Crack City

by Renay Jackson

Sex, violence, and drugs reign supreme in this engrossing depiction of an urban underworld. Lorraine has it all: a devoted husband, a comfortable home, a secure job, and a hot body. When she and her coworker Allison go out to lunch one day, they bump into Lorraine’s cousin, Dirty Don, and his friend, Black Nasty. Allison surprises everyone when she offers to sell them her stash of crack. When drug kingpin Andre finds out, he strikes a deal with Allison’s drug-dealing husband, Jeremy. Lorraine starts an affair with Andre against her better judgment but her husband Rainbow smells something fishy. Will Rainbow discover Lorraine’s secret? Meanwhile, JoMo, also known as Bill Greene, an undercover cop, is working hard to get the information he needs to put Andre and Jeremy behind bars and restore order to the streets again. As always, Jackson paints an unforgettable picture of the mean streets and lost souls of the inner city in his distinctive style.

224 pages, Paperback

First published August 31, 2006

Reviews

[grundoon · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Much more of (and better) a story than his prior sequence-of-events outings, as he shifts a few miles north to Richmond and the crack epidemic during the early-mid '90s. While that feels a bit late of an entry point for the timeline as I recall it around here, the portrayal is pretty spot on. Also encouraging was the complete absence of so much as even a reference to black dick until some 6 or 7 chapters in, but nope... we're soon thereafter once again immersed in our teachings that brown women worship size.