A novel about six Muslim teens who are wrongly accused of perpetuating a terrorist attack on a beach. This mostly follows their interrogations, trial, and quest to find the truth.

This gave me serious Central Park Five vibes. It was such a tragic story Shukairy told and even though fictional, I could definitely see this being reality. It definitely is a heavy book and you won’t feel great emotionally at the end. However, it is worth a read I think as it does a great job exploring the biases in our justice system.

I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Six Truths and a Lie is a young adult novel about six Muslim teenagers who are accused and arrested for an act of terrorism near Los Angeles, California. Early on, we come to understand that they were all in the wrong place at the wrong time, only on the beach for a fourth of July Muslim student party. The six teenagers don't really know each other, but find their fates intertwined. But how do you do the right thing when your parents and lawyer want you to save yourself?

It took me a little bit to get invested in the story. There being so many perspectives and backstories it was tough to keep them straight at first. The teenagers are all very different, with varied backgrounds and aspirations. I especially liked Abdulahi and their sensitive, thoughtful nature. They were all very well drawn and you could see how they navigate their parents' expectations, religion, and being a teenager.

It's rightly enraging to read. You feel like you're being gaslit by the authorities, just like the teenagers are. Because they're accused of terrorism, they aren't given basic rights you would expect. It was heartbreaking to read, they were all so optimistic at first, that things would be straightened out. You understand that even if they are exonerated, what will happen to them? Can they still live normal lives? How do their families go on while struggling with this?

Shukairy does a fantastic job ratcheting up the tension. Once I was about a third of the way in, I was hooked, and wanted to find out what would happen to the Independence Day Six. I listened to the audiobook, which is well-narrated, though I wish there were more narrators. I think additional narrators could have helped me differentiate the characters.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC. All thoughts are my own.

5 Reasons to Read

Mystery

A Lie, A Truth, and a Lawyer. Six teens in the wrong place at the wrong time end up in a jail cell together with only one thing in common. They’re all Palestinian, Asian, or Muslim. They’ve been accused of a terrorist attack that uncovers a murder. They may not be directly involved or suspected of the murder itself but one of them has to know something. Each person had a reason to be on that beach but what is a lie and what is a truth? All you know is that all need a lawyer because this mystery is bigger than it looks on the surface.

Secrets

Which secrets will be worth the cost of freedom? Each person saw something or someone. Each are connected in a roundabout way. It’s going to take unraveling the secrets each of them holds to determine what really happened.

Multiple POV’s

Six strangers with something to hide and everything to lose. This book is told from the perspective of six teens. Although it sounds overwhelming, the author did an amazing job of connecting and intertwining each story in a way that is far from confusing. Each POV had a distinctive voice, and you always knew whose head you were in from chapter to chapter.

Explores themes of Unity and Division

A political game that will pit them against one another. This book is powerful and important. It puts a magnifying glass on how a person’s race leads to false accusations and the way society responds to it felt realistic. Not only did the teens come together to try to clear their names but the community rose up to fight the injustice.

A timely and harrowing examination of Americas justice system

This was tough read, especially after the teens are arrested. The way they were treated made me sick to my stomach and it was because I believed it. The detailed descriptions of how the women especially were treated by authorities in the detention center makes you feel every emotion they were feeling. I had to remind myself it’s a fictional character in a fictional book by Shukairy’s writing made it feel real. This book shines a huge light on just how broken the American Justice system is and how those who are supposed to be “Innocent until proven guilty” are just guilty.

I really wanted to like this book, and while the beginning caught my attention, unfortunately with all the different voices, it became challenging to follow the story and individual characters' journeys.

Wow! This book is amazing. It shows a different perspective of the results of big corporations laying the blame on innocent people, in this case teens. Prejudices make it easy for these teens to be convicted without real evidence or even being treated fairly under the law. A definite must read.

Follow along on this emotional mystery. It is both an easy read and an engaging story. The short chapters help to make it easier to read in spurts. It does feature some heavy topics such as racism. In a nutshell, six Muslim teens are falsely accused of a terrorist attack. I’m a fan of dual POV’s and will readily admit six POV’s blew me away – such a great way to tell this story! The story starts with a bang and then returns to a normal pace as we learn about the kids and everything they are going through. I do recommend this book.

Highlights:
✨Six teen MCs - The main characters in the story are all Muslims. However, as Shukairy develops the characters, she points out the diversity within their ethnicity. I enjoyed all their backstories, along with their hopes and dreams for the future. With six POVs, I suggest creating a brief reference guide with character backstories to aid in the beginning. However, by the story's midpoint, the guide will no longer be necessary as the plot pace picks up.
✨Exploration of the justice system for POC - "Wrong place, wrong time" is a familiar plotline, but Shukairy shows the unfair consequences people of color face daily. The implicit bias, racial profiling, and blatant racism make this story feel all too real.
✨The Ending: Many readers will enjoy the plot twist! I’m not saying any more. Go read the book - Six Truths and A Lie

Overall, the story is both heartbreaking and thought-provoking, making it a perfect book for high schools or book clubs to discuss islamophobia and social justice. Fans of The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas or All The Rage by Sabaa Tahir will surely enjoy this one.

