Our Beautiful Boys

When the star players on a high school football team are accused of violence by another student, their secrets—and the secrets of their parents—threaten to shatter their entire community in a gripping novel of race, class, and privilege from the author of Members Only.

Vikram Shastri has always been a good kid. He’s got a 4.3 GPA, listens to his parents, barely hits the parties, and is on track for college. But when he gets the chance to play on his high school football team, his world suddenly starts to shift. Basking in their recent victory, Vikram and his teammates, Diego and MJ, attend the famed party at the Southern California cave and find themselves lost in the dark of night, carried away by male bravado, with a classmate who has annoyed them their whole lives.

But when the kid emerges with injuries that prove to be more serious than the all-star boys intended, they are suspended from the rest of the season and the boys’ parents are brought in to mitigate the situation. As the parents try to protect their kids, they’re also managing their own midlife crises—from failing businesses and fake identities and alienation. While the parents work together, and against, each other to figure out the truth of that night, the boys must come to terms with how much of their own secrets they’re willing to reveal to clear their names.

Insightful and deeply human, The Boys explores class, race, education, and privilege and the games the world makes each of us play.