Uzodinma Iweala's long-awaited follow-up to Beasts of No Nation — the book behind the critically acclaimed 2015 film — does not disappoint and is by far one of the most riveting books I've read so far this year. Speak No Eviltraces a young man's reckoning of the privilege he's been born into and the sexuality that he can no longer keep repressed — and the toll it takes on not just his own journey to adulthood, but that of his best female friend. It's a story that will stay with you long after you turn the last page and should be seen as essential reading in 2018.