One of the novel's greatest strengths lies in its exploration of identity, belonging, and the complexities of teenage life. The characters face not only external pressures but also internal conflicts as they navigate the treacherous waters of adolescence while being thrust into the spotlight of suspicion and prejudice. The author deftly weaves together themes of loyalty, betrayal, and the quest for justice, keeping readers on the edge of their seats until the very end. This novel serves as a thought-provoking commentary on the pervasive influence of politics and media in shaping public perception and the dire consequences of scapegoating marginalized communities. Through its compelling storytelling, the novel challenges readers to confront their own biases and preconceptions, making it not only a gripping read but also a catalyst for meaningful conversations about social justice and equity. Overall, I really loved this book.

I’ll be honest that it was a slow start for me to get into (it didn’t help that I was in a reading slump! Which this book, when I eventually did settle into helped me start to pull myself out of!).

It follows a diverse cast of six Muslim teens that come from different walks of life and find their world turned upside when they are arrested for a crime they didn’t do. From there we follow along their experiences trying to navigate the justice system of America. Ream weaves in some great commentary on the injustices of the so-called justice system when it comes to race and religion.

As I was reading each voice felt so distinct even though their stories are interconnected. By the last 3rd of the book I was completely captivated! I read it one sitting because I was truly gripped and I just had to know what happens. Also the plot twist 😳 the tears I shed for that 😭 I honestly did not expect it. It was soooo well done!

Anyways, needless to say this is one to add to your list for 2024. And the less you know going in, the better!

Thank you to NetGalley and Little Brown Books for the eARC.

Ever since discovering Elizabeth Acevedo, I am a sucker for books in verse. Shukairy's work here is brutal. I found myself completed sucked in worried for these characters and hoping for a good ending. Highly recommend.

Six Muslim teenagers' lives are shattered when they are blamed for terrorist actions when they're at an innocent bonfire. Life will never be the same for any of them.

This hurt my heart. I couldn’t put it down. It goes wrong so quickly and you just dread everything that's coming because you know how this all works. You know they're not going to get a fair shake.

And when the twist happened, it felt like I was punched in the gut and my heart ACHED for these children as I sobbed for them. I had trouble catching my breath for the rest of the story. I feel for all of these characters and it’s a testament to skill that I was so emotionally invested in these fictional characters.

This should absolutely be required reading. This covers difficult topics like racism, Islamophobia, Xenophobia, and generational trauma. It is gorgeous and achingly painful to watch the events in this novel unfold because it feels fated to happen because our world isn’t fair and just. It feels incredibly real and I think circumstances like these likely occur every single day in smaller, more subtle ways. We owe it to one another to try to understand that we are all human beings struggling to survive and succeed. We owe it to each other to understand different circumstances - which is why reading diverse viewpoints is so incredibly important.

Anyone who loved All my Rage by Sabaa Tahir will love this book.

This was beautiful. And it hurt. And it’s essential.

Highly recommend.

Thanks to TBR and Beyond Tours, the author, and Little, Brown and Company (Hachette) for a physical review copy. This is a voluntary review and all opinions are my own.

As a contemporary YA thriller, I think this is a success. The characters each have a distinct voice and none of them have the information that is needed to figure out what happens with the central mystery, so you are forced along for the ride to try and piece things together. The prose starts off a little in its own head; overly purple at first and repetitive, but gets stronger and clearer as the text goes. The plot itself has twists and turns and was quite interesting, and everything is wrapped up in the end in a way that was satisfying.

What I enjoyed the most: the characters, the overall plot, the twists (!), and the fact that we finally learned what actually happened in the end (THANK you for not leaving that open).

However, it also falls short in a few areas. Obviously this is fiction, so you should not expect legal accuracy, but some of the glaring inaccuracies regarding how the (very flawed) real criminal justice system works were a distraction, particularly where how things were depicted made little sense. My biggest issues were with the cartoon-esque FBI villain; not only were her actions confusing, but I actually think they would have been more impactful if she had been less exaggeratedly evil and instead more banal. The second was the main defense attorney, whose representation throughout had me scratching my head. I really don’t understand why she, in particular, would have been in the post-trial phase at all. I also struggled with the prose in a number of places, particularly when it was trying to emphasize the dramatic nature of events or keep something from the reader for the sake of the future twist in the story. Some of that got a little over the top or convoluted.

Overall I enjoyed the twists and turns of this. If you struggle in the first few chapters, I would say it gets better (but not TOO different) as it finds its stride so it may be worth giving the book a bit more of a chance.

I recieved a copy of this book at no charge from the publisher prior to publication.

