Hazardous Choices

by Joseph Rinaldo, RinaldoWrite (Editor)

Be the first to experience the new genre - Movie Novel! More entertaining than an iPhone. More captivating than an iPad. More thrilling than...you get the idea. You'll see the movie playing in your mind as you read. Today's fast-paced society demands this new entertaining genre. Hazardous Choices is proud to be a pioneer in this new genre. Of course, the story is what matters... After surviving life in a violent Chicago street gang through his high school years, Darnell Jackson’s future appears promising. A football scholarship gives him the chance to escape the thug lifestyle. During his first year in college, Darnell safely resides in a small Kentucky town, playing Division Two college football and trying to make something of himself. Adjusting to the new surroundings proves tough, but a teammate and a girl give him hope that his future will be better than his past. In the summer after his freshman year, he returns to the old neighborhood to be with his mother. The gang reasserts its hold on him, and the leader orders Darnell to kill a member of a rival gang. Nearly dying in a gang fight, Darnell shoots an enemy gangbanger. This forces Darnell to re-evaluate his future. As a result, he lies to the mercurial leader of his gang, claiming he completed his assignment. After “doing work” for his gang, Darnell receives permission to head back to school and the security of small-town life. When the head gangbanger learns of Darnell’s lie, the small Kentucky town isn’t so safe anymore.

279 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 4, 2011

About the author

Born in Illinois, I nevertheless spent most of my formative years in Kentucky. I attended The Ohio State University and am an avid Buckeyes fan. I currently work in finance, am married, and am the father of a wonderful young woman with Down syndrome.

I have written four novels that have been published. A Spy At Home, Hazardous Choices, A Mormon Massacre, and my newest release, Valerie's Retreat are currently available on Amazon.

Here is a brief blurb about Valerie's Retreat:

Valerie, a middle-aged woman, leading an average life as a head teller at a bank finally finds her soul-mate, Franco. He's sixteen years younger and studying for a Ph.D. in Archeology, but they click. Suddenly, the evil hand of fate causes their lives to fall into a downward spiral. They lean on each other. Trying to find happiness they happen to commit a little crime - make that a little felony, and dash out of the country. Now they're happy - mostly.

Please check out my web page www.josephmrinaldo.com for upcoming releases, and my blog, http://wwwjosephmrinaldocom.blogspot.com, to learn more about me.

Reviews

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I read the blurb, and looked at the fantastic cover for this book, I thought that it sounded a lot like the movie “The Blind Side”, so I was very curious to see what twist the author would put on such a similar theme. The only problem is, I kept falling asleep during the first few chapters of the book! Most of the first chapters are very much a football play-by-play. I’m not a sports fan and didn’t find much enjoyment in reading this; therefore I think guys would enjoy reading it a lot more or even readers who understand American football. The terminology went way over my head, but I got the impression that Mr Rinaldo certainly knows his stuff when it comes to football.

I’m sure the author had a great idea for this book and it was apparent that he attempted to write characters with depth, but the writing style was more that of a sixth grader, and thus I couldn’t relate to the characters or immerse myself in the events in their lives, at all – which is a pity, because the author is on to a great story here. The only character whose story line I found fascinating was that of Eric’s – a boy with Down Syndrome. He was sensitively portrayed as a person with a disability, but not as someone who are to be looked down on.

One of the things that started irritating me after awhile, was one of the character’s uses of the word “like”. Like every fourth or fifth word in her dialogue, like contained the word like, which just like got on my nerves after awhile and it later like had me gnawing my teeth. Yes, she used that word like that many times! Was it maybe meant as a characteristic of that specific character? I don’t know, and I fully understand that this is the way many young people talk today, but it was overused with this specific character and the reader just ends up disliking her for it.

I’m not trying to slam the author here, as while reading “Hazardous Choices” it was clear to me that Joseph M Rinaldo has more than enough talent to write masterpieces; and with the right guidance he will be able to successfully accomplish what he set out to do in the first place with this book, and that is to write a novel that will touch readers on different emotional levels. In my opinion he only needs a little more practice and direction on how to convey fantastic plot ideas, without spoon-feeding it to the reader and leave a little for the reader’s imagination.

