Double Cross: Book 4 (Noughts And Crosses)

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It’s such a shame because the original premise so was stellar, I think as a standalone Noughts and Crosses with a bit more work could’ve been amazing. Not that her writing is inaccessible to adults, just for me it was harder to go back to the point where I left off in this continuing story. This book isn't perfect and you do need to read the books before it, however, if you like the Noughts and Crosses series, then you should be pleasantly glad to read it as it adds more to the whole saga.

Each teenager harbours a dreadful secret, their reluctant friendship flowering and faltering through shared experience, unwilling criminal involvement and the use of violence to defeat evil. The female characters were all strong, independent, well written characters, easy to identify with and respect. I don’t want to say much about the story, as it is the end of a series, which I really do not want to spoil. I will say that this book is particularly action packed with some interesting events which add to the very dramatic story.

Double Cross is a great thriller, but if you normally dream about what you have just read, do not read before bedtime! To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Double Cross retains the themes of racism in its newly post-apartheid world of Noughts and Crosses but it also brings in a new edge. Her work has appeared on screen, with Pig-Heart Boy, which was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal, being adapted into a BAFTA-award-winning TV serial. Although the last 2 books to this series probably aren't my favourites, I feel that the conclusion to them was everything I wanted and definitely made me realise I was more connected to the characters than I thought.

To give it credit, it did keep me entertained and the pacing was good and there were some scenes where I was kept in genuine suspense, but overall just poor. I did however find the resolution of that plot line rather unbelievable given the sudden conscience it required one character to develop, and perhaps the actual ending is a bit too perfect.

This is such a good ending to the series as you see it from how everyone else is feeling about black and white people who are normal everyday people and don't have any money. Blackman is very strong when talking about teen emotions with their wild ups and downs, and she marches through adult objections to graphic sex scenes with utter confidence and aplomb. I’m so sad it veered off the original direction it was going in and rushed to a haphazard conclusion. He was incredibly realistic though, just the sort of person you can see getting caught up in the events of ‘Double Cross’. Now post emancipation, it is the non-black population who are distinctly disadvantaged and impoverished in this alternative future society which is ruled and controlled by the dominating blacks (Crosses).