In this blistering follow-up to Oaktown Devil, ambitious new players vie to control the complex and deadly Oakland drug scene. Big Ed takes over the East Side Empire. Shakey Jones, Buckey's brother, is released from prison and his sole goal is to avenge the deaths of Buckey and his woman, Violet—deaths he thinks were caused by Rainbow's betrayal. Shakey and Big Ed want the same turf, which sets up a rivalry whose endgame is predictable: a dizzying spiral of murder and revenge. Big Ed's seizure of Vanessa, taken after he kills her man in front of her, turns sour when he realizes Vanessa is more than he bargained for. In Renay Jackson's world, based on his observations of Oakland, California, the men are vicious, the women avaricious, and everyone steps on—or tries to kill—everyone else in the hopeless quest for power, prestige, money, and ultimately, love.