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Reviewed by Christian Sia for Readers' Favorite
Nubia Johnson is a disciplined, principled USCIS officer who discovers that her case files and digital badge are weapons in a hidden war in David L. Wadley’s Passport Bro. She has always believed in justice and fairness, even if it is difficult to find justice in the department where she works. Discovering that deportation records are altered and case files erased, and a scheme that targets vulnerable families, Nubia is determined to uphold the truth. In her attempt to save a detained child from an illegal removal masterminded by the Director, she becomes the enemy, a target of a corrupt system run by powerful men. She is framed as a domestic extremist, loses her access, and is forced to go underground. But she decides not to go without a fight. With the support of her boyfriend and recovering “passport bro,” Cush, the enigmatic Malakai, and a strategist called David, she sets out to unravel the web of corruption in immigration that involves profits from private detention contracts. What follows is a revolution that pulls the community behind Nubia.
The first sentence caught my attention: “Los Angeles always looked different when you came home broke.” This is how the author introduces the hardships in Los Angeles and progresses to paint a portrait of a society driven to tension by corruption and injustice. Passport Bro is a thriller that examines the machinery of digital surveillance, the loopholes in the deportation process that open the door for corrupt officials, and what happens when a community rises to say no. The characters are rock-solid, and Nubia was exemplary for me, a symbol of resistance and someone who quickly transitions from chasing accuracy at work to fighting against a system that profits from those they should protect. David L. Wadley’s novel is a page-turner that had me thinking about what is actually happening in the United States at this moment; it is timely and utterly resonant. While the themes are relevant and thought-provoking, the story itself is crafted in gorgeous prose, with exciting drama, an enthralling love story, and characters that stay with you even after you have turned the last page.