Devils Within — S.F. Henson

Killing isn't supposed to be easy. But it is. It's the after that's hard to deal with.

Nate grew up at The Fort, a white supremacist compound. He was eight the first time he stabbed someone; he was eleven when he earned his red laces -- a prize for spilling blood for "the cause." And he was fourteen when he murdered his father (and the leader of The Fort) in self-defense, landing in a treatment center while the state searched for his next of kin. And now, in the custody of an uncle he never knew existed, who wants nothing to do with him, Nate just wants to disappear.

Enrolled in a new school under a false name, so no one "back home" can find him, he struggles to forge a new life, trying to learn how to navigate a world where racism is not acceptable. But he can't stop the racist thoughts from popping into his head, or help the way he shivers with a desire to commit violence. He wants to change -- he just doesn't know where to start.

And then he meets Brandon, the first person to treat him like a person instead of a monster. The person he would have made pay for the color of his skin in his old life. Brandon could never understand Nate's dark past, so Nate keeps quiet. And it works for a while. But all too soon, his worlds crash together, and he must decide between his own survival and standing for what's right, even if it isn't easy. Even if society will never be able to forgive him for his sins.

Like a teen AMERICAN HISTORY X, S.F. Henson's DEVILS WITHIN is gut-wrenching, thought-provoking, no-holds-barred look at racism in contemporary American culture that may have you examining your own soul.