the book in February 2020, as Andre is getting released from juvenile detention. He's to be on house arrest for the foreseeable future. He and his parents live with his grandparents.

The timeline the book follows is the true "historical" (it was literally 3 years ago but still it's like, chronologically accurate) timeline of 2020. In March, things start to get iffy and by mid-March school is closed indefinitely. Andre and his family deal with skirting COVID then with having COVID - his mom is a nurse and his dad is a small business owner so like, it's so prevalent in his house, not that it wasn't prevalent in ALL our houses, but between his parents' jobs and his grandparents' ages and health status, his household is like THE example household to show what things were like in the early days of the pandemic. His mom moves in with a coworker, in order to prevent the family from being contaminated, and his dad shifts his bookstore to online orders and store pickups, but worries about the fate of the shop.

That's until May 2020, when George Floyd is killed by police, and protests begin. There's an influx of "new" BLM "supporters" who flock to support Black businesses, like Andre's dad's store. I think the author is very good at invoking these memories from a lens that, obviously, I didn't see them through.

Andre's got a mystery going on that he's trying to solve as well - he was framed for his crime that landed him in trouble in the first place. His neighbor and friend, Eric, was one of the ones doing the stealing, but Andre hasn't seen him since being back. In fact, his family says that Eric ran away almost immediately after Andre went away. Andre just can't fully grasp that Eric would just disappear, and feels pretty betrayed by his allowance of Andre to do the time, so he has plenty of reason to want to find Eric, but he also just misses his friend.

Andre's got a burgeoning romance with Eric's sister, Sierra, to deal with, all his family issues, the mystery of Eric, his social worker guys on his case, and all this is on top of the crushing loneliness that quarantine brings. He was already GOING to be in the house, with his house arrest, but he still had hours that he would have been allowed out of the house. Now he sits in the house, confronted with the racial injustice not only behind George Floyd's murder and systemic police brutality and inequality, but the way that Black households and other households of color are disproportionally affected by the COVID pandemic.

There's just a lot to think about in this book, and being a little removed from the early days of the pandemic, it's interesting to have a way to look back at it all from a teen's perspective. I teared up a few times just because it's actually been kind of easy to block out how scary and uncertain things were back then. And things were scary and uncertain for ME, a white adult woman with a steady household income and the general privilege of mostly just being bored and having a bad sleep schedule while we were staying at home. Seeing what teens were feeling as their school schedules were disrupted and their loved ones were threatened and, for Black teens, their worth as humans was debated and tokenized... yeah, I'd say this was a very grounding book for sure.

I guess I didn't love the ending of the mystery. I just... didn't care that much? Maybe I was too caught up in my own feelings about the era lol but yeah idk I can see how people would get sucked in by that aspect though!!

I also think since it's fairly recent subject matter, and from a relative point of view, that this is a great suggestion for reluctant readers, especially boys.

[3.5 stars]

I loved Kim Johnson's debut YA novel, This is My America, but her sophomore novel didn't live up to her debut. A teenager (Andre) gets out of juvie at the beginning of COVID for a crime he didn’t commit. School is shut down, but Andre is looking forward to resuming his relationship with the Whitaker family. He has a crush on Sierra Whitaker and her brother, Eric, has disappeared. Andre believes that figuring out what happened to Eric will help him prove his own innocence in the crime he was arrested for. This wasn’t a flat out failure for me, it was a bit uneven and I started to lose interest towards the end (I was skimming by 80%). The strength of this book is Johnson’s portrayal of what it’s like to live in fear…for your life & of violating your probation. And, what it feels like for a Black man to encounter the suddenly super anti-racist white people that became very vocal after George Floyd’s murder. But, the COVID setting felt overwhelming in the second half and I felt disconnected reading a story that did not incorporate the hindsight knowledge we now have about COVID. I also didn't buy some of the teenagers' character twists and was frustrated by some of the rash and self-sabotaging decisions the teenagers made towards the end of the book. Finally, at 400+ pages, it could've used some additional editing.