Reviewed by: Dig by A. S. King Deborah Stevenson, Editor King, A. S. Dig. Dutton, 2019 [416p] Trade ed. ISBN 978-1-101-99491-7 $17.99 E-book ed. ISBN 978-1-101-99492-4 $10.99 Reviewed from galleys R* Gr. 9-12 There’s the Shoveler, so known because he carries a snow shovel around with him; the Freak, who flickers into different realities at will; Malcolm, who’s reluctantly staying with his dysfunctional, uptight grandparents as his single father’s health worsens; Loretta, who treats the world as a stage show and cultivates her flea circus; and CanIHelpYou?, who uses her fast-food work as a cover for lucrative drug-dealing that she hopes will finally allow her to leave home. These five teens don’t know that they’re all connected via a history that’s built on family double-dealing and a potato farm, that’s exacerbated by racism, guilt, and weakness, and that’s leading to tragedy. That history gets gradually unveiled as the teens encounter one another, sometimes speedily, sometimes slowly, as Malcolm’s grandfather contemplates his history and present, and as one other teen begins to break away from his savage older brother. The result makes for rapt reading, with fragments from different viewpoints compelling in their own right (the Shoveler makes and loses a friendship with an adult neighbor, CanIHelpYou? falls for her best friend, Loretta’s abusive father finally hurts her mother so badly that action is taken). Watching the puzzle pieces come together, however, is purely mesmerizing, and their assembly results in the most haunting exploration in youth literature to date of the advantage and poison that is white privilege, and the resentment of young people at the toxicity of what they inherit. King fans know to expect the unexpected, and they’ll be richly rewarded with this intricate, heartfelt, readable concoction. Copyright © 2019 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois