I AM NOT ALONE by Francisco X. Stork

 

Alberto is living in Brooklyn with his sister and her baby. He works as a painter so he can send money back to his mother and siblings in Mexico. His worries include keeping his sister free of the drugs she used to take, keeping the peace with her boyfriend, and trying to study for his high school equivalency tests. 

Lately, he has been hearing a voice. The voice seems menacing and often threatens Alberto or demands that he do bad things. While working in a customer's apartment, the voice tells him to steal from her and kill her. Alberto calls the voice Captain America. He ignores it as much as possible, but it is getting harder every day.

While working in the apartment of a well-to-do client, Alberto meets a girl named Grace. She seems nice and offers him ice water while he is cleaning paint from the windows. Grace has problems of her own. Her parents have recently divorced. Their expectations for her future are high, but despite achieving the highest rank in her graduating class, Grace isn't sure her acceptance at Princeton is what she really wants. 

When Alberto is accused of killing the elderly woman in the apartment he was painting, he finds himself running from the police. The voice in his head has him doubting his innocence and complicating his thinking. The only person who might be able and willing to help him is Grace, but he doesn't want to put her in danger.

In I AM NOT ALONE author Francisco X. Stork combines poverty and privilege in a heart wrenching story involving mental health and stereotypes that will have readers rooting for Alberto and Grace as they try to struggle against the odds.