I am so so excited to share Six Truths and a Lie with you today!! Special shout out to TBR and Beyond for hosting and having me on the tour. Check out the full tour here!
Summary:
Six Muslim teens are falsely accused of a deadly attack in this timely and harrowing examination of Americas justice system, perfect for fans of Angie Thomas and Samira Ahmed.
As fireworks pop at a rowdy Fourth of July bonfire party, an explosion off the California coast levels an oil rig and a beach town is left reeling from the aftermath of tragedy. At the center are six Muslim teens.
An old soul stuck in a modern world. An aspiring doctor caught in the wrong place. An influencer with a reputation to protect. A perfect daughter with secrets. A soccer star headed for Stanford. An immigrant in love. Six strangers with something to hide and everything to lose. Faced with accusations of terrorism, the Six are caught in a political game that will pit them against one another. As police investigate what really happened that night, which secrets will be worth the cost of freedom?
They each must decide: Betray the others to guarantee their own futures, or expose their secrets to earn justice for them all.
Content Warning: Content warnings: mentions of Terrorism, police interrogations, murder, racism, Islamophobia, Xenophobia, generational trauma, PTSD
Book links:
My thoughts:
Six Truths and a Lie is in my top five books I have read this year. I was so exited to get an ARC, and I was not disappointed. This will be my first read by Shukairy, but not my last.
Shukairy quickly pulls the reader in as six Muslim teens are taken into police custody and questioned about an explosion on the Forth of July. Each of the teens has a backstory that shapes who they are and their drive for their futures. The story is told from the perspectives of Samia, Nasreen, Qays, Muzhda, Abdullahi, and Zamzam. The more you learn about the teens, the quicker the justice system is to damn them.
Shifting through their perspectives takes a few chapters to get used to. After chapter five, I was hooked. You likely will find yourself in a similar situation of madly flipping through pages to discover who is to blame. It’s heartbreaking, yet I couldn’t stop.
Shukairy uses the characters to point out injustices and make commentary about America as a whole. If you liked The Hate U Give, you will love Six Truths and a Lie.
Favorite quotes:
Abdullahi hadn’t said he could be called Abdul. It wasn’t his nickname, not even his Starbucks name.
The twenty-seven beads. Ten red, ten black, six letters, one heart. One night, half day, and no smiles.
We’re angry. We’re tired. We’re sick of being treated like we need to be patrolled. No privacy, no freedom.
He had to say it louder. He had to taste the words and give Muzhda the chance to deny it.
About the author:
Ream Shukairy is a Syrian American born and raised full-time in Orange County, California and part-time over summers in Syria. Whether in California or Syria, she feels at home where her family is and wherever there’s a beach. She has a talent for learning languages and is always on the search for the next place she can travel and flex her words. The daughter of immigrants, there isn’t a stereotype she won’t try her hardest to defy. She can be found reading at the beach, with her sisters watching anime, or playing volleyball really anywhere. She currently resides in Boston for graduate school.
Author links:
Lit Lemon Books 