I’m hard-pressed to give this book a 3-star rating instead of 2 stars - but I’ll go with 3 stars. Why? Taking everything I said above into consideration, it’s not a terrible book (if you don’t mind the abrupt ending). I recommend it for young adult readers (over the age of 16), especially boys who are into football and other sports. Also, the storyline was quite good and one that I believe most readers would enjoy, especially once you’ve gotten past the first five chapters. So have a go at it, and let me know what you think.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hazardous Choices is written by Joseph Rinaldo and published by Smashwords. The novel is approximately 88,000 words and 30 chapters in length.

Joseph Rinaldo has two published novels the third he is currently editing. Joseph has a daughter who has down syndrome and he hopes his voice can be a guide to parents in a similar situation by creating a character within his first two published novels whom have down syndrome.

Coach Rotteli is keen to get his football team, the Western Kentucky state University Bobcats, back on top form after several losses but it is going to take a lot of work for everyone, so he needs his home life to run smoothly and between a son who has down syndrome and a daughter who is little interested in her studies he has his work cut out at least until another teacher steps in to help with the families communication barriers when it comes to son Eric.
When Darnell, a football player and member of the Knights of Neptune wants out of the gang, he hides who he really is. On return home and to the gang Darnell’s life takes a turn for the worst when he kills someone to please the gang and to enable his return to school and football. Ashamed of his life outside of school Darnell keeps it secret. But just how long can he keep living two separate lives and prevent them from crossing paths without casualties on either end? How many decisions is he going to have to make and will they be the right ones? How many lives are going to be effected by his actions? Not wanting to appear siss-e-fied by either side, if he wants to follow his dreams and leave the tower block back home, what is a guy to do?

Life is full of hazardous choices and that appears to be the point in this story however as much as I know football is important to this story, for me there is just too much description about the game because of this I would have to say that this book is aimed more at a male audience rather than a female one.
However, the story of Eric is far more interesting and I would have liked to have seen more of his story open up and perhaps have his character a little more involved especially at the end.
Gang life appears portrayed very well and the story itself is well written but I have this nagging feeling that some of the football descriptions were word fillers to amp up the word count and this has thrown off the balance of the story. I actually like the idea of the story and would have liked to have seen more about the similarities between gangs and teams rather than read about a football game.

Hazardous Choices is very much a story about brotherhood and loyalty to the end, it also depicts slight similarities between gang life and that of a team of footballers. There is also a story of connections between people and the bonds they have which is especially portrayed by Nicole and Eric.
From a males point of view this book would probably have a higher rate however being a female who prefers books to sport I could only recommend this book to males above 18 years of age or football fans.
I give Hazardous Choices by Joseph Rinaldo 3.5 out of 5 stars.

By R.N. Hadley

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Growing up in a Chicago ghetto neighborhood where street gangs ruled everything, a kid had two choices: either join the gang or endure daily beatings for refusing to become a gang member. There was only a few ways to escape gang life: die, become a professional sports player or a professional musician. For Darnell Jackson, Division II college football was his ticket out of the gang lifestyle ... or so he thought .... that was until his two worlds collided due to his Hazardous Choices.

Darnell Jackson was recruited to play wide receiver for Western Kentucky State University Bobcats Division II college football team, even though it was alleged that he had gang affiliation and had an actual criminal record for petty theft. For Darnell, attending WKSU in small town Owensboro, Kentucky, was his chance to finally escape the treacherous Chicago ghetto gang lifestyle. Darnell desperately tried to keep his two worlds separate, but nothing could stop the fact that when college ended for the summer after his freshman year, he would have to rejoin the Knights of Neptune gang in Chicago. The unwritten gang rule was that no one was ever allowed to leave the gang lifestyle unless you died, joined a professional sports team or became a professional musician. For Darnell, that summer back in Chicago would leave him no choice but to obey Slice, his treacherous gang leader, even if it meant that he had to kill other gangbangers. Darnell felt an overwhelming oppressive tension of being part of the gang life again, and his reluctance to kill or be killed, led him to decide to escape back to his other life in Owensboro by lying to Slice about a "completed" mission. That lie would later come to haunt him, as Slice sent his henchmen to Kentucky to confront Darnell for the Hazardous Choices that he made. What happens to Darnell and the sleepy little Kentucky college town will have you sitting on the edge of your seat.

