Nightcrawling

Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley

277 Pages

Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Knopf

Release Date: June 7, 2022

Fiction (Adult), General Fiction (Adult), Literary Fiction, Multicultural Interest, Sex Worker, Rape

Kiara and her brother Marcus were just served a rent increase. Their apartment is shoddy, and the landlord isn’t interested in any repairs or improvements. They are barely getting by now and the increase is going to force them out on the streets. Kiara is also concerned about their young neighbor Trevor. He is ten years old, and his mother goes off and leaves him alone.

Kiara thinks the only way she can earn money is by using her body. One night she is with a guy in an alley and policemen catch her. They arrest the guy, but they take her into their own custody. The book has a steady pace, the characters are developed but broken. It is written in the third person point of view. Although the book is fiction, it is a difficult read because it is a serious issue that needs to be addressed. The author uses a similar event that happened in 2015 for the basis of the book. She wants to bring attention to the millions of sex workers around the world. It is hard to believe she was only seventeen years old when she started writing this novel.