A Family Sin

Karim Spencer has become a successful businessman despite his impoverished background. But his discovery of a long-buried family secret jeopardizes his promising future. Travis Hunter weaves a convoluted story about family and obligation, and Kevin Free binds the characters together in a gritty narration. Free's performance is so good that the listener may just want to slap Spencer's stripper sister when she tries to whine her way out of another responsibility. Throughout the giggly conversation of a 3-year-old boy, the raspy curses of a hard-drinking, bootlegging grandmother, and the posings of a teenage gangsta wannabe--Free keeps the listener engaged. P.R (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

September 24, 2007
The clunky latest from Atlanta-based Hunter offers a look at black urban life complicated by a slew of conflicts. The novel centers on Karim, who has escaped family tragedy and the temptations of the street to become a successful Atlanta businessman. Now he sees his nephew JaQuan headed for trouble, but is hesitant to help him for fear of bringing danger to his family. He's also grappling with the burden of being the family's straight arrow, surrounded by a stripper sister, a grandmother who sells liquor on her back porch and a convict brother. Hunter plagues his characters with obstacles, but the resolutions are too pat