PLAY THE GAME

A Black teen faces his grief over the murder of his best friend as he attempts to support his other friends.

VZ works at Yard, a Caribbean restaurant in Brooklyn where Eddie was shot and killed by a White man called Philip Singer. After Singer, who was never charged, is killed by a blow to the head in the restaurant’s parking lot, Yard is closed by the police for their investigation. Meanwhile, Eddie’s mother gave VZ her son’s laptop, but VZ feels guilty because he never before paid much attention to the game Eddie was passionate about creating. To honor his best friend, VZ decides to finish the game and enter it in the upcoming JersiGame competition. He’s hoping to work on it with his crush, Diamond, but when Jack, his friend and Yard co-worker who has been vocal about protesting Eddie’s murder, goes missing, VZ tries to solve the mystery of what happened to him. He also supports classmate Chela in a restorative justice circle following an incident at school, all while working to make the deadline for the gaming contest. These various pressures force first-person narrator VZ to examine and deal with his grief, pulling readers into his experience. The restorative justice process is fleshed out in a nuanced way in this debut. Problems with rushing to judgment—both in the criminal system and among friends—are also thoughtfully examined.

A compelling look at different ways of approaching grief and justice.