Mirror Image: A Kings of Vice Novel

Kings of Vice #2

by Ice-T, Jorge Hinojosa

Marcus "Crush" Casey should have it made. After two long decades in Attica, he's back on top and ruling the streets he left behind. But maintaining control of New York's underworld is harder than he ever imagined.

Crush has built an uneasy alliance between most of the gangs in New York, with himself at the head. As long as he keeps producing, they've got his back. They're even helping him clean up the city.

But there's a new player in town, an Armenian gangster named Alek who's got his eye on kingpin status. Crush is faced with a dangerous choice: partner with Alek ... or go to war.

Ice-T's experience with crime and gangs in Los Angeles and his years on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit makes him the perfect person to tell the story of Mirror Image, a thrilling novel of revenge and redemption.

320 pages, Hardcover

First published April 16, 2013

About the author

Tracy Marrow, better known by his stage name Ice-T, is an American musician and actor.

He was born in Newark, New Jersey and moved to the Crenshaw district of Los Angeles when he was in the 7th grade. After graduating from high school he served in the United States Army for four years. He began his career as a rapper in the 1980s and was signed to Sire Records in 1987, when he released his debut album Rhyme Pays. The next year, he founded the record label Rhyme Syndicate Records (named after his collective of fellow hip hop artists called the Rhyme Syndicate) and released another album, Power.

He co-founded the rap metal band Body Count, which he introduced in his 1991 album O.G.: Original Gangster. Body Count released its self-titled debut album in 1992. Ice-T encountered controversy over his track "Cop Killer", which was perceived to glamorize killing police officers. Ice-T asked to be released from his contract with Warner Bros. Records, and his next solo album, Home Invasion was released later in the fall of 1993 through Priority Records. Body Count's next album was released in 1994, and Ice-T released two more albums in the late 1990s.

Since 2000, he has portrayed NYPD Detective Odafin Tutuola on the NBC police drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

Reviews

[Garrett · Rating 3 out of 5]

The dialogue reads like a hip-hop cut, but you'd expect that. The storyline has multiple convergent layers of activity, and the book is far more thoughtful than I was expecting. Ice & his ghostwriter have constructed a darkly fun and solidly entertaining book - whose prequel is optional, IMHFO. An interesting read, better than you'd think.

[Kim Heimbuch · Rating 4 out of 5]

I approached this book with the thinking of a hardcore crime story line, but that is far from what was delivered. While this book is about two rival gangs, one trying to overthrow the other and take up their claim as Kingpin of New York, it fell flat as soon as you go from the back cover blurb to actually reading the book.

“What’s up, fam, who is this gorgeous lady? A present for me, you shouldn’t have!”

For the full review go to http://www.musingwithcrayolakym.com/b...