Six Truths and a Lie was an incredible narrative of how one event that can change a person's life and how they are seen by others. It also shows how this narrative can be different for a person who had a different skin colour and was not of the same religion.

The main characters points of views were amazing but the one that actually made me tear up was Quays and that is all what I am going to say.

I do feel that having as many as possible writers that are POC in the publishing industry so that their voices can be heard. For me Ream Shukairy did a fantastic job and feel strongly that everyone should read this and then have discussions.

For all the above reasons Six Truths and a Lie receives 4 stars

🧡💛~~Book Review~~💛🧡

Six Truths and a Lie by Ream Shukairy (@ream_shu)
Release date: March 12, 2024

Imagine you are at a 4th of July bonfire at the beach. All of a sudden, an oil rig in the ocean has a fatal explosion. You leave the beach with your friends, no questions asked. It isn’t that simple for 6 Muslim teenagers.

Told in 6 different points of view, we have:
Abdullah - a Sudani American boy who just wants to be an EMT.
Qays - a Palestinian American who is terrific at soccer, a lady's man, and on his way to Stanford.
Muzhda - an Afgan immigrant who is crushing on Qays and whose family has secrets.
Nasreen - a Pakistani American that attends a private Catholic school and just wants to belong.
Zamzam - a black aspiring doctor, that is always having to watch their younger brother.

Arrested for being terrorists, these six must choose to either unite as one and spill their secrets or divide individually in order to save themselves.

Six Truths and a Lie will have you checking your own biases when it comes to racism and prejudices.
Both are prevalent in the justice system, while these terrified teenagers go to court and yearn for their freedom. Accused only because of their nationalities, your heart will break for these teens as the truth unfolds one-by-one.

Thank you to @tbrbeyondtours for including me on your tour. Visit https://tbrandbeyondtours.com/ for more tour info.

#sixtruthsandalie #reamshukairy #tbrbeyondtours

Six Muslim teenagers attend a Fourth of July celebration and after an explosion on a nearby oil rig, end up arrested on suspicion of terrorism. Despite the fact the six teenagers barely know each other, the police are insistent that they were part of an organization who planned the attack and that they worked together. The teens all have their own secrets and have to decide what truths or lies to tell to keep themselves from being implicated. Overall, a fast-paced and suspenseful story of six innocent teens who are up against a system that specifically set out to frame them. At times it was difficult to keep all of the POVs straight, but the author did a good job in creating unique characters that represent a range of identities.

Six Truths And A Lie is a YA book that tackles racism, Islamophobia, and a corrupt justice system. I couldn't stop reading this heartbreaking story that kept me on the edge of my seat. I was filled with dread and unease the whole time because the cards felt stacked against these six teens who were falsely accused of a terrorist attack one Fourth of July. I highly recommend this page turner!!

Whew. What a story. Intense, emotional and important story. After an explosion six Muslim teens find themselves the suspects. They are caught in a political game and trying to prove their innocence, but they have to face some hard facts about themselves along the way. This book is heavy but it's written beautifully.

This is a difficult review to write. Not because the book was bad - it was very good - but because it was hard to read! The things these children endured, for no reason, were difficult to follow.

The writing is amazing, and the characters distinct enough that I didn't have any trouble telling them apart. It was scary to read, simply because I know this is reality for far too many people. I'm very glad that I don't live in America, although of course this behaviour isn't isolated to there.

This is definitely one for school libraries - everyone should be reading this and facing up to the truths in it. Simply brilliant.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review!

THIS WAS SOOO INSANE ??? IM SHAKING LIKE WHAT THE FUDGEEEEE THAT PLOT TWIST ??????? I'M STILL RECOVERING OMGGG

i loved all the characters, but abdullahi and muzhda have a special place in my heart <3 and omg the suffering these kids went through ??? criminal. they did not get the justice they deserve i hope kandi farveau or whatever her name is rots in jail and then rots some more because eW.

but this was such a stellar piece of work!! i loved seeing each of the six's povs and watching the events unfurl. each character had something different that made you love them - abdullahi with his sweet, pure heart; samia with her determination; nasreen with her growth and acceptance of herself; muzhda and her joyful view on life; zamzam with her fierceness and loyalty; and qays, the golden boy who had to fight so hard to keep hold onto his colors. i love love love all of them!!

this book was amazing, and it's perfect for fans of One of Us is Lying by Karen McManus and Hollow Fires by Samira Ahmed. Definitely recommend for everyone to read!!

From the first chapter I was hooked! ix Truths and a Lie is powerful, suspenseful and to be completely honest, terrifying with how real it is! There are a few characters and at times it was a little hard to keep track but each character adds to the mystery! I do wish I could have gotten to know a little more about each of them but you are told enough to make the book come together! Overall it's a complex and complicated story that definitely gives you some edge of your seat moments! Thank you Tbr and Beyond Tours, Ream Shukairy and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for sharing this book with me!