Reviewed by Teresa Konopka
 
Suspense drips off the pages of Caroline B. Cooney’s “Diamonds in the Shadow” like crystal teardrops drip off stalagmites.  The reader is thrown in every direction wondering which truth is actually plausible.

The story revolves around the Finch family and the Amabo refugees.  Both families consist of a mother, father, daughter, and son.  This gives the novel different perspectives and makes it easy for the reader to keep track of characters.  Each person’s story and outlook on life is their own.  Mrs. Finch is fastidious, Mr. Finch is passive, Jared is sarcastic, and Mopsy is optimistic.  As for the Amabo refugees, the father is reserved because his hands were cut off in Africa.  The mother is outspoken and tends to her disabled husband.  Mattu the boy is tall, handsome, athletic, and surprisingly book smart.  Alake is very shy and emaciated, not speaking a word for most of the book.

The story of how the Amabos end up with the Finches introduces yet another conflict.  This involves the family’s church [and a secret of its own] that temporarily destroys some of the Finch’s trust in the church and its congregation.  That is more of a subplot but is equally interesting.  The main adventure is when Jared and Mopsy look inside Mattu’s boxes.  Mattu claimed that the contents were ashes of his grandparents.  However, the contents are full of rough diamonds--blood diamonds.  This is where Cooney’s brilliance shines through. Sure, there have been plenty of movies and books on African struggles over blood diamonds.  Yet, none of those have been real enough to impact readers.  The stories were in Africa, about Africa, or just involving shipment from Africa.  Cooney makes this all happen in an American household under feasible conditions that really makes it lifelike to American readers.

More drama is inserted when the Finch family begins to question whether or not the Amabos are actually a real family.  While the older Amabos tend to each other like spouses, they do not focus on their supposed children.  Furthermore, the children do not even interact with each other.  Further skepticism is enhanced whence Cooney inserts little flashback paragraphs that describe Mattu being scarred by a machete and Alake being forced to kill her teachers in Africa and become a child soldier.

When the Amabos first left their airplane and went to the Finches, they were separated from a man named Victor.  Victor is an irate African war criminal with an unusual agenda.  His real reason for tracking down the Amabos and why he is involved in the story is revealed as the book progresses.  Deep relationships form between the two families as they learn to tolerate others’ cultures and forgive past mistakes.  The adventure in the last chapter is so intense that it makes for a blockbuster ending that reveals all.

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