Ace of Spades is a really incredible debut (don't miss the author's note at the end with the context in which this was written) with a fresh voice. Readers who love school set dramas and thrillers will find a lot to dig into in this one. While I found that the pacing was a bit slow to begin with, the last quarter or so of the book was an absolute page turner as pieces clicked into place- and the author held enough back until the end to keep some of these pieces unpredictable. There is a lot of high stakes drama that snowballs in this story- the potential for life-threatening danger continues to build, and the main characters, Chiamaka and Devon, rightfully fear for their futures. It's a sharp look at racism and education, and it's genuinely frightening when readers will realize that there are parts of this story that don't feel like fiction.