Picking up 'Hell of a Book', I knew it was going to be a hard read; something that isn't supposed to draw pity from the reader, but to educate and enlighten. 'Hell of a Book' is told through the eyes of a child named Soot, an award-winning author whose name we never learn, and an imaginary child called The Kid. We follow what appears to be two different stories about two different people; a child much loved and protected by his parents and an author on a book tour of his popular new novel. Both characters are black. Both are American. Mott builds the plott as these two stories converge and the reader tries to keep them separate but finds it impossible to do. We never really know if they ARE separate stories or not. What we do know is this book eloquently and in a very unique way is a story about family, love and success. But then we see it's also about the reckoning in America with Black Lives Matter, police shootings and tragedy. Reading 'Hell of a Book' was an unmatched experience: I cried and I laughed, I felt my heart break with each page. Jason Mott did not just write something moving and inspiring, he wrote something real; he saw the world how it really is and put it on paper.