Dark Parts of the Universe

January 29, 2024
This mystery thriller by Miller (Redemption Prep), based on real accounts of sundown towns, or all-white municipalities, is replete with twists and long-awaited reckonings. High school freshman William “Willie” Eckles describes his Calico Springs, Mo., hometown as a place where “people believe in God.” After almost dying as a child, Willie was dubbed “Miracle Boy” by Calico Springs locals, and he’s certain that God has a plan for him. He’s eager to spend the summer with his older brother Bones, a recent graduate, even as tensions rise throughout town surrounding all-white Calico Springs’s imminent merge with Lawton, a predominantly Black neighborhood. But Willie’s plans are derailed when he and new friend Sarai Lewis—guided by a tracking app called Manifest Atlas, which provides directions to an unknown location based on the user’s provided “intention”—discover Sarai’s stepfather’s corpse. As Willie contends with his parents’ separation and Bones’s controlling behavior, he stumbles onto mysterious forces seemingly determined to keep the towns apart. A lack of focus on Lawton residents somewhat dampens Miller’s powerful depiction of Willie’s awakening to his community’s deep-rooted racism. Effective use of fictional newspaper articles, message boards, and testimonies establish the history of Calico Springs, and violent scenes are tempered by evocative and lyrical prose. Most characters are white; Sarai is Black. Ages 13–up. Agent: Joanna Volpe, New Leaf Literary & Media.

March 1, 2024
Residents of a small town experience a reckoning when a mysterious app leads a group of teens to a dead body. The first time he plays Manifest Atlas, an app game that people claim can give you anything you ask for, Willie Eckles wants a sign. Life feels stagnant in rural Calico Springs, a predominantly white Missouri town, and Willie yearns for some direction. He's mystified to find that the app delivers on his requests--albeit with a cryptic twist each time--but no one believes him, not even Bones, his older brother. Eventually, Willie convinces Bones and his friends (including Sarai from neighboring Lawton, a predominantly Black town) to play with him, but they get more than they bargained for when it leads them to the dead body of Sarai's white stepfather, who was in a rare interracial marriage. Unconvinced by the authorities' ruling out of foul play, Willie and his group begin an investigation that stirs up tensions in a community that doesn't like people probing for answers. As Willie tests the limits of the game's abilities, he finds that their small town holds darker secrets than he ever expected. Willie's journey is one of awakening--opening his eyes to social problems and choosing to face that reality rather than turn from it. The page-turning suspense is a draw, but the book's ultimate strength is its skillful exploration of racial injustice in rural America. A multifaceted thriller with a powerful social message. (author's note, further reading) (Thriller. 14-18)

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April 1, 2024
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* Willie Eckles was the miracle boy of Calico Springs, Missouri, because, at the age of five, after an accidental shooting, his heart stopped for five minutes before doctors resuscitated him. Now 15, sporting an eye patch to cover the socket of the eye he lost, Willie still wonders if he was spared for a reason, and he thinks he has found the answer in an app called Manifest Atlas. The app appears to lead the user to answers to the ""intention"" they enter. Things get really weird when an intention for ""something bloody"" results in a dead body at a deserted mill. This discovery leads to the revelation of even more secrets through the mysterious, eerie app, some of which relate to a hotly contested plan to merge Calico Springs and the predominantly Black town of Lawton across the river--a plan that certain rich and powerful land owners in Calico Springs adamantly oppose. As Willie and his friend Sarai investigate further, they uncover the town's sordid history and entrenched racism. Willie is an affable narrator and a moral compass for the town. In the richly detailed plot, Miller deftly captures the claustrophobic nature of small-town residents locked into what they believe is the way things should be. An appended note offers information and resources on similar events in history.

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Starred review from May 31, 2024

Gr 8 Up-In southern Missouri, the vote to consolidate two small towns-Calico Springs, predominately white, with Lawton, predominately Black-looms, and a group of kids find themselves playing The Game, a powerful online app which promises to create destinies. Manifest Atlas, as the app is called, asks players to enter an Intention. Once entered, a map appears, leading players to their supposed Destiny. It seems like it might actually work: one person was led to some relevant graffiti, while two other kids asked for a dog and got one. Willie, a Calico Springs resident, decides to test it for himself. He asks to "see my future." The map leads him into the Basin and he tumbles into one of three open graves. His friend, Sarai, a Black girl who has moved from Lawton, decides to really test the app when she requests it show them "something bloody." When the abandoned mill shivers to life and spits out a maimed body, the kids begin to speculate about how the game works and what kind of menace is afoot. Painterly language moves the story forward, digging into the relationships between Willie and his brother, and the difficult family dynamic they've survived. Ultimately the novel delves into the sinister history of sundown towns, where Black people are not allowed on the streets of all-white communities after dark. The racial aspects of this book, although painful, ring true-including Sarai's differential treatment by the white police force. VERDICT A powerful thriller with a poignant message.-Leah Krippner

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