The Heirs by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé is about five dysfunctional siblings and the secrets they keep. Leontes Button, a billionaire, is famous for the Button method, a method he came up with to produce prodigies. Years ago, he adopted five kids and assigned each of them something they would become a prodigy at. Their childhood was filled with rigorous training and little recreational time. With time, the media eventually gave each prodigy a nickname. Octavius, the Maestro. Bilal, the Olympian. Fola, the Brain. Perdita the Artist, and lastly, Romeo, the Failure, the only one with whom the method failed. Every year, Leontes hold the annual prodigy ball, inviting prodigies and geniuses from all over the world.

However, at this year’s tenth prodigy ball, disaster strikes. In the morning, before the brunch Leontes holds annually, he is found murdered in his own office. And so begins a police investigation, and along the way it will be revealed that each of the siblings have their own dark secrets, including about what happened the night of their father’s murder.

I really enjoyed this book and it brought up some important questions: How far will you go for brilliance? With each of the siblings it has demonstrated how despite each of them having great accomplishments, such as the chess grandmaster title, a gold medal, or creating jaw-dropping art pieces, their harsh childhood involving the Button method clearly left a lasting impact on them. They have drifted apart from each other, and don’t have a good relationship with their father either. Octavius is drifting from relationship to relationship, experiencing heartbreak after heartbreak without any clear goal. Fola is constantly chasing after her father’s approval. Bilal is injured due to an accident, which is especially threatening to his career as a professional fencer, well on his way to more gold medals. However throughout the book it is revealed that he isn’t as passionate about fencing as everyone thinks, having been essentially forced into it. His injury isn’t as accidental as everyone believes either. Perdita has been unable to create an art piece ever since her masterpiece she created years ago, which has sold for a large sum of money and highly praised. And of course, Romeo, the one who the method did not work on. He was cast into the background, ignored by his father and dubbed the failure by the media. So while the method largely worked, it came at the price of their happiness and relationships.

This book managed to balance humor and more serious matters effortlessly. In addition, the characters were well thought out and well written, with each one having their distinct personality and characteristics. It would have been nice to dive deeper into each character’s struggles and get to know them more.

Overall, it was a great book with a puzzling murder mystery and a highly dysfunctional family with dark secrets. 

4/5 Stars