Kenyatta's Escape

Kenyatta #3

by Donald Goines

Kenyatta had two cleaning the ghetto of all drug traffic and gunning down all the racist white cops! But a black and white detective team, Benson and Ryan, is on his tail and has discovered the location of his army's camp. Armed with tanks, they bring a bloody doomsday to his followers. In Kenyatta's Escape, Gionse continues his story of the bloody, brutal world of crime he began in Crime Panthers and Death List. They're all back for a coast to coast chase that spells gripping adventure.

Genres: Crime, Fiction, Urban, African American, Adult Fiction, Mystery

240 pages, Paperback

Published November 28, 2023

About the author

Donald Goines was born in Detroit to a relatively comfortable family - his parents owned a local dry cleaner, and he did not have problems with the law or drugs. Goines attended Catholic elementary school and was expected to go into his family's laundry business. Instead Goines enlisted in the US Air Force, and to get in he had to lie about his age. From 1952 to 1955 he served in the armed forces. During this period he got hooked on heroin. When he returned to Detroit from Japan, he was a heroin addict.

The next 15 years from 1955 Goines spent pimping, robbing, stealing, bootlegging, and running numbers, or doing time. His seven prison sentences totaled 6.5 years. While in jail in the 1960s he first attempted to write Westerns without much success - he loved cowboy movies. A few years later, serving a different sentence at a different prison, he was introduced to the work of Iceberg Slim (Robert Beck). This time Goines wrote his semi-autobiographical novel Whoreson, which appeared in 1972. It was a story about the son of a prostitute who becomes a Detroit ghetto pimp. Also Beck's first book, Pimp: The Story of My Life (1967), was autobiographical. Goines was released in 1970, after which he wrote 16 novels with Holloway House, Iceberg Slim's publisher. Hoping to get rid of surroundings - he was back on smack - he moved with his family to the Los Angeles ghetto of Watts.

All of Goines's books were paperback originals. They sold well but did not receive much critical attention. After two years, he decided to return to Detroit. Goines's death was as harsh as his novels - he and his wife were shot to death on the night of October 21, 1974. According to some sources Goines's death had something to do with a failed drugs deal. The identity of the killers remained unknown, but there were reports of "two white men". Posthumously appeared Inner City Hoodlum (1975), which Goines had finished before his death. The story, set in Los Angeles, was about smack, money, and murder.

The first film version of Goines's books, Crime Partners (2001), was directed by J. Jesses Smith. Never Die Alone (1974), about the life of a drug dealer, was filmed by Ernest R. Dickerson, starring DMX. The violent gangsta movie was labelled as "junk masquerading as art."

During his career as a writer, Goines worked to a strict timetable, writing in the morning, devoting the rest of the day to heroin. His pace was furious, sometimes he produced a book in a month. The stories were usually set in the black inner city, in Los Angeles, New York or Detroit, which then was becoming known as 'motor city'. In Black Gangster (1972) the title character builds a "liberation" movement to cover his planned criminal activities. After this work Goines started to view the social and political turmoil of the ghetto as a battlefield between races.

Under the pseudonym Al C. Clark, Goines created a serial hero, Kenyatta, who was named after the 'father of Kenya', Jomo Kenyatta. The four-book series, beginning with Crime Partners (1974), was published by Holloway House. Kenyatta is the leader of a militant organization which aims at cleaning American ghettos of drugs and prostitution. All white policemen, who patrol the black neighborhoods, also are his enemies. Cry Revenge! (1974) tells of Curtis Carson, who is tall, black, and used to giving orders. He becomes the nightmare of the Chicanos, who have crushed his brother. Death List (1974) brings together Kenyatta, the powerful ganglord, Edward Benson, an intelligent black detective, and Ryan, his chisel-faced white partner, in a war against a secret list of drug pushers. In the fourth book, Kenyatta's Last Hit (1975), the hero is killed in a shootout.

Reviews

[CARLEEN · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kenyatta's Escape is the continuing story (book # 3 of 4) about Kenyatta, the leader of a black militant organization whose mission is to rid the ghetto of racist cops and drug dealers I liked Kenytaa just a lil more in book 3 than the first two books.

