Up Jumped the Devil

Darryl Billups #1

by Blair S. Walker

A reporter for the Baltimore Herald, Darryl Billups never wanted to be a hero. He's just a hardworking black journalist who's been passed up and looked down upon because he won't kiss butt and always speaks his mind. That doesn't change the fact that he's one of the best damn newspapermen on the East Coast and his editors know it. And soon the whole city will too. At first he ignores the voice mail message warning him about an impending wave of white supremacist violence - just another crackpot with nothing better to do with his time than make crank phone calls. After all, Darryl has his own problems: a boss who's itching to fire him, a hot new lady love, Yolanda, who just moved in...along with her little boy, Jamal. But when bombs start to go off all over town and a noted liberal philanthropist is slain, Billups quickly becomes a believer. Warned that the headquarters of the NAACP is the next target, Darryl is off and running - chasing a deadly urban nightmare to its rotting, poisonous core. And with a city and his new "family" under siege, Darryl Billups is after justice...as well as the story of a lifetime. But it could cost him his life to get it.

Genres: Mystery

Audio Cassette

First published October 1, 1997

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved the setting and the journalist/protagonist, Darryl Billups. So many Baltimore novelists/short story writers have written for The Baltimore Sun at some point in their careers (Walker, Stephen Hunter, Laura Lippman, Rafael Alvarez). It's nice to see them celebrate Charm City in their fiction!

[Chris Kurbjuhn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Start einer Serie über einen schwarzen Polizeireporter. Stellenweise etwas "overwritten", stellenweise etwas zu soapig für einen Krimi, dafür erfreut leicht schnoddriger Humor. Man müsste mal in weitere Bücher der Serie reinschauen.

[Jacob Chinchen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Meh. Just meh. Apart from the last three or four percent of the story, you don't even need Billups in it. Everything just happens regardless of our hero, and even the last bit is over in no time. And still meh. All sorts of meh.

[Murvin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Darryl Billups is almost on par with my man Easy.

[Susan Crowe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually enjoyed this book. It is a little raw and definitely written for men but it was well written, action packed and at times humorous. I will be reading the other 2 in this series.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was okay. I don't think anyone I know would like. For me it was just a time killer.