Review of When the Reckoning Comes by LaTanya McQueen

This is a Southern Gothic that takes place in North Carolina. It begins with three unlikely childhood friends. Mira, Jesse and Celine. Celine is made fun of in their little segregated town because she’s the only white girl with black friends. Those friends being Mira and Jesse. Their town of Kipsen resides in the shadow of the old long since abandoned Woodsman Plantation. The plantation is said to be haunted by the slaves that worked the land and even died there. 

On a dare Mira and Jesse make a little day trip to the plantation to prove to themselves that it wasn’t haunted. Celine refused to go. Mira and Jesse’s plantation visit doesn’t quite go as planned and they both retreat from the haunted structure in different directions, each shocked by what they had witnessed separately. 

When they finally meet up Jesse asked Mira what she saw and she informed him that she didn’t see anything and just shrugged the whole thing off. The next day Jesse was arrested for a murder that was committed on the plantation property and Mira decides to come forward to the police to let them know what she saw. Jesse was released from jail but would not talk to Mira. After all of this each friend distanced themselves and moved forward in their lives with Mira being the only one of the friends to get out of their hometown.

Ten years later Celine reaches out to Mira asking her to be a guest at her wedding which will be held at the newly remodeled Woodsman Plantation. Mira is apprehensive to say the least, but when she’s told that Jesse will be there she reconsiders as she hasn’t seen him since she fled their hometown ten years ago.

This story is told from Mira’s point of view. Some parts of this book were very difficult to read because it deals with the torture of slaves, abuse and cruelty beyond comprehension. This book is well told and beautifully written. It touches on real traumas, recent and historical. When the Reckoning Comes is a very haunting tale that I think will stick in my mind for a long time to come and a book can live in your mind for any amount of time you know it’s something special.