Shakey's Loose

by Renay Jackson

In this blistering follow-up to Oaktown Devil , ambitious new players vie to control the complex and deadly Oakland drug scene. Big Ed takes over the East Side Empire. Shakey Jones, Buckey's brother, is released from prison and his sole goal is to avenge the deaths of Buckey and his woman, Violet—deaths he thinks were caused by Rainbow's betrayal. Shakey and Big Ed want the same turf, which sets up a rivalry whose endgame is a dizzying spiral of murder and revenge. Big Ed's seizure of Vanessa, taken after he kills her man in front of her, turns sour when he realizes Vanessa is more than he bargained for. In Renay Jackson's world, based on his observations of Oakland, California, the men are vicious, the women avaricious, and everyone steps on—or tries to kill—everyone else in the hopeless quest for power, prestige, money, and ultimately, love.

266 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[grundoon · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 The story - saga really - continues a year later, now 1994. Still with nary a character to root for, other than perhaps the entirety of Oaktown. A crude, raw, violent, sexist slice of life with keen insight if little discernible plotting, that I'm really enjoying.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

A tale of not-so-old Oakland. There's a protagonist in here, but you're going to have to look for him. The writer isn't pulling punches, nobody comes across as a wholly sympathetic figure, and the depiction of women was pretty off-putting to me. I read it anyway.

[Nicole]

it a good book