LGBTQ / Thriller/Suspense

Ace of Spades

Author: Faridah ÀbÍké-Íyímídé

Average Rating:   3.5 / 5

Trigger Warnings:

Keep the lights on for this debut thriller from Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé. If you’re a fan of Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars, and Get Out, then this is the novel for you.

Devon Richards and Chiamaka Adebayo both attend Niveus Private Academy, but that’s where the overlap ends. Chiamaka has worked hard to be the “It Girl” of Niveus. Popular and always dressed to perfection, she’s determined to earn her place at an Ivy League med school. Devon is on scholarship and artistic, trying to make the most of this opportunity so that he can attend Julliard for composition and music.

When they are both chosen to be senior class prefects, it looks like their college dreams are off to a good start. Chiamaka’s selection was to be expected, while Devon is shocked but pleased. However, things take a quick turn towards unsettling when an anonymous bully known only as Aces starts texting the student body to reveal deep and damaging secrets about the two. Not only are their social standings taking a hit, but their future careers are now at risk. 

Where is Aces getting their information? What seemed like an embarrassing prank is speedily turning dangerous with high stakes. How far is Aces willing to go, and what will Devon and Chiamaka risk to stop the abuse? 

Sure to get the blood pumping and get you thinking about social issues such as race and social status, Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé stacked the deck for a wild ride.

Corinna : 3/5 

My initial reaction was that I enjoyed the book. But as we discussed it at book club, it became apparent that there were several plot holes and unexplained additions. As ÀbÍké-Íyímídé’s first novel, she maintained the thriller atmosphere well, revealing just a little bit more, enough to keep you hooked and wondering. The subject matter was timely and interesting. But I think she included too many issues, and was unable to fully discuss any of them. Racism, LGBTQ characters, wealth and privilege disparities, I can understand that all these things happen and overlap in real life, but found that none of them were done justice, because they are all so complex. ÀbÍké-Íyímídé was excited to have a big impact on multiple issues, but unfortunately bit off too much. She compared her writing to Pretty Little Liars, Gossip Girl and Get Out, and for me it was all too similar. It felt like something I had already read.  It is also difficult to write this review without giving away spoilers, so Sharaya (our Ravenclaw), has written an excellent spoiler review, if you would like to see more specifics. I would love to see more books on all the above subjects, but giving each of them the platform they deserve. I believe that ÀbÍké-Íyímídé is a promising young author, and was able to weave a captivating thriller, and I look forward to what she writes next. 

Lydia : 4/5

This book presented such a powerful message that it’s really hard to review. 

The theme of this book focuses on racism. I read the author’s notes at the end and can definitely see where she pulled some of these ideas from. She mentions watching Pretty Little Liars and Gossip Girl in college and how there were no female black leads. Things I would never even think twice about – and you know that’s the problem right there.

This book opened my eyes to things I’ve never really had to think about. A book that is capable of changing your perspective or opening up ideas in your mind will always be a 5 to me, however after reading some reviews I did notice the gap in storylines and how unfinished some of the events were which is why I must give it a 4. I wish I could read this for the first time again because I’m mesmerized by it. Highly, highly recommend, even just for the purpose of educating yourself further on privilege and racism.

Megan : 3.5/5

This one is hard to rate and there’s a lot to unpack. The book was quite suspenseful, and ÀbÍké-Íyímídé did a good job at keeping her readers guessing the identity of Aces and why Aces was targeting Chiamaka and Devon. I had some theories (which were constantly changing), but only parts ended up being correct. I liked that the chapters alternated between Devon’s and Chiamaka’s POV and typically over the same time period. It’s crazy that the whole story took place over only three weeks; it felt like more time had passed than what actually had.

There were a few things with this book that I wish had been different, or at least expanded on. The secondary characters could have been fleshed out a bit more; they were very two-dimensional. It felt like they were stationary in a sense when they weren’t in the picture, that they were only “alive” when interacting with either main character. One such character revealed some pretty important information, but after it was said, there were no more mentions of that character ever again. What happened to them?

There were some problems with plot holes in the book, which are delved into deeper in our first ever spoiler-filled review (see the link at the bottom of the page). It felt like ÀbÍké-Íyímídé was trying to add too much into too short of a story to do any justice to any of the storylines. While everything that she added was an important topic, she didn’t leave herself with enough room to see each plot through to the end. I’m not sure what her reasoning was, but one plotline in particular didn’t add anything to the story. It felt like it was there only to firmly cement that Devon came from the wrong part of town. The ending was good, but it just stopped and then jumped forward suddenly to sixteen years into the future. It was great to read about how Chiamaka and Devon were doing after everything that had happened at Niveus, but were there any consequences for Aces? I still have questions. These things likely could have been resolved if she had given herself more space to write and made this a duology instead of a stand-alone novel. Overall, it was a good story, suspenseful, and it got me thinking, which was probably the point. ÀbÍké-Íyímídé is a talented writer and I look forward to any future books written by her.

Sharaya : 3.5/5 

This book definitely raised my adrenaline levels while I was reading it, but when I sat down and started discussing with friends, the plot holes became more apparent, which is why I couldn’t rate this book any higher. 

ÀbÍké-Íyímídé did a wonderful job of eliciting feelings of tension and discomfort, which is what you want in a Thriller.  At the beginning of the novel she included a quote from Gossip Girl and Get Out, but other than the prep school, I saw way more Pretty Little Liars than Gossip Girl in this book. For my part, I had a weird sense of knowing that I should be enjoying the book because I liked those shows, but actually felt like the book wasn’t very unique. Been there, read that. 

It’s hard to write this review because a lot of the problems that I found were to do with the ending. There were a number of holes and dropped storylines. It felt like ÀbÍké-Íyímídé was throwing events in because on the surface they were exciting, but when you sat back to think about it, it didn’t make sense at all. I also believe that ÀbÍké-Íyímídé was attempting to cover too much in this book, and as a result, these issues weren’t given the time or energy that they needed in order to be explored sufficiently: racism, queer characters, wealth disparity, to name a few (while avoiding spoilers).  It felt like too much to fit into one book. 

If you enjoy this sort of stressful read, or would like a different look into systemic racism, I would recommend this book. I’m looking forward to seeing what ÀbÍké-Íyímídé writes in the future, because plot holes can be fixed and her ability to get the adrenaline going is already impressive.

If you’re interested in reading our *SPOILER FILLED* thoughts, click here.

To access a printable list of 10 book club questions, please click here.