Only the Strong

Narrator JD Jackson's deep voice sets the masculine tone for this novel featuring professional hit man "Guts," who is trying to create a new life with his sexy girlfriend. The story explores the lives of African-Americans in the late 1960s in a fictional Midwestern city. Jackson captures the gritty nature of urban life against the backdrop of the fight for civil rights. His cadence is steady, bordering on monotone, but the situations facing the characters may keep listeners engaged. This is a capable, if unimaginative, reading of an illuminating novel. M.R. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

Starred review from April 27, 2015
This thoroughly entertaining and stylish crime novel from Asim (A Taste of Honey) is set in Gateway City, a fictionalized version of Asim's native St. Louis, during the 1970s. Thirty-five-year-old Lorenzo "Guts" Tolliver is the semi-retired "enforcer" for the gangster chieftain Ananias Goode. Guts, who now operates a fleet of taxicabs, has been in a three-year romance with Pearl Jordan, a gorgeous woman with ambitious dreams of owning her own dance studio. Though Pearl wants to get married, Guts is reluctant to tie the knot due to his violent and dangerous lifestyle. As a special favor, Goode assigns Guts to watch over the flashy baseball player Rip Crenshaw since Goode doesn't trust his replacement enforcer, Sharps, to take care of it. The author creates a flawed, complex, and likeable protagonist in Guts. A supernatural element adds another dramatic layer to this fast-paced narrative. As Goode and Guts take their final steps to go straight, the inevitable showdown with their past troubles and enemies plays out. Asim's impressive novel deserves favorable comparison to the works of Chester Himes and Walter Mosley.