This novel could not have come at a more appropriate time with the Black Lives Matter movement at the forefront of our national consciousness. And it’s wonderfully written! I loved that the church, Calvary Hope Christian, has a voice---it added to the sinisterness underlying the novel’s mysteries.
Ruby King and her family are trying to pick up the pieces of her mother’s recent murder, tragically inside their family home. The people in their Chicago South Side neighborhood believe that Ruby’s father, Lebanon, is responsible for Alice’s death. He had served time for killing a man and he had a hellacious temper. The neighbor’s know that Lebanon abused Alice and fear he is taking his rage out on Ruby.
Ruby’s best friend is Layla. Their mothers were close and their grandmothers even closer. Layla and her mother do what they can to protect Ruby. However, Lebanon is best friends with Layla’s father, pastor of the Church. Rev. Potter forbids Layla to interfer, yet readers get to watch him giving Lebanon large sums of money.
At the heart of this story is secrets and mysteries and the repercussions they inflict on the two families and the neighborhood.
I felt the novel got off to a slow start, but that was okay. It really ramped up about of the fourth of the way through. As Author West began to foreshadow the deepest and ugliest of the secrets, I think she gave away too much, as I had it figured out, without trying, before it was revealed. That diminished the climax somewhat for me. Therefore, “Saving Ruby King” gets 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.
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