A Deal Inked in Blood

by Shakir Rashaan

Above the Rim meets Spawn in the first book in this exciting new YA Paranormal duology.
Being anointed as the next basketball phenom definitely isn't easy.
But no one knows the strange and terrifying reality I'm facing. I've developed supernatural abilities that I can't understand or control. With the pressure of my basketball career and the weight of my secrets bearing down on me, I have to confront the truth about my family's past, my own destiny, and the battle between the forces of good and evil for my soul, based on a deal made before I was even born.
I have to fight my way out of this mess, and hopefully save myself from the darkness that threatens to consume me. My life, my relationships—my very sanity depend on it.
I'm Brandon "Trey" McCray, and my life just got a lot more complicated.

268 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 3, 2025

About the author

“Every secret of a writer’s soul, every experience of his life, every quality of his mind, is written large in his works.” ~ Virginia Wolfe

Conjurer of worlds. Sorcerer. Man. Myth. Legend. Prototype.

All of these words describe Shakir Rashaan, who has been creating mind-twisting stories and lavish worlds for well over a decade, rolling onto the national literary scene as a contributor to Z-Rated: Chocolate Flava 3 in 2012. His raw, vivid, and uncut writing style captured the attention of the Queen of Erotica herself, Zane. A year later, Shakir’s debut novel with Strebor/Atria/Simon & Schuster, The Awakening, opened to rave reviews, while the follow-up in the Nubian Underworld series, Legacy, garnered even more success, and the third installment, Tempest, helping to make the series one of the most unique and best-selling in the erotic romance genre.

Rashaan would later add to his impressive catalog with the debut of the Kink, P.I. Series in 2015, starting with Obsession and following up with Deception and Reckoning. Drawing comparisons to Walter Mosely’s Easy Rawlins series, Kink, P.I. has developed into yet another best-selling series, carving its place as a “throwback to the days of classic mystery books” in the mystery genre.

Further adding to his impressive portfolio, Rashaan was a regular blogger for USA Today’s Happy Ever After blog, where readers could find him at his “Manly Musings” personal blog, reviewing books, television shows, and movies from a man’s perspective. He wrote recaps for various shows for the STARZ Network, including The Girlfriend Experience, POWER, and Survivor’s Remorse, before the blog was retired in late 2018.

Shakir has gone on in recent years to pen a series of bestselling novels, including In Service to the Senator, a sexy political thriller surrounding an up-and-coming vice presidential candidate, The Devil’s All-American, a unique paranormal romance featuring a rising college basketball star, Unthinkable, a not-so-conventional romance set in the entertainment industry, Love, Lust & Beautiful Liars, a romantic suspense novel about an international weapons dealer who was looking to retire and enjoy his HEA, and most recently in 2021, Queen of Cambridge, part of the Queens of the Castle anthology series.

Shakir has switched gears, jumping into the young adult world, developing the Neverwraith series, a YA paranormal fantasy for Entangled Teen/Macmillan, and the South Hampton series, in addition to several other YA and New Adult projects to expand his NEBU universe. Neverwraith is his most ambitious project to date, about a teenage descendant of an ancient metahuman bloodline who searches for the truth about the death of his parents and their connection to a centuries-old blood feud over sacred texts contained inside of his native Kindara, an island nation located near the West African coast ... all while navigating high school

Shakir currently resides in suburban Atlanta with his wife, soon-to-be college graduate daughter, and a Jack-Chi named Teddy.

Reviews

[Rose · Rating 2 out of 5]

Initial reaction: This one pains me to give the rating I'm giving it, but prep for a long review, because I'll talk about what I liked and *absolutely didn't* from this one.

It ended before it really began. Less magic than advertised. Strong sense of sport details and strong narrative voice from Trey, but very one-note female characters and issues involving teens that feel dated even with updates reflecting modern times.

I wanted this to stick the landing more. 2 stars.

Full review:

So full disclosure: I read "A Deal Inked in Blood" in 2025 before my reading of "Neverwraith" and "Sageborn" by Shakir Rashaan. This was my first full read from the author's work. I think I was excited about two, possibly three things about this off the bat without picking up the book. First, I give nods to the cover and premise. Any book that pitches itself as "Spawn" and "Above the Rim" would definitely have me at hello. They're older comps, but considering how they're done for their respective stories, I was prepared to dive in. "Spawn" is a dark narrative in which I'm very familiar with the franchise - comics, movie, and animated series. (Animated series is my favorite for Keith David's portrayal, but I share love for Michael Jai White's portrayal of Al Simmons.) "Above the Rim" I'm also familiar with, though it has been a while since I've seen that movie. On paper, I didn't think anyone could go wrong putting those two stories together, and if you can do it for a teen audience? Go for it. Second part was that this was YA with Black dual protagonists. And third, by a Black author writing urban fantasy. By all the technical pieces, I *should* have loved this book.

