Empty chrysalis, can't see the butterfly ( )

A thriller with depth, written in a style that is very intimate and innovative, resulting in one of the best reads of this year. This was Beverly’s first piece of fiction (and it seems he hasn’t produced any since!). It yielded him at least 4 literary awards including the prestigious CWA gold dagger. Yet it is no typical crime novel or thriller.

Rather it is a coming-of-age novel cum road movie of four black youngsters from LA performing a targeted assassination of a judge in Wisconsin who is about to testify against an LA drug lord, Fin, boss and stepdad to East (for Easton). East has just been witness to a police raid on a drug house under his guard. He could not help it, but Fin makes clear to East that he has to undertake a new job (the assassination) for him, if he wants to stay in business. The motley crew of youngsters assigned for this job, falls under East’s responsibility, though he had no say in its composition: There is the 22 year old Michael Wilson, the oldest hand, a duplicitous snitch who runs a drug network at UCLA for Fin; there is the young and fat Walter, who thinks of nothing but food, is chatty and turns out to be a computer geek cum ID fabricator; and to crown it all, there is East’s younger half brother (same mom, different dad) who acts like a sulking, yet trigger happy street gangster. And sure, almost from the word Go, things start going wrong.

Yet in the end the job gets done, and East wants out. Just when you think East has managed to achieve an opt-out, a ghost from the past gets back to him, and he is all set for the next step in his criminal career. Finger-licking good. ( )

A tight Clockers-like story about a ghetto teenager who gets a chance to take a trip and try to escape his physical and moral confinement. It might be flawless. ( )

Lots of people love this, but I didn't. Was expecting a fast-paced, exciting thriller with a great plot, but this was more a slow, coming-of-age road trip novel with no plot. Got off to a promising start with an original opening, but the Las Vegas scene was anti-climactic and story went downhill from there. The slow pace made the trip seem endless. A police car is behind them. Will they be stopped? No. Another police car is behind them. Will they be stopped this time? No, because then something might happen. The story picked up again with some unexpected action scenes further on, but then it petered out again, and the ending, I thought, was highly implausible. Despite a great writing style, which reminded me of Cormac McCarthy, I didn't find any of the characters interesting or compelling (except silent Ty in the earlier parts) and I couldn't engage with the story. But maybe I just don't like road trips! ( )

Småputtrig historia som aldrig riktigt tar fart, lite veka personbeskrivningar inledningsvis. Halvvägs in i boken ändrar handlingen inriktning och lyfter sig ett snäpp. Tycker klart bäst om andra halvan. Slutet är smart och knyter ihop det hela snyggt. ( )