Hazardous Choices is an action packed story full of suspense that kept me intrigued and turning the pages to see what would happen next. Author Joseph Rinaldo does a great job of describing the differences in both the reality of street gangs and college football lifestyles. As a football fan (college and pro), I enjoyed the thorough description of what makes a college football team work. The author also provides a very realistic description of ghetto life and the gang lifestyle. The characters in the story (college and gang) were realistic and engaging, it was very easy for me to get caught up in all of the characters' stories. The only thing that I didn't quite like was the rather surprisingly abrupt ending of the story, I thought it left the readers hanging, which is a shame. Nonetheless, fans of suspense thrillers will definitely enjoy the roller coaster ride that this book provides.

Disclaimer: At the request of the author, a PDF edition of this book was sent, at no cost to me, for my honest review.


Virtual Book Tour Event: On Wednesday, November 30, 2011, Joseph Rinaldo participated in a virtual book tour event with an Author Guest Post on Jersey Girl Book Reviews. http://jerseygirlbookreviews.blogspot...

http://jerseygirlbookreviews.blogspot...

[Kathy LaMee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hazardous Choices by Joseph Rinaldo is a book that follows the lives of three intertwined characters. First is Darnell, a young college student, we meet him as he finishes up his freshman year at a small Kentucky school and heads back home to Chicago and a former gang-life he’d like to forget. We also follow his team-mate and best friend, as he deals with his own home life back in rural Kentucky. Finally, as readers we get to know the head coach and his family, including his teenage daughter and his 22 year old son. The story is told in segments through the eyes of these different personalities and lives that all meet up on the football field. The main plot centers on Darnell, as he heads home and has to function in the gang in order to stay alive. When he has to risk everything to get out of Chicago, things go very bad, both for Darnell and folks back in Kentucky.
Rinaldo has a very distinct writing style. It’s conversational and extremely descriptive and sometimes reads like a memoir. I easily connected with each one of the characters and the individual story lines. That said, this book is very different than a typical sports-centered fiction book. There is a lot of football talk, which in all honesty drug it down for me. I’m not familiar with nor am I interested in the fine points of the sport, and I think I would have gotten just as much out of this book without all of the football education. I was tempted to put it down at times because I couldn’t stay on track during those segments of the book. However, the rest of the story kept me engaged and needing to find out how it all ended. I was very intrigued by the story of the coach’s family. I can definitely see where Rinaldo used his own life experiences to draw the reader in to the plot line with coach and his family dynamics. You can’t help but fall in love with his son who has Down Syndrome and learns to overcome some communication barriers.
Darnell and his plight is one that is common, or at least perceived as common to those outside the rough neighborhoods of large cities. He is drawn into gang life because he has no choice and football offers him a way out. My heart ached for Darnell and for kids who have to experience this type of life because they have no alternative. You can easily see why he wants to get back to Kentucky and the small town ‘normal’ life.
Overall I enjoyed the read. There are times when I feel it is plodding along, and there is some repetition due to cross over of characters and how the book is set up. But, at the end of the book, I felt like I’d gained something worthwhile in my time. I’ve thought a lot about this book and about the topics that Rinaldo covers. For me, I like books that leave me chewing on the subjects over days or even weeks. I found that satisfaction in Hazardous Choices.I received a free copy of this book for an honest review. TracyRiva.com

[Donna Brown]

Hazardous Choices tells the story of a former street gang member trying to make good in a new life in a small Kentucky town. With a place on the football team, new friends and a chance to start over, things are looking up for Darnell. However, in the Summer he returns to his former neighbourhood and becomes embroiled in gang ‘politics’ and hazardous choices transform Darnell’s life once again.

