Diamond Park
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
A fast-paced YA novel about four Mexican American teenagers from Houston, a '59 Chevy Impala, and a murder that changes their lives forever.
Flaco isn’t the kind of kid who gets in trouble. He doesn’t want to give his mom or his aunt Ana Flor any grief—they’ve had enough since his cousin Carlos died serving in Afghanistan. But he finds a whole lot more trouble than he bargained for when he and his friends Tiny, Magaña, and Susi ride the bus from their Houston neighborhood to Diamond Park to buy a used car. And not just any car—a 1959 Impala convertible, a dream car. The transaction gets complicated fast, and Susi ends up with a knife in her hands, covered in blood. When Tiny has to disappear to avoid ICE, Flaco and Magaña head south in the Impala to set things right. In a wildly impetuous move, the two boys cross into Mexico hunting for a trafficker named Anaconda, the man they believe is the real killer, to clear Susi’s name. In a breathtaking, seat-of-your-pants adventure they manage to kidnap him but in the process they discover how little they ever actually understood about what really happened in Diamond Park.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Diederich (Playing for the Devil's Fire) interweaves Mexican American culture and murder in a rollicking road trip adventure that offers action without sacrificing emotional heft. Flaco, a teen living in Houston, dreams of finishing his senior year of high school and pursuing an art career. Though his caring but tense family frustrates him, he finds solace with other Mexican Americans: friends Magaña and Tiny as well as crush Susi. When the four take a ride to Diamond Park to pick up Magaña's dream car, a 1959 Chevy Impala, an incident leaves one man dead, another on the run, and Susi on the hook for a murder. Flaco and Magaña set off to find the runaway man, whom they suspect committed the murder, a journey that takes them into Mexico and further into a world of violence, bribery, and narcos, knowing that without their help, Susi will go down for the crime. Slow, needlessly detailed exposition eventually gives way to a plotline that leaves some questions unanswered, but Flaco's realistic narrative voice offers a unique and thought-provoking, conversational perspective on class, mental health, and misogyny. Ages 14–up.
