Bangers

by Gary Phillips

Detective Sergeant Rafael "Saint" Santian, a member of TRASH, an elite team of street cops determined to rid the streets of crime, goes up against The Crazy Nines, a ruthless gang terrorizing the streets of Venice Heights, and a corrupt Assistant D.A. who, determined to destroy TRASH, is turning cop against cop. Reprint.

352 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2003

About the author

GARY PHILLIPS has been a community activist, labor organizer and delivered dog cages. He’s published various novels, comics, short stories and edited several anthologies including South Central Noir and the Anthony award-winning The Obama Inheritance: Fifteen Stories of Conspiracy Noir. Violent Spring, first published in 1994 was named in 2020 one of the essential crime novels of Los Angeles. He was also a writer/co-producer on FX’s Snowfall (streaming on Hulu), about crack and the CIA in 1980s South Central where he grew up. Recent novels include One-Shot Harry and Matthew Henson and the Ice Temple of Harlem. He lives with his family in the wilds of Los Angeles.

Reviews

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gratuitous violence and sex. I like Phillips’s writing style but this plot felt contrived.

[Darrell · Rating 2 out of 5]

this was a disappointment...Ramparts division dirty cop entanglements in fields romantic and gangsterfied...nicely observed but left me feeling flat

[Moon Song · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was an okay read...couldn't really get into it.

[Barb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of violence and graphic sex - too much for me. I did finish and the story was pretty good. Basically the theme is money, drugs, and power can corrupt anyone.

[Alfred Thompson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Its was ok