So you're probably wondering "Rose, two stars for this? What happened?" Hoo boy. I think in any other year, it might've been that I would have come down harder on this for not living up to the expectations it sets up, but this wasn't the worst book I read this year. Not by a long shot. I think "A Deal Inked in Blood" had far more potential to be better than what it was, but it never lived up to the expectations. It was a lot like my read of Jamison Shea's "Roar of the Lambs" - it had ingredients to cook with a solid story, but didn't use them to their fullest potential and added things that were absolutely NOT necessary,. The other part I would add is that the book ended just as it was just starting to get its hook and premise going.

I'm coming back to reflect on this book after writing my review for "Neverwraith" and "Sageborn", because this book has the same narrative issues that work against it, though I technically read this first. And to its benefit - unlike with "Neverwraith"/"Sageborn", the book is a merciful 268 pages, much shorter than even some of its contemporary YA peers for length. But goodness did it feel like a marathon for me getting through it. I don't know how you write a YA Urban Fantasy that barely has any magic like "A Deal Inked in Blood". The fact Trey's magic doesn't show up until nearly the end of the book made me want to throw my Kindle across the room.

I will say "A Deal Inked in Blood" got the basketball rolling action and play-by-plays right, speaking as someone who loves the game and knows a lot about sport psychology with young athletes and the pressures of the industry (*raises hand in being educated in exercise science/sports medicine*). But everything else? I wish it had lived up to its expectations. Trey is a Black teen boy who is surrounded by drama. Drama over his relationships - former and current, drama with his family, and trying to succeed in the game. But it feels like the relationship drama overtakes the book from point one. I had signed up to read a book about a boy who was on the end of a bad magical deal made by his father and the magical repercussions of that deal. How it changes Trey's attitude and how he copes with the weird things that occur outside of his normal life. This book doesn't start there, but rather gets close to the ending when that part of the premise is actually addressed. Before it? Teen drama, not even the intriguing kind of immersive Black teen drama. I was so *exhausted* of the infighting between Ashley, Jaime, and her peers on the cheer squad, fixations on Trey's virginity and the creepy, continuous sexual harassment he has to deal with, and the weird focus on terms of endearment that we hear more people calling each other "baby" than a TLC, Justin Bieber, or Ariana Grande song. (And it's not limited to the teens in text! The adults in here do it too! Which is distracting!) The apparent mismatch of what this book's about versus what it delivers is *definitely* an issue. The writing tells on itself for being dated, the focal points feel dated as well. The Black teen girls feel like caricatures instead of real teens with dimension and emotional depth. Trey really is the only character that has real dimension to him, but its difficult to really follow him for some of the strange things that are going on between the "noise" of the non-essential parts of the story.

It's hard to think that teens today reading "A Deal Inked in Blood" would feel like it's speaking to them. I would argue that it's even hard for an elder millennial like myself, knowing classic YA Black lit and how those books were able to do so much more in so few pages. Some aspects of this feel like it throws back to late 90s teen YA, especially with the narrative style. (I don't mind the style itself. I very much like conversational protagonists where they feel like they're speaking to you about their experiences. It personalizes it, but only for writers who know how to flex that technique. Walter Dean Myers did it very well. Contemporary authors like H.D. Hunter, Lamar Giles, and LaDarrion Williams are solid for representing contemporary Black teen boys and their voices. Rashaan's inconsistent for how he delivers, based on dialogue that few times feel genuine and mostly comes across as forced for both voice and conflict that feels secondary to the main line premise.)

But "A Deal Inked with Blood" largely feels static and doesn't move; it has a lot of narrative noise and unnecessary filler before we get there. I know there would be teens I could give this to that would fall off before they finish the book, even for how short it is. Because the "good parts" aren't there. For a YA Urban Fantasy title, that means magic, that means digging into the lore and stakes of how this deal affects Trey and his family, that means putting those aspects first before *anything* else and hitting the ground running with that.

When I reached the ending of the book, it felt so abrupt where I was like "That's it? Really?" It felt like an unfinished narrative that didn't have time to cook with the elements that made it interesting. But those parts were drowned out by things that really served as a distraction for the larger narrative. That to me is a shame. Because I very much would still like to read a YA combo of "Spawn" meeting "Above the Rim". "Spawn" is such a dynamic, heavy story with an anti-hero you feel for based on his circumstances as you learn who Al Simmons is and what he's forced into, how he turns it around to help others. "Above the Rim" is about alliances among its flawed characters and events that gut punch you when the going gets tough. Unfortunately, "A Deal Inked in Blood" was none of those things.

Overall score: 2/5 stars.

[AndiMan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This didn't feel like a final product. One-dimensional female characters, including a POV from the MC's girlfriend where her character revolves around him, barely any fantasy elements with no questions answered, repetition of dialogue and scenes, and an ending that stops abruptly. This needed more work.