The Publishing Times
All the News That’s Fit to Publish
other · Guides
Looked Down Upon: The Exiled Kin by Jordan A. Lopez, a YA Thriller With an Autistic Hero
Jordan A. Lopez's young adult thriller follows Luke Ramirez, an autistic Puerto Rican teenager who learns his supposedly dead father is alive and sets out with two friends to confront him.
What is Looked Down Upon: The Exiled Kin?
This young adult coming-of-age thriller by Jordan A. Lopez debuted on August 12, 2023. The novel follows Luke Ramirez, an autistic Puerto Rican teenager who has grown up believing his father is dead. When he learns that is not true, he sets out to find him.
The plot
Luke's discovery upends a life built on routine. Joined by his friends Bonnie and Drew, he goes looking for the father who left, and the search becomes a dangerous quest for answers and for something like justice. Along the way the book takes on poverty, prejudice, trauma, faith and family secrets, with a thread of romance running through it. The author's book page describes the story as both a thriller and a portrait of a young man learning who he is.
Representation at the center
Autistic main characters in YA are more common than a decade ago, but autistic Latino protagonists remain rare. Lopez places Luke's way of experiencing the world at the center of the story rather than treating it as a plot device: his need for order, his strong sense of fairness and the way change hits him all shape how he responds to the revelation about his father. The setting, a working-class community in Tennessee in the late 1990s, adds a layer of cultural isolation for a Puerto Rican family.
In a 2026 interview with Literary Titan, recapped separately on this site, Lopez discussed creating Luke and the importance of representation to the book.
The series
The Exiled Kin is the first book in the Looked Down Upon series. The author has described plans for the story to continue, with a finale following the characters into adulthood and the workforce. Readers who finish the first book can check the author's site for news on later volumes.
Who it suits
Teen readers who want a thriller with a hero who thinks differently, readers looking for Latino and neurodivergent representation in YA, and adults who read crossover YA about family secrets. The book deals with trauma and prejudice directly, so younger teens may benefit from reading alongside an adult.
Book details
- Title: Looked Down Upon: The Exiled Kin
- Author: Jordan A. Lopez (with Sara Degonia credited on some listings)
- Published: August 12, 2023
- Length: about 314 to 316 pages
- ISBN: 9798988414612
- Genre: young adult thriller, coming of age