Cracker Bling

by Stephen Solomita

A contemporary New York noir coming-of-age story - Nineteen-year-old Hootie has been in trouble all his life. An outsider, his father was Crow Indian; his mother is black; but Hootie is neither black, nor white, nor Latino, nor Asian. When he meets Bubba Yablonsky, the biggest white man hes ever seen, at a subway station in Harlem, he knows somethings up. Then Bubba opens fire at an innocent rat before offering Hootie money and a place to live. But whats the catch? And what else who else has Bubba shot?

Genres: Mystery

185 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 2009

About the author

Stephen Solomita (b. 1943) is a prolific author of thrillers. Born in Bayside, Queens, he worked as a cab driver before becoming a novelist in the late 1980s. His first novel, A Twist of the Knife (1988), won acclaim for its intimate depiction of New York’s rough patches, its gritty style, and its dark vision of urban terrorism. This debut introduced Stanley Moodrow, a disaffected New York Police Department detective. Solomita wrote six more novels starring Moodrow, moving the character into a PI practice, and concluded the series with Damaged Goods (1996).

Solomita continued writing in the same hard-boiled style, producing tough, standalone novels such as Mercy Killing (2009) and Angel Face (2011). Under the pseudonym David Cray, he writes gentler thrillers such as Dead Is Forever (2004), a traditional mystery in the mode of Ellery Queen. His most recent novel is Dancer in the Flames (2012). Solomita continues to live and write in New York City.

aka David Cray.

Reviews

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

What is cracker bling? Stainless steel appliances...cuisenarts...good clothes...odd parties...
This is according to Hootie-a 19 yr old half black-half Crow Indian boy just out of prison-who has accidently hooked up with Bubba, a huge excon, and Amelia, a girl who has never physically grown to her age.
These strange group of characters are trying to get ahead by going back to their lives of crime, just with better ideas. And of course, there is a drunk Russian cop, who is going to try to put it all together. But every good idea starts with a crime....
Different from a lot of the mysteries I read. I picked it up off the NEW shelf at the library and I wasn't disappointed.

[Frank Taranto · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting story with interesting characters. The book says that it is contemporary noir on the cover. I guess that means a down and dirty tale, which this is.
It's basically Hooties's story.
Hootie is a young man of mixed heritage who has just gottn out of prison. He is chased out of his home by his stepfather, and runs into Bubba, a bit of a psychotic with a violent streak. Bubba has a great plan to make a lot of money selling a cuisanart ripoff that doesn't work.
Bubba needs seed money, so he has a plan with his half sister to blackmail a pedophiliac, but the plan goes wrong.
The other part of the story is about a detective named Chigorin who is investigating the murder of a drug dealer. The murderer turns out to be Bubba.
The story unfolds and the interaction between all the characters is interesting.
The ending was very good and surprised me.

[Byron · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is everything you'd want a book named Cracker Bling to be. The plot is so filthy I'm not even sure if it's legal to discuss here. The way it unfolds is pure formula. The main cop character is frequently depicted eating donuts, drinking in an Irish bar and complaining about his ex-wife. It's all kinda predictable, but in a good way, the literary equivalent of eating at Jack in the Box -- and I fuxwit Jack in the Box!