Lamar Giles: "Ruin Road"

Ruin Road is a nonstop, whip-smart, terrifying, and addicting joyride about race, fear, and who the real monsters are. Cade Webster lives between worlds. He’s a standout football star at the right school but lives in the wrong neighborhood—if you let his classmates tell it. Everywhere but home, people are afraid of him for one reason or another. Afraid he’s too big, too fast, too ambitious, too Black. Then one fateful night, to avoid a dangerous encounter with the police, he ducks into a pawn shop. An impulse purchase and misspoken desire change everything when Cade tells the shopkeeper he wishes people would stop acting so scared around him, and the wish is granted...At first, it feels like things have taken a turn for the better. But it’s not just Cade that people no longer fear—it’s everything. With Cade spreading this newfound “courage” wherever he goes, anything can happen. Fearless acts of violence begin to escalate in both his neighborhood and at school. Something monstrous is clearly at work and it’s up to Cade to stop it. But just what did he buy and what’s the price to undo the damage? After all, the devil’s in the details.

Lamar Giles will be joined in conversation by New York Times bestselling-author Dhonielle Clayto

About the Author:

Lamar Giles is the author of The Getaway; Spin, which was a New York Times Editors' Choice and a YALSA Quick Pick; Overturned, which was also a YALSA Quick Pick; Not So Pure and Simple; Fake ID, which was an Edgar Award finalist and a YALSA Quick Pick; and Endangered, which was also an Edgar Award finalist. He is the editor of the anthology Fresh Ink and has contributed to many other anthologies as well. Lamar is a founding member of We Need Diverse Books.

About the Moderator:

Dhonielle Clayton is a New York Times bestselling author of The Conjureverse series, The Belles series, Shattered Midnight, co-author of Blackout, Whiteout, The Rumor Game, and of the Tiny Pretty Things duology, a Netflix original series. She hails from the Washington, D.C. suburbs on the Maryland side. She taught secondary school for several years, and is a former elementary and middle school librarian. She is Board Chair of the non-profit We Need Diverse Books. She is the President and founder of Cake Creative and Electric Postcard Entertainment, IP story companies creating diverse books for all ages. She’s an avid traveler, and always on the hunt for magic and mischief.

About the Program:

• Doors will open to registered attendees at 3 pm.
• All registered in person attendees will receive a free copy of the book while supplies last.
• Free lot parking is available.

Host or Publisher Enoch Pratt Free Library