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Hustling on the Down Low
Hustling on the Down Low is a story of two men at war for the control of the criminal activity of Baltimore and the power that comes with it. One man is a mysterious gay kingpin with an edge. The other is a straight kingpin determined to get back on top by any means necessary. There can be only one man on top. The question is, who is willing to go down the lowest to get to the top?
- GenresUrbanContemporary
Audible Audio
Published June 29, 2017
13 people are currently reading
62 people want to read
About the author
M.T. Pope
20 books88 followersAuthor M.T. Pope hit the literary scene in the Fall of 2009 with a knockout debut novel titled Both Sides of The Fence through the Publisher Urban Books/Kensington Books. M.T. Pope's thoughts of his first work of fiction are that of edginess, exploration, but effectiveness in getting people's attention on widely overlooked social issues.
Both Sides of the Fence was also pegged as shockingly realistic and over the top by his editor, publisher and many, many readers. Deeply filled with drama, suspense and graphic scenes, Both Sides of the Fence is a novel that doesn't disappoint the reader. M.T. Pope goes on record to say that with his first book 'either you're going to love it or hate it. There's no in between'. He doesn't get disappointed when a reader says 'it was too much' for them. He understands that not everyone will like it or finish it.
He continued his literary career and penned Both Sides of The Fence 2 & 3, which were released in 2010 & 2011. These two novels were just as successful as the first novel, even with a little less rawness within. Each one these have different plots and messages, but all are conjoined to hold a larger, impacting message; the message of communication, faith, family, struggle and cohesiveness as a unit.
In the spring of 2011 M.T. Pope was approached by bestselling author, Anna J to be including in an exciting anthology entitled Erotic Snapshots which was released that May and continues to be successful.
In the early summer of 2011 M.T. Pope was approached by his publisher for participation in an anthology entitled Don't Ask, Don't Tell. It was centered on the now repelled law by the same name. Again, M.T. Pope tactless the issue like only he can; Drama, suspense and ultimately, resolution. That work of fiction was released in the spring of 2012 and is successful as well.
At the end of 2011 M.T. Pope released his first independent selection; an e-reader short story entitled Don't Drop The Soap. He also completed his fourth full length novel, A Clean Up Man released in Fall 2012
In late Winter M.T. Pope gathered together three new and aspiring writers and presented another anthology titled Boys Will Be Boys in March 2012. The following month of May he released another novella entitled Stick Up Boys, which is his semi-street life based fiction. It remains one of his favorite works of fiction to date. M.T. Pope also began work on two short novellas entitled, Lost Pages of Both Sides of the Fence 1 & 2 of which Vol. 1 is being positioned for release in the late Fall 2012. He has also begun completion on his next full length novel, May the Best Man Win, to be released in 2013. New novel and story ideas are always popping into his head, during conversation or simple observing people. New and exciting things are in the future. He hopes that you will join him there.
His works of fiction has been seen in XXL Magazine, recommended in Carl Weber's novel Big Girls Do Cry and The Man in 3B. He's done numerous phone interviews, blog talk shows and e-magazine interviews.
M.T. Pope, is a born and raised Baltimorean. He was born into a large family with nine brothers and sisters. He's worked as a landscaper, movie theater concessions worker, an over the counter medication manager for Wal-Mart, pharmacy technician for Wal-Mart and a bookstore manager for Urban Knowledge Bookstores.
M.T. Pope loves to eat and cook. He enjoys action movies and getting a good night's sleep. He is an introvert by nature, but his writing speaks otherwise. He likes to write the drama but living it is for other. He likes meeting new people and getting in a good, meaningful, and enlightening conversation with strangers. He feels like he can learn anything from anyone given the opportunity, even if it's what not to do. He can be reached at the outlets.
Email: chosen_97@yahoo.com, mondellpope@gmail.com
Websites: www.Facebook.com/authormtpope
www.Twitter.com/mtpope
www.Instagram.com/mtpope
www.wix.com/mtpope/mtpope
Book ti
Both Sides of the Fence was also pegged as shockingly realistic and over the top by his editor, publisher and many, many readers. Deeply filled with drama, suspense and graphic scenes, Both Sides of the Fence is a novel that doesn't disappoint the reader. M.T. Pope goes on record to say that with his first book 'either you're going to love it or hate it. There's no in between'. He doesn't get disappointed when a reader says 'it was too much' for them. He understands that not everyone will like it or finish it.
