Dirtier Than Ever

February 15, 2010
Urban street lit doesn't get any dirtier than Stringer's series (Dirty Red, Still Dirty) about Raven "Red" Gomez, a former prostitute and drug dealer who keeps making questionable choices. This third entry opens with a desperate Red shooting her mate, Quentin "Q" Carter, because her perverted ex-con lover, Bacon, wants her to-and she'll do anything to recover her stolen fortune. To reward Red, Bacon subjects her to torture and humiliation. Q hangs on to life, facing possible paralysis, while his mother and Chass Reed, his former girlfriend, stay by his side. Detroit Detective Thomas, who's bugging Q with his investigation of Zeke Morrison's death, now wonders who shot Q. Having reconnected with the trauma of her childhood abuse, Red systematically plots revenge, facing each obstacle and enemy with chilling chutzpah. Stringer's well-paced action and Red's relentless anger keeps the pages turning, but her revenge turns out almost as brutal and nasty as her tormenters' crimes. A cliffhanger ending indicates we haven't seen the last of raunchy Red.