Borderline

Borderline

By: Allan Stratton

When the FBI descends in a whirlwind on Sami Sabiri's home, Sami is shocked to find his family accused of being at the center of an international terror plot. Now Sami's biggest problem certainly isn't that he's the only Muslim kid at school, or that he's been suspicious of his dad for a while. Instead, everything he has ever known comes into question, and he must fight to keep his world from unraveling.

summary from book

My Rating: 4.5/5

Borderline addresses a topic that we are all very familiar with but places emphasis on one particular family and their struggle as they find themselves in the midst of an FBI interrogation. I had never read a novel that dealt with terrorism in general and I enjoyed the personal look at a family struggling with accusations and the inside looking out effect of being amidst it all, sympathizing with these characters and wanting the best for them.

Sami is the protagonist and I loved him from the very beginning. He is very easy to relate to and I was always pulling for him, angry when he was teased and bullied at school. I hated that Sami as well as his family had to experience such injustice just because of their race and religion. Borderline is a very important novel in my opinion because it puts the reader in the world of such characters and makes you take a full look at who they really are as opposed to the stereotypes that unfortunately plague them and where many assumptions are drawn from. We live in an extremely judgmental society and books like this one I believe, help people to open their minds.

The pacing for this story was great. I've seen in other reviews around the internet that some found the beginning to be quite slow which I can understand but I actually really enjoyed all parts of this book. Borderline is divided into four sections, the first little section really just focused on getting a feel for Sami and who he is as well as the relationships he has with other characters such as his best friends and parents and so on. The pacing continues to build and build until the FBI interrogation and after that, things really take off. I read this book in quite a short time, always captivated even from the very first page. A lot took me by surprise in Borderline with little twists and turns that I didn't see coming.

Overall: Borderline is an excellent read. I think it's a great book for teens of different age groups as well as adults. I think many people would enjoy this novel. There's suspense, lovable characters, plot twists, and excellent pacing as well as much much more.