Zero O’Clock is the story of Geth, a Black high school senior in New Rochelle, and her friends and family all navigating the COVID crisis, the alienation, and fear, and the summer’s uprising after the murder of George Floyd. Get is smart, though not as smart as her best friend Tovah, who has been preparing her valedictory speech for years. They are also good friends with Diego, the star quarterback who recently started going to their school and became friends with them after seeking out tutoring in Mandarin class from Geth.

Geth’s mother is a nurse. Keith is her mom’s live-in boyfriend, a freelance journalist whose career has stalled. Geth is unhappy with the relationship. She’s a levelheaded teen who struggles with OCD compulsions that make her take longer to do things, but she still gets them done. She’s a fan of BTS and the way she talks about them makes me want to tune in.

Navigating Zoom classes, protest marches, and COVID, Deth remains a force and in the end a force who found her voice.

I loved Zero O’Clock. I really fell in love with the characters. There were some “learning moments” for white characters who suddenly recognized their privilege, for example, fighting with a cop when Geth, a Black teen, was present and likely to bear the brunt of police reaction. But Geth is learning, too. I liked how the story of her father unrolls in small increments over the course of the book because, for Geth, it’s too much to talk about. There is just so much that feels authentic and immediate. I also love how current it feels, some of these conversations are happening right now on Twitter. It is a Young Adult book, so it is very easy reading. I am definitely not its target audience, but I loved it anyway.

I received an ARC of Zero O’Clock from the publisher through LibraryThing.

Zero O’Clock at Akashic Books

C. J. Farley author site