If there’s one thing seventeen-year-old Maverick Carter knows, it’s that a real man takes care of his family. As the son of a former gang legend, Mav does that the only way he knows how: dealing with the King Lords. With this money, he can help his mom, who works two jobs while his dad’s in prison. Mav has seen where good intentions pave roads – but all in a day’s work is getting him nowhere fast. And when an unexpected murder throws him over the edge, he risks everything as he tries to find his way back home.
Seventeen-year-old Maverick Carter knows that a real man takes care of his family. As the son of a former gang legend, Mav does that the only way he knows how: dealing with the King Lords. With this money, he can help his mom, who works two jobs while his dad’s in prison. But when Mav is ordered to kill a rival gang member and sees an opportunity to escape, will he be able to make the break?
Whether you’re a fan of The Hate U Give or want to dive into a new page-turner, this book is for you. Now in paperback, Angie Thomas’ first novel takes readers back to Garden Heights, seventeen years before the events of her breakout hit The Hate U Give. Meet Maverick Carter, who knows that a real man takes care of his family by dealing with the King Lords drug gang. He can help his mom and sister get by with this money, even though his dad is in prison. But what happens when Maverick meets Starr right as she becomes a witness to his crime?
Maverick Carter’s life is about to change. After seventeen years of raising his younger brother, it doesn’t matter to Maverick that his father is in jail and his mother works two jobs to make ends meet. He says he’ll take care of her, even if it means dealing drugs for the local gang—and he will do anything to protect his little brother from the same fate he was raised in. But when a new girl in town causes trouble between Maverick and his crew, things spiral violently out of control—only revealing the truth behind what it takes to become a man.
About Concrete Rose Book
In this searing and poignant exploration of Black boyhood and manhood, the international phenomenon Angie Thomas revisits Garden Heights seventeen years before the events of The Hate U Give.
If there’s one thing seventeen-year-old Maverick Carter knows, it’s that a real man takes care of his family. As the son of a former gang legend, Mav does that the only way he knows how: dealing with the King Lords. With this money, he can help his mom, who works two jobs while his dad’s in prison.
Life’s not perfect, but with a fly girlfriend and a cousin who always has his back, Mav’s got everything under control.
Until that is, Maverick finds out he’s a father.
Suddenly he has a baby, Seven, who depends on him for everything. But it’s difficult to sling dope, finish school, and raise a child. So when he’s offered the chance to go straight. In a world where he’s expected to amount to nothing, maybe Mav can prove he’s different.
You can’t just walk away when King Lord’s blood runs through your veins. Loyalty, revenge, and responsibility threaten to tear Mav apart, especially after the brutal murder of a loved one. He’ll have to figure out what it means to be a man.