There are aspects of the book that make for a well written story. Despite some very poor choices, Darnell does come across as quite a sympathetic character, embroiled in a culture that originally seemed to offer security but which quickly becomes a burden. There’s an incredible weight of expectation on this young man and Rinaldo does manage to get the message across that the walls seem to be closing in on his bright new future and the panic that that creates in Darnell’s world.

There were other aspects of the books I found harder to connect with. There is quite a lot of jargon about football and even though this is a huge part of Darnell’s world I did think it was sometimes overplayed within the book. Additionally, sometimes I did feel that the book was slightly repetitive or circling. At 279 pages, some of it felt a little like ‘filler’ and it could have been stripped down.

Rinaldo shows promise with this title and does seem to have an aptitude for character development and a good storyline. While the book didn’t rock my reading world it was an interesting story.

**Review originally published on Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave. I received a copy of the book in exchange for a fair and honest review. I did not receive any additional compensation and all views are my own.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5* but as there are no 1/2 stars i will upgrade to 3



Initially I was totally out of my depth, I know absolutely zero about American football and the opening chapters are full of talk about the game with sports terminology that went right over my head. I also got very confused between all the coaches…….this team had so many different ones that I couldn’t keep track of who’s who! It was slightly frustrating and slowed the pace of the story down for me…..but saying that if American football is your thing then that won’t be a problem for you.

This was a typical coming of age book with the added hardship of gang life, Darnell was a nice lad who had no choice but to join a gang, The ‘gangsta’ talk got a bit annoying ‘ Dis, dan, da, dat, dem, dey, ‘cuz dat ain’t where dey lookin’ fo' us.” But obviously that’s how Darnell and his ‘home’ friends spoke so it was relevant to the story and was needed. The general plot wasn’t very unique though I haven’t read anything like Erics story before so that made a nice change. I enjoyed the fact that there was a character with Down’s and we were given insight into the condition. Just because Eric couldn’t speak didn’t mean he was ‘stupid’. JMR managed to get the message over quite subtly that we should not judge on first appearances or discriminate over disabilities. It was nice to see that eventually Eric managed to learn how to communicate with the people around him.

I did struggle with this book, mainly because of the crass dialogue, and the football references but also because I found it a bit boring. Sorry.

Copy supplied for review

[Samantha Leighanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

**I received this book from the author in exchange for a completely honest review**

I read another one of Rinaldo's books and I liked it, but this one left something to be desired for me. It has received a lot of good reviews on several different sites, but I guess I just didn't connect with the story very well.

The very beginning of the book was a lot of talk about football, which I personally found hard to get through. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE football, especially college football, (I am from the south guys) but its something that I would much rather watch than read about. I get that this was how Darnell was supposed to be changing his life, but I felt that some of it could have been left out.

I really liked the premise of the book, and even some of the characters I liked, but I just couldn't connect with it like I wanted to. The ending was also pretty abrupt for me, and I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about that.
By no means is it a bad book, like I said, a lot of other people have really enjoyed it, but sometimes these things happen, you just can't connect with a book like you want to. If the blurb sounds interesting to you, I suggest you get the book and give it a read yourself, maybe you will find a better connection than I did.

Like I said, its not a bad book, but I couldn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to, and for that reason it only gets 2 out of 5 stars.

[Wendy Hines · Rating 3 out of 5]

Western Kentucky State University's football team takes the spotlight in this wonderful novel by Joseph Rinaldo. We are taken into the lives of not only the players, but also the coaches and their families. Darnell is an intelligent college student who left behind a gang and a record to make something of himself. Troy tries really hard to lead his team to victory and to make good choices, even though he slips sometimes to have fun.

The coach’s son, Eric, has Down syndrome and his mother gets the idea to have him take a sign language course. Maybe then she can have a conversation with him that includes more than grunts. His sister, Nicole, takes the class with him so she can teach their parents.

