Rajan has always had a soft spot for Simran, a kind and patient peer tutor who helped him with math in high school despite his rough-around-the-edges demeanor. Now, a year after graduation, the Punjabi Canadian teens’ lives again intersect. Released from juvie and clean, Rajan moves back home to Kelowna, British Columbia, hoping to stay out of the crosshairs of his former Vancouver gang, the Lion’s Share. Simran, a devout Sikh, is attending a local college, forgoing her dream school to stay near her mom, who has cancer. When the Lions find Rajan, demanding he work off his debt, Simran makes a deal with them behind his back: She’ll help decode the books of rival gang the Aces in exchange for Rajan’s freedom. The deciphering work is satisfying to Simran’s mathematical mind, and she’s good at it—so good that she quickly makes herself dangerously indispensable to the Lions and a target of the Aces. Leaving the Lions once Rajan’s debt is paid off is no longer an option. This taut, high-stakes contemporary thriller includes realistic scenes of violence and drug use. The third-person perspective alternates its focus between Simran and Rajan, whose believable, slow-burn romance will either ruin or rescue them. Despite their differing circumstances, the teens share commonalities as children of immigrants who experience certain pressures. With rich characterization and an engrossing plot, this novel delivers on every front.