The Monsters We Defy is an all-black 1920's supernatural heist story. This book is a blend of both historical black Washington DC and supernatural elements like spirits, root work, and even some Soloman references. I found out afterwards that the main character Clara is a fictionalized version of Carrie Johnson from the 1919 DC race war. I just really appreciated all the historical detail that rooted this book into a particular time and place.

I enjoyed this quite a bit, and it hit all the notes of the heist genre that I enjoy: found family feelings, having to work with people you want to trust but might be working at cross purposes, and a good unseen twist (with a plot reason why the reader wouldn't know this). However it was the setting and great cast of characters that really made it all shine for me.