In this book Kenyatta's ranch is infilitrated resulting in a gun/tank battle ending in the deaths of many cops and militia members; with the surviving militia members questing Kenyatta's loyalty for not warning them about the pending raid (hmmm) and while this is going on, Kenyatta and several of his other members have taken over a plane, emergency landed in the desert, killed more folk, high-jacked a biker group and taken up in their farm where he sexed a white woman and basically got out of dodge with detectives Benson and Ryan still in pursuit.

Thus far, this is my favorite Kenyatta book of the series (one to go) I enjoyed reading and visualizing the gas station scene. Kenyatta is on a mission, destroying anyone that gets in his way with militia members supporting him all the way. Kenyatta obviously can't go back to Detroit, but no worries he and his remaining mini group are headed to Watts, California with plans to reorganize, recruit and continue his plan as a self-proclaimed ghetto fixer

[Angel · Rating 5 out of 5]

kenyatta was gansta as hell

[Nick LeBlanc · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

I had been trying to get into black pulp fiction for a while and Goines was recommended as a worthy successor to Iceberg Slim. It did not disappoint. It is sort of a funny entry point to come into the series in the 2nd to last book, but it makes for a non-stop and fast paced read that I really appreciated. I found it at a used book store for $4 so I had to grab it. Even without knowing anything that has happened previously, I was sold on the action alone. Horse heists, plane hijacking and crashing, dune buggies and motorcycles flying through the desert, a gas station exploding. With the right director, this would be a seriously enjoyable film. I look forward to reading the next book in the series, though I am not necessarily motivated to read the first two.

My only critiques lie in some of the clunky narration and word choice, but I didn't pick this up for the prose. A really fun read if you aren't a pretentious or snobby reader.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I grabbed this from the "Urban Fiction - General" section of the Detroit Public Library thinking it was the only Donald Goines book available. My goal was get acquainted with Goines and wait out the heat of the afternoon/morning/evening. Both purposes were served by "Escape", but I probably should have chosen a more well-known Goines volume. Only after reading about half the book did I realize that about 15 other titles (including the more renowned "Dopefiend") were available on a neighboring shelf; by then it was too late to turn my back on "Escape". That said, it was explosive and violent (as expected), but skimpy on the use of scenes and encounters from everyday street life that has secured lasting admiration for Goines's other books.

[Chad Montabon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The final book in a trilogy (Crime Parners, Death List) - another 'Kenyatta's Last Hit' installment still on my TBR.

More enjoyable than Crime Partners. The formula is the same, but it is a good formula. Enjoyable and brings some loos ends together. If you like Goines, you will like this one.

[Kenny Couch · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the books that inspired me to write Money Green. The main character shares my namesake so it was easy to picture myself as the protagonist.

[Bryce Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

So have we considered that Donald Goines may have been completely deranged?

[Shantavia Hill · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a different kind of read for me but will written.

[Brian · Rating 1 out of 5]

Kenyatta's Escape is the 3rd of a 4 book series by Donald Goines about a Black militant named, ta-da, Kenyatta. I have to say that I really REALLY like Goines' stand-alone books, but this Kenyatta series is simply brutal and that's not because of the rampant violence, but rather because of the writing and lack of editing. This book is the worst yet. It would be generous to say that Goines seemed to have been disinterested in this series. Goines repeatedly loses track of what Kenyatta is doing. For example, at the end of the book Kenyatta and 3 of his fellow Black militants arrive in Watts, but Goines can't remeber the number of people in the car. The four people arrive at their destination and exit their (They are greatly relieved to have masde their escape and finally get out of the car) car, but Goines forgets this (And the editor misses it)and a few sentences later he thinks they're in the car again. This is just one of the multitude of mistakes in this book. Add to this constant misspelled words and it makes for not very enjoyable reading.

[PMoslice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Donald Goines has done it again with this third installment in the Kenyatta series. On the run Kenyatta and his crew make a daring move by hijacking a plane in hopes of making it to LA. While his cohorts wage war against the cops at their farm hide-out. With the organization split and the cops hot on there tails Kenyatta must hold it together and follow through with his plan. But the group from the farm grow suspicious after learning about the hijacking.

Amazing action and energy from the the cops and robbers make this a marvelous entry into the Kenyatta saga.

[Zeniya · Rating 4 out of 5]

A friend recommended this book to me and I'm glad she did. I wish I read the first book in the series, but it was still good nonetheless. This book was quite intriguing and I read it all in a day -- in maybe 2 hours or so to be exact. It gives me a Scarface vibe. Great book! :)

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another solid book in the series.