Black Buck is one heck of a story and felt like a train gaining speed while I read it non-stop over two days...it was hard to find a place to pause and sleep because I wanted to find out where the story went next. This is a phenomenally written story about Darren, aka Buck, as he rises through the ranks at a tech start-up. What seems like a dream job ultimately turns his life upside down - not only dealing with some pretty horrible co-workers and insane work pressures to succeed as the only Black person in the office, but also handling conflicts with friends and family from his pre-start-up life and navigating how to pay it forward and help other people of color succeed in the business world. There are many twists and turns that I did not see coming and the ending is a bit extreme and unexpected (but after my initial surprise and taking time to think it over, it is more obvious this was where it was going the whole time), and I cannot stop thinking about this story even a month later. It was uncomfortable but very eye opening to experience Darren dealing with initially covert and increasingly overt racist behaviors by his co-workers the higher he climbed in the company. Author Mateo Askaripour is a talented writer who wrote a truly unique, thought-provoking book that brings up important cultural issues while also keeping it entertaining and compulsively readable. I think this is one of the must-read books of 2021, and I look forward to seeing what Askaripour does next!