But as the team practices and goes into a new season, someone from a player's past comes to visit and brings with them tragedy and destruction. Will they be able to make the correct choices or will it be too late?

Hazardous Choices is an engaging read with an eccentric cast of characters who all bring something different to the story. There are many subplots going on that merge into the main storyline beautifully and keep the reader entranced. The only disappointment I had was the ending; it was too abrupt, although I understand why it was written in such a fashion. If you like reading about college sports and about choices that can change your life, you'll enjoy Hazardous Choices.

[Benjamin Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hazardous Choices, a book by author Joseph Rinaldo (and the second I've read of his) hits HARD.

Hazardous Choices is the story about a college football player named Darnell who goes to school in a small town in Kentucky to escape his life back home in Chicago which consists of being in a gang. The story is VERY intense because you know, at some point, the paths between his life back home and his life in Kentucky are gonna cross and it's not gonna be good.

The thing I liked about this book is the characters, all of which are written very believably and you grow to care about them. You don't want them to make some of the choices that they do but you can very easily understand WHY they make the choices that they do. There are several story lines (football, gang life, a family learning how to communicate with a special needs kid, etc...) that, taken separately, would make for good books in themselves but, woven together, they form this magical tapestry of a book that you really should read. It's a very quick read and, even when it ends (and I was surprised by it) you will be left wanting more.

I was very impressed with it and hope that everyone will give this book a shot.

Highly recommended.

[Dixie Goode · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you don't like violence, or if you live for happy endings, this is not the book for you. However, It rings of some of the great Shakespearean tragedies in a very modern setting and involved me in caring for characters who were obviously busily living up to the title of the novel. There is a family with a young, down syndrome boy who struggles to communicate but has mastered the social skills of caring and making friends. There are a football team and the coaches involved in learning how to come together after a losing year, contrasted with the street gang trying simply to survive in a world where no choice is anything but hazardous. There is young love, and parental love and teenage rebellion and angst and gang hatred, all interwoven smoothly to keep you hoping for that elusive happy ending for the characters you care about.

If you love an emotional rollercoaster, and college football, if you have ever wanted to see a believable character with down syndrome, if you wonder about the hazard's of gang life, then I strongly recommend Hazardous Choices.

[Norma Budden · Rating 5 out of 5]

It seems the main character in this book, Darnell, has had little opportunity to make choices which were not hazardous. Even so, being part of a gang - due to circumstance rather than desire - Darnell made the best of his life and tried to move beyond his circumstances.

Reading this book brought me back to a time when my oldest daughter was intrigued with gangs and my insistence that she avoid them was paramount. There are no such gangs where we live but, thankfully, this book provides a great educational tool. The days have long since passed since my daughter and I had conflicting issues in terms of gangs but it was a pleasure seeing her eyes truly open as to the perils involved with gang association - from the loss of peace of mind even to the extent of dying, in some cases.

Rinaldo has created an exceptional story with real characters and it would be an honor to read other stories he writes.

[C.C. Cole · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Hazardous Choices” by Joseph Rinaldo follows a young African-American who tries to leave his past life in the world of inner-city gangs to become part of the world of college athletics. In his new world, he meets new friends and new experiences, but his world of the past envelops him when he travels home to see his mother. His former gang life catches up with him as he returns to complete his education. In this intriguing, well-written story, the reader is drawn in to the lead character’s double life. The few clichés do not take away the compelling but disturbing underlying message of this excellent book. Four Stars!

[Joseph Rinaldo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes All Your Choices Are Hazardous, November 11, 2011

By Elliot Malach "The Unknown Surfer" (Galveston, Tx)

This review is from: HAZARDOUS CHOICES (Kindle Edition)

The book moves quickly and is an easy read. I could not put it down. The author, Joseph Rinaldo. does a great job of developing the characters, especially Darnell and his gang involvement.

I was surprised by the last chapter. The book stopped but my mind kept going. Great book for a sequel.
Very entertaining.