Promise Boys

Promise Boys (2023) is a young adult mystery novel by Nick Brooks. On the day of an important basketball game at Urban Promise Prep School in Washington, DC, the school’s principal, Kenneth Moore, is murdered in his office. Three students, J.B., Ramón, and Trey, are taken in for questioning as a flurry of rumors spreads throughout the school and the community. Although each of the boys has their own secrets about the day, they maintain their innocence, eventually working together to uncover the truth. Through their stories, the novel explores themes of The Impact of Systemic Racism, The Value of Family and Friendship, and Maintaining Power by Controlling the Narrative.

This guide refers to the 2023 first hardcover edition published by Cake Creative LLC.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of illness, death, racism, bullying, child abuse, addiction, substance use, sexual content, and cursing.

Plot Summary

At Urban Promise Prep School in Washington, DC, Principal Kenneth Moore is shot and killed in his office. In the room next door, students Jabari “J.B.” Williams, Trey Jackson, and Ramón Zambrano are in detention. The three boys are taken by the police for questioning, sparking rumors and gossip among the students, staff, and community over their guilt. The story begins by covering the days leading up to the murder, exploring where each boy is, what they are doing, and their feelings about Moore’s death.

Promise is a modern, all-boys preparatory school that uses the “Moore Method,” named after its founder and principal. Students are forced to remain quiet throughout the entire day, even during downtime. They are controlled using a system of demerits, where they lose points based on things like not walking down the blue line in the middle of the hall, failing to wear the proper uniform, and failing to follow their teachers’ hand signals that tell them when to stand, when to get in line, and when to leave the room. The dean of students, Wilson Hicks, helped found the school with Moore. Staff like Mrs. Carla Hall and Nurse Robin describe the “toxic masculinity” and the mistreatment of the young boys, while noting rumors that Moore has developed an alcohol use disorder, is divorcing his wife, and is struggling with debt.

J.B. is described by his classmates as someone who is quiet and mostly keeps to himself. The day before the murder, he works up the courage to ask out a girl he likes, Keyana, who accepts. The next day, he spends the time waiting to text her, excited about their plans to go to the basketball game. However, when school is over, Moore confronts him for using his phone to contact her—despite the school day being over. When Moore takes his phone, J.B. angrily spits in his face, causing Moore to slam him into the locker and threaten his expulsion. He is given detention, forcing him to miss the game.

Trey lives with his uncle Terrance “Uncle T” Jackson, who is his mother’s brother. His mother lives in New York City and lost custody of Trey when he was younger due to her substance use. His father died of cancer when he was younger.

As part of the basketball team, Trey is one of the most popular boys at school. However, he is often in trouble for messing around and making jokes during class. The day before the murder, he hurries to leave school so that he is not late getting home. He is stopped by Dean Hicks, who forces him to return to the gym and walk down the blue line—despite the school being empty. As a result, Trey misses his bus, causing Uncle T to physically abuse him as punishment.

The next day, wanting to make sure that he is not late because of the game, Trey rushes out of his house in the morning. When he gets to school, he realizes that he took his uncle’s backpack by mistake. It has Uncle T’s gun inside, so Trey hides it in the school bathroom in a panic. During lunch, he is caught making jokes about Moore, which causes an angry confrontation between the two in the cafeteria. Students overhear Trey threatening to kill Moore as Moore drags Trey out of the cafeteria and gives him detention.

Ramón, the third suspect in Moore’s murder, is a Salvadoran teenager who migrated to the United States with his abuela (grandmother) and his cousin César. César is the leader of a local gang, the Dioses de Humo, which he repeatedly tries to get Ramón to join. However, Ramón insists that he is going to grow up to be a chef. He finds a storefront downtown that he hopes to buy to open his own restaurant, and he helps his abuela make pupusas (a type of Salvadoran flatbread) each day to sell for money.

The day before the murder, Ramón runs into César in front of his school. To his surprise, César is excited about the idea of Ramón buying a restaurant, and he offers to help him find a place. In the middle of the conversation, the police arrive and arrest César, finding a gun in his car. As Ramón looks at the school, he sees Moore, who looks proud of himself for getting César in trouble.

The next morning, Ramón works with his abuela to make extra pupusas to sell at school. The hope is to get enough money for César’s bail. He is angry with Moore and considers working with Ever, another member of the Dioses, to get revenge on him.

At school, Ramón manages to sell most of his pupusas before lunch. However, when one of the students is caught with one, Moore angrily confronts Ramón. He takes all of Ramón’s money and then dumps the rest of the pupusas into the trash. He gives Ramón detention.

As a result of the incidents on the day of the murder, J.B., Trey, and Ramón are seen as the most likely suspects. They each had confrontations with Moore, and they were the only students in detention during the game. They are taken in for questioning by the police, and most of the students and staff gossip about how one of them must be guilty. Despite this, the three boys maintain their innocence.

After being released by the police, each of the boys is told by their family to lie low and allow the police to do their job. Instead, they sneak out of their homes and begin investigating the murder on their own. J.B. recruits the help of Keyana to investigate suspects, while Ramón works with his cousin Magdalena and friend Luis. Trey’s mother comes from New York City, while his uncle struggles to apologize for his abuse and neglect. Eventually, the three boys—along with their friends—end up working together to investigate the murder.

The group narrows its investigation down to four suspects: Mrs. Hall, who is supposedly on maternity leave but was never pregnant and is also in a relationship with one of the police officers investigating the murder; Omar Rosario, a student who works in the office and was in the hallway leading up to Moore’s murder; Nico, a cafeteria worker who is a former member of the Dioses; and Stanley Ennis, Promise’s largest donor, who visited the school that day. They start gathering information about the suspects, eventually focusing on Ennis.

The three boys decide to confront Omar. They find dozens of pictures in his locker of Moore, heightening their suspicion. However, Omar is adamant that he was just working with Moore to create a documentary about the school. After looking into it, Omar discovers that someone using the alias “Stan Lee” was stealing from the Promise Fund, money set aside by donors to be used for students. The boys reason that either Moore himself, Ennis, or Moore and Ennis together were stealing from the fund.

With Omar’s help, the group discovers footage on his camera from the day of Moore’s murder. At a memorial service for Moore, Omar puts together a video celebrating his life. However, at the end, he puts in footage of the murder. In front of the entire school, community, and police, he shows the video of Moore’s death, proving that the killer was Dean Hicks, who angrily confronted him about wanting a cut of the stolen Promise Fund money. Hicks is arrested, the boys are exonerated, and the police begin investigating the embezzlement from the fund led by Moore and Ennis.

A year later, Mrs. Hall has taken over Promise. She has eliminated the strict measures from Moore and replaced most of the staff. She works toward building a mental-health-centered educational model in the school, allowing students to research and implement emerging practices. Trey goes to college to play basketball while majoring in computer science, Ramón goes to culinary school to become a chef, and J.B. embarks on a year-long road trip with Keyana with hopes of going to college for musical composition in the fall.