THE LAST STREET NOVEL

Sensational urban crime story set in Harlem.

Shareef Crawford was raised on some of Harlem’s toughest streets. Instead of joining his crew of friends in a lifetime of illicit pursuits and gangster escapades, Shareef escapes the neighborhood and heads to college. Thanks to perseverance and a heavy dose of ambition, Shareef transforms from a punk into a highly successful African-American writer. Yet despite his career achievements and glorious Florida lifestyle, Shareef is miserable. Escape can’t come soon enough for this spoiled playboy, and he gladly leaves his disgruntled wife, needy kids and demanding mistress to promote his books and seek out new conquests. Ever the solipsist, Shareef is wonderful at rationalizing his misanthropic behavior and self-indulgent lifestyle. While on a book tour in New York City, his pleasure cruise hits some rough waters when a gorgeous fan lands in his lap. After he beds her, she plants a book idea in his head, challenging him to write the story of her friend, a major player who’s doing time for his crimes. The idea resonates with Shareef. He’s been struggling to break out of his tightly cast role as romance author and attract more male readers, and he’s in no rush to reconcile with his wife. Shareef sets about working the streets in Harlem and researching the current leaders in the underground scene. But Shareef’s poking around lands him in serious trouble. Warring factions don’t appreciate his efforts to expose the inner working of their syndicates. Bullets start flying and instead of hunting down a good story, Shareef fights for his life. Tyree (What They Want, 2006, etc.) labors to capture the vernacular of the hip-hop set, and it appear as though he is sweating over each segment of dialogue, resulting in stilted prose and a story that repeatedly stalls.

Sloppy writing, misogynistic themes.