The Heirs, Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé's (winner of the 2022 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Youth/Teen Literary Work) third solo YA novel, is an electrifying locked-room mystery about wealth, genius, and obsession.
Sixteen years ago, Leontes Button, an eccentric French billionaire, adopted five children from around the world. His intent was to prove that, through his Button Method, " a genius can... be plucked from a random orphanage and made in a lab." Now, the teens are preparing for the 10th annual Prodigy Ball, a two-day showcase hosted by Button. Perdita, Bilal, Fola, and Octavius--nicknamed by journalists "the Artist, the Olympian, the Brain, the Maestro," respectively--will all be featured. Romeo, "the Failure," will not. But the media's characterizations are hardly the full story. Fola, a chess champion, struggles with proving herself to her father. Octavius, regularly heartbroken and detached from his family, has run away to boarding school. Bilal, "the world's youngest Olympic fencing gold medalist," has a potentially career-ending injury. And Perdita created her "supposed masterpiece... over two years ago" and hasn't been able to paint since. When Leontes's battered body is found the morning after the showcase, everyone becomes a suspect as plentiful motives and devastating secrets are uncovered.
Àbíké-Íyímídé (Where Sleeping Girls Lie) delivers a gripping, emotional, slow-burn family drama and deft mystery told in four acts. The novel's first half focuses on the siblings' inner lives, strained family bonds, and burdens of expectation. Àbíké-Íyímídé gives the second half to the investigation, exploring the roots of the Button family: nature vs. nurture, power and status, love and obsession. Teen fans of Jennifer Lynn Barnes's The Inheritance Games, The Umbrella Academy, or Knives Out should revel in this exhilarating mystery. --Natasha Harris, freelance reviewer