Triple Take

by Y. Blak Moore

After serving ten years for armed robbery, Jonathan “JC” Cole is about to get out of the joint, and he has one thing on his revenge against the three men—former childhood friends, now powerful crime lords—who betrayed him to save their own skins. Richard “Richkid” Kidman is a Playa with a capital P, at one time controlling a stable of twelve women. Alonzo “Zo” Johnson is one of the richest drug dealers in the Windy City. And Eugene “Lil G” Pierce ranks among the most successful con men on the East Coast.

JC feels that the time has come for him to claim what is rightfully his. His misfortune was his ex-friends’ stepping-stone, and now it is time for them to pay up—in spades. He doesn’t want to kill them, he just wants to take everything away.

He does this with the help of his woman, Champagne; his best friend, Rat; and Rat’s girlfriend, Shaunna. They form a family of sorts, with JC as the leader and Champagne as the fierce mother hen, together embarking on an exciting journey into the underworld of Chicago.

230 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Y. Blak Moore is a poet, social worker, and former gang member who grew up in the Chicago housing projects.
He has three children and lives in Chicago.

Reviews

[Eva-Marie Nevarez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a new favorite author! Y. Blak Moore writes in the most fantastic way! The only author I've read who comes close to the way Moore writes is Goines and that's saying a lot right there.
I picked this up because it's a slim book and I needed something quick to take my mind off of the reading slump I was in. This did that and much, much more.
David Isay says that the book "explodes off the page" in a blurb on the cover and I can't agree more with him. That is exactly what it does. It's not too often when I find myself agreeing with any blurbs these days but Isay hit the nail on the head with this one.
The main character, JC or Killa J as the book goes on, is one of the best characters I've read about in a long time- I couldn't get enough and I always wanted more. JC is the most manly and lovable man there is, all while being ruthless and revengful in his own way.
JC did a ten year strectch for his part in a robbery with three "friends". The three friends snitched and got off while JC was left to do his bid. For those ten long years JC thought of revenge and when he gets out he starts to enact his plan.
Some things happen easily while others happen hard but all of them, every single one of them, is interesting and keeps the reader focused on the mission.
I'm so looking forward to reading Moore's other two books as soon as possible now- this one is not to be missed!

[Alisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was originally going to give this book 2 stars for effort and an interesting plot idea. But finding myself engrossed in it by the end, I bumped it up to a 3.

There are some twists and turns that may seem to sort of nullify the proposed point of the book. But it's still a good read. My main problem was not with the storytelling, but with the writing. I'm not sure if it's characteristic of urban fiction novels to constantly switch street language to dictionary words. The result is writing that sounds forced, like the thesaurus had too significant of a place during the writing process. But judging by the creativity of the novel, especially for his first book, I believe the author was selling himself short. I'm guessing he wanted to stay as true as possible when it came to telling the characteristics of an ex-con from the hood. As good of a storyline as this was, I believe it could have been better if he had expanded a little more on the characters.

This is the first urban fiction book I've read. I look forward to reading more. I think this was a good first pick. I'm don't really enjoy reading so many curse words, but the overall depiction of someone trying to go from rags to riches (or in this case, someone seeking to settle an unfair score) is a story I enjoy hearing about.

[OOSA]

Sweet Revenge

Jonathan "JC" Cole comes on the scene as a force to be reckoned with. Unknown in this area he goes recruiting customers and instantly becomes a problem.

JC is carted off to jail due to sabotage by his best friends. Though he does play a integral role in the crime. Who would've thought that his friends would be rats? 10 years inside surviving off pure revenge. Will he be granted the pleasure of getting his revenge?

This is a very good story. Though this is not a connection check out the introduction of The Apostles.

If you have yet to read anything by Blak you're definitely sleeping.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

He's actually a decent writer. Its not my style of book but since I lived in the Chi for like 10 years I found it interesting, not always accurate, but interesting.

I also realized he was a poet from the poetry sets back in the mid 90's, my college days. It explains his style of writing. He's quite intelligent. You don't usually find the ghetto ficiton well written.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was raw and about revenge I really enjoyed this book because it reinforces the saying of You reap what you sow. It was action packed fast paced and well thought out.

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a good book. The only thing that I did like about the book was the sex scenes they did appear real.