Rainbow Black

Lacey Bond is a thirteen-year-old girl in New Hampshire growing up with her hippie parents running a daycare center. In the summer of 1990, everything changes when Lacey’s parents are arrested, and this was during the satanic panic of the 1990s. When the horrific murder brings Lacey to her breaking point, she makes a choice which will haunt her for decades. As an adult Lacey seems to have it together being the law clerk to a famous judge and having a beautiful girlfriend. A tiny misstep though changes all of that for Lacey and the hysteria threatens to begin all over again.

Writing, Characters & Concept

The writing was easy to read descriptively. I like that it was from Lacey’s point of view. Unfortunately, I never grew attached to any of the characters at all. The first part of the book was the strongest. Everything else was weak and not everything was wrapped up very well. Keep in mind there is mention of child sexual assault & violence, so you understand what you are getting into when reading this book. I do agree with one of the GoodReads reviewers that this book was marketed as a murder mystery but instead what we got was more of a coming-of-age book.

Overall

Overall, this was another dud for 2024. Luckily so far, I’ve read more good books than duds. Rainbow Black will be published on March 19^th, 2024, so you can preorder it if you haven’t read an early copy from Netgalley or had a physical copy. Thank you Heather Drucker for an early copy.