Harlem Girl Lost

June 5, 2006
This lurid urban soap opera—which sold 65,000 copies when originally self-published by the author, a Bronx fire inspector—follows Silver Jones as she flees Harlem, with its loose women of the night and seductive, heroin-shooting men, for Spelman College, where she dreams of becoming a doctor. Blue's wide cast is often villainous, paper thin and brimming with crack-smokers and sex-peddlers: there's Silver's confidant, Auntie Birdie, a "nearly 7 foot when he wears his stilettos" transvestite hooker who falls for men with roving eyes; Jesse, Silver's "junkie whore" of a mother whose inspirational aphorisms shape Silver's life; Chance, Silver's longtime, drug-dealing love who doesn't know how to dance; and a serial killer who drains his prostitute victims' blood and dresses each in a wedding gown before having sex with their bodies. The episodic story line, which has echoes of another successful lost-girl saga, White Oleander
, moves briskly and assuredly between clichés. Suspense isn't one of the author's strong points, but it's heartening that even in Blue's world of double-crossing, misogyny, drugs and brutality, an against-all-odds fairy tale can come true.

October 1, 2006
The prolog of Blue's first noveloriginally self-published to Essence magazine best seller successhas Silver Jones enrolled at Atlanta's prestigious Spelman College, but readers know it was a rough Harlem background that forged this girl. Flashbacks take us to when Silver was 13, and there are delineations of the people who influenced her, from her gorgeous mother, Jesse, a prostitute who works Times Square; to her tight friend, Missy, a third-generation project girl so loyal, she vows she would die for Silver. Fast-forward a decade later to Silver reconnecting with her adolescent friends to run a game on Harlem's drug kingpins and free her man, Chance, from the business. Top street novels speak of a journey from youth to adulthood and of how the streets destroy dreams. Blue follows that pattern but includes several surprising twists. Not as relentlessly harsh as the writings of K'wan or Tracy Brown, Harlem Girl mixes slapstick comedy and several fairy talelike rescues to balance brutal violence. Sex scenes zoom from zero to hard-core in a single paragraph, and dialog rarely lacks profanity. Urban libraries, in short, should stock up. [Blue is currently at work on his next One World novel, A Street Girl Named Desire.Ed.]Rollie Welch, Cleveland P.L.

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2006
Blue's story is another great addition to the urban-drama genre. Silver Jones is growing up istening to the wit of her prostitute mother, Jessie. Jessie feels that instilling her truths will ensure that Silver does not fall prey to horror of the streets. As a result, Silver is wise beyond her years, independent and fearless. At 12, she and a rival, Missy Anderson, becomes friends who no one challenges. After her mother is brutally killed turning a trick one night, Silver is forced to live with her cruel grandmother. After years of emotional abuse, Silver chooses to live on the streets but still holds onto her dream of becoming a doctor and moving out of the ghetto. She runs into a childhood friend, Chance, who is a powerful drug dealer. She puts her aspirations on hold and tries to convince Chance to give up his lifestyle. Chance knows that he cannot just walk away, and Silver is willing to take on the world and underworld to make sure he can.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)