Hush

This is a young adult novel dealing with something that I haven't found in any other such novel I've read, and that is the issue of the witness relocation program.

In this case Toswiah's father is a black policeman who sees two white policemen kill a young black male who was, at the time, offering no resistance whatever. Both of the white police tried to claim that the kid was reaching for a gun or had a gun, but Toswiah's father was there, saw the whole thing, and knew that the other two policemen were lying.

He tells his superiors, thus breaking the “blue wall,” a principle that one policeman isn't supposed to tell on another one who does something wrong. This is followed by phone calls and threats against Toswiah's parents and her family, and even leads to gunshots fired into their house.

Thus, the family is forced to relocate, under the government program, and the book deals with Toswiah's (and her family's) attempt to adjust to a new life with new identities. It is not something that is easy to do at all, and all of them have major problems adjusting.

The story is very interesting, very well done and definitely worth reading.

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