He continued his literary career and penned Both Sides of The Fence 2 & 3, which were released in 2010 & 2011. These two novels were just as successful as the first novel, even with a little less rawness within. Each one these have different plots and messages, but all are conjoined to hold a larger, impacting message; the message of communication, faith, family, struggle and cohesiveness as a unit.
In the spring of 2011 M.T. Pope was approached by bestselling author, Anna J to be including in an exciting anthology entitled Erotic Snapshots which was released that May and continues to be successful.
In the early summer of 2011 M.T. Pope was approached by his publisher for participation in an anthology entitled Don't Ask, Don't Tell. It was centered on the now repelled law by the same name. Again, M.T. Pope tactless the issue like only he can; Drama, suspense and ultimately, resolution. That work of fiction was released in the spring of 2012 and is successful as well.
At the end of 2011 M.T. Pope released his first independent selection; an e-reader short story entitled Don't Drop The Soap. He also completed his fourth full length novel, A Clean Up Man released in Fall 2012
In late Winter M.T. Pope gathered together three new and aspiring writers and presented another anthology titled Boys Will Be Boys in March 2012. The following month of May he released another novella entitled Stick Up Boys, which is his semi-street life based fiction. It remains one of his favorite works of fiction to date. M.T. Pope also began work on two short novellas entitled, Lost Pages of Both Sides of the Fence 1 & 2 of which Vol. 1 is being positioned for release in the late Fall 2012. He has also begun completion on his next full length novel, May the Best Man Win, to be released in 2013. New novel and story ideas are always popping into his head, during conversation or simple observing people. New and exciting things are in the future. He hopes that you will join him there.
His works of fiction has been seen in XXL Magazine, recommended in Carl Weber's novel Big Girls Do Cry and The Man in 3B. He's done numerous phone interviews, blog talk shows and e-magazine interviews.
M.T. Pope, is a born and raised Baltimorean. He was born into a large family with nine brothers and sisters. He's worked as a landscaper, movie theater concessions worker, an over the counter medication manager for Wal-Mart, pharmacy technician for Wal-Mart and a bookstore manager for Urban Knowledge Bookstores.
M.T. Pope loves to eat and cook. He enjoys action movies and getting a good night's sleep. He is an introvert by nature, but his writing speaks otherwise. He likes to write the drama but living it is for other. He likes meeting new people and getting in a good, meaningful, and enlightening conversation with strangers. He feels like he can learn anything from anyone given the opportunity, even if it's what not to do. He can be reached at the outlets.
Email: chosen_97@yahoo.com, mondellpope@gmail.com
Websites: www.Facebook.com/authormtpope
www.Twitter.com/mtpope
www.Instagram.com/mtpope
www.wix.com/mtpope/mtpope
Book ti
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 20, 2023
This book was so good ! Two drug kingpins run their operations with a firm and hard fist although they have differ t preferences with the opposite sex. I enjoyed this book and love how the author woven a really good tale. If you have to read to see how the book ends.
March 27, 2018
Great story, very well written. Some parts were predictable but still have several plot twist. I greatly enjoyed the story.
July 8, 2018
First read from this author. I enjoyed the story and looking forward to reading more of the authors work.
February 16, 2020
If this thing were to be more atrociously written, it should have come printed over toilet paper in venomous ink. Let a few samples be enough to unmask the sheer carnel house Mr Pope takes his reader through between those covers, beginning with the very incipit:
"there was a cold silence in the room. Only the breath that entered and exited the bodies of those in the room could be heard. Fear had made its way in the room as well. I sat in the shadows and spoke from the darkness that covered my identity. Several other people were in the room, but they were irrelevant now. We were at a secret location that was in the middle of the city"
"they had to be good in bed in their prospective positions in bed"
"when I first had my suspicions, I put him in the room that I use for testing a person to see if a person is who he says he is
"I loved the show and got some good nuts out of the positive outcomes"
"they brought me great pleasure to look at them"
"my guy taunted him like he was a bull. The guy didn’t hesitate and threw a blow that landed and could be heard. But my guy didn’t even flinch. Instead, he laughed.
One of my other men repeated the last scene with the same results, leaving the guy baffled and angry, so he charged one my men, and then the inevitable happened"
"they commenced to continue their show and paid me no mind" (a gem few people would be benighted enough to perpetrate, yet one that did make it through the proof-reading).
Homophobia is pervasive, too:
"dick and ass had no face, and most men would fuck or be fucked by anything that could pleasure them. Most lied and said they had standards, but they didn’t. Many would let you poke them in any hole, including a nostril"
"real men should be running this city, not these he-shes"
Last but not least, the POV are all over the place, granting us lurid insight into a cast of characters that gives new meaning to the epiths "ill-conceived" and "moronic" and "cardboard".
This looks like a first draft of a first novel written under the influence of LSD, yet Mr Pope has already several books under his belt - they cannot have been even remotely tolerable in terms of standards of finish, if he is still unable to do better than this.
"there was a cold silence in the room. Only the breath that entered and exited the bodies of those in the room could be heard. Fear had made its way in the room as well. I sat in the shadows and spoke from the darkness that covered my identity. Several other people were in the room, but they were irrelevant now. We were at a secret location that was in the middle of the city"
"they had to be good in bed in their prospective positions in bed"
"when I first had my suspicions, I put him in the room that I use for testing a person to see if a person is who he says he is
"I loved the show and got some good nuts out of the positive outcomes"
"they brought me great pleasure to look at them"
"my guy taunted him like he was a bull. The guy didn’t hesitate and threw a blow that landed and could be heard. But my guy didn’t even flinch. Instead, he laughed.
One of my other men repeated the last scene with the same results, leaving the guy baffled and angry, so he charged one my men, and then the inevitable happened"
"they commenced to continue their show and paid me no mind" (a gem few people would be benighted enough to perpetrate, yet one that did make it through the proof-reading).
Homophobia is pervasive, too:
"dick and ass had no face, and most men would fuck or be fucked by anything that could pleasure them. Most lied and said they had standards, but they didn’t. Many would let you poke them in any hole, including a nostril"
"real men should be running this city, not these he-shes"
Last but not least, the POV are all over the place, granting us lurid insight into a cast of characters that gives new meaning to the epiths "ill-conceived" and "moronic" and "cardboard".
This looks like a first draft of a first novel written under the influence of LSD, yet Mr Pope has already several books under his belt - they cannot have been even remotely tolerable in terms of standards of finish, if he is still unable to do better than this.
June 14, 2025
There are some glaring issues in this book that made it hard for me to rate it highly. I was surprised—and honestly disappointed—to see an urban M/M romance mishandle topics like HIV and homosexuality so carelessly. At times, the misinformation was not only intolerable, but also impossible to ignore.
For instance, the idea that someone can be injected with “full-blown AIDS” is not only medically inaccurate but dangerously misleading. And even if the storyline meant to reflect the lived experience of one of the protagonists, the way it was presented lacked nuance, context, or compassion. We live in a world where there are highly effective treatments and preventative measures for HIV—this book never acknowledged that, which made the entire narrative feel dated and misinformed.
Maybe the intent was to add dramatic tension, but instead, it made the story fall apart. I wanted to root for the characters and their love story, but the misinformation was too loud to ignore. I’m giving this a low rating not because I didn’t see potential, but because we deserve better representation—especially in queer Black and urban-centered love stories.
For instance, the idea that someone can be injected with “full-blown AIDS” is not only medically inaccurate but dangerously misleading. And even if the storyline meant to reflect the lived experience of one of the protagonists, the way it was presented lacked nuance, context, or compassion. We live in a world where there are highly effective treatments and preventative measures for HIV—this book never acknowledged that, which made the entire narrative feel dated and misinformed.
Maybe the intent was to add dramatic tension, but instead, it made the story fall apart. I wanted to root for the characters and their love story, but the misinformation was too loud to ignore. I’m giving this a low rating not because I didn’t see potential, but because we deserve better representation—especially in queer Black and urban-centered love stories.
October 14, 2022
Not what I was expecting. I didn't read the synopsis of book or any reviews so I was surprised by the spin on the story line. I was very interesting. Not sure if there's a sequel but I would like to see what happens next with the young hustler.
July 10, 2017
Good ending
Read
September 25, 2018I read the book in two days...but I really enjoyed it I'm hoping for a part 2
August 4, 2017
The bomb
This book was off the chain. It never surprised me what this author can do. This book right here will have you wanting to see what is next.
This book was off the chain. It never surprised me what this author can do. This book right here will have you wanting to see what is next.
March 1, 2018
3 Thumbs Up
Excellent plot and storyline. No dull moments. It's definitely worth reading. I think this would make a very good movie
Excellent plot and storyline. No dull moments. It's definitely worth reading. I think this would make a very good movie
March 8, 2018
I enjoyed this book. the storyline held my interest from beginning to end.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews