I will read anything Andrew Joseph White writes and so I had to read You’re No Better. This was unlike anything I was expecting and is a story about friendship and the truth. Keep reading this book review of You’re No Better for my full thoughts.
Summary
Morgan Slaughter, a seventeen-year-old trans boy with autism, put his serial killer father in prison years ago. Despite that, everyone thinks Morgan will grow up to be just like his dad: including his volatile mother, the documentary crew following their family, and maybe himself.
Desperately, Morgan latches onto his father’s final victim—the only one who was never identified—hoping that if he unravels the mystery, he’ll finally prove he’s better than the man who hurt him. But this puts Morgan in the crosshairs of classmate Felicity Keating, who knows the truth about Morgan’s childhood—that he wasn’t just a witness to his father’s brutality, he was an accomplice. And if he doesn’t let them help with his investigation? They’ll tell everyone.
Forced to confront his past, Morgan’s ugly but carefully controlled world unravels. The film crew is manipulative. His mother’s temper spirals into malice, then violence. And Morgan and Felicity may be more tightly intertwined than either of them can stomach . . .
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
You’re No Better asks us what we would do in impossible choices. Andrew Joseph White asks us what we inherit and how we can break cycles. We can have these visions of someone, of our parents, of our friends, and what happens when something so cataclysmic changes that image? What happens when it just creeps in? We have these desires to make someone pay for what they did to us, an eye for an eye justice. We can react out of fear. And we can continue this cycle of lashing out at others. But how can we find support, love, and something which will help us break this cycle?
This trauma leaves marks on us as we begin to associate love with memories. You’re No Better explores this fear of being ‘found out’ of our secrets airing and how these incidents have influences all the faces of his life. How all of a sudden it can be stifling to have the past rear its ugly head. You’re No Better is also a story about friendship and the ways friendships can grow, evolve, and change. I think the ending wraps up pretty hastily, considering the leadup, but You’re No Better is a portrayal of trauma, mental health, and wondering how much of us we can change.
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Find You’re No Better on Goodreads, Storygraph, Blackwells, Bookshop. org & Libro. fm.