Blood Ties

January 1, 2019
Choices and consequences frame Sinclair's (Street Rap, 2018) latest street thriller. Leader was a Special Forces soldier; now that his tour is over, he's using his skills to work as a hired assassin. His son, Justus, is willing to learn the business immediately after he graduates from high school. Within a year, Justus is helping his father with hits, and is himself the father of twins. At one assignment, father and son realize that someone else is helping them, and knows all their secrets. Leader's mistress extends her reach into his life by infiltrating their business, and threatening Justus' mother. Justus is also allowing his murderous skills to spill into his personal life when he takes a hit on a crew for their leader's involvement with his girlfriend, the mother of his twins. As Justus continues sliding down his cold path, his father's mistress forces Justus and his father further into a corner. Sinclair's latest, a hard-edged novel with memorable characters, shows that loyalty and destiny are not always related to blood ties.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)