This book packs a lot of information about racial inequality in America's past and present into a fictional story. Generally, the facts are sprinkled in pretty naturally through the devices of Kezi's activism and Youtube channel. The novel is a multi-perspective foray through teen drama, road trip montage, period piece, and thriller, always centring Black girls and families in their quest to survive and thrive despite individual and systemic attempts to control, harm, and kill them. In addition to its extensive exploration of Blackness and anti-Black racism in America, One of the Good Ones also looks at sisterhood and family, the tension between who we are and who we are expected to be, mental health, queerness, and grief. Though it deals with a lot of heavy subject matter, the book is ultimately hopeful, and many of its characters get the second chances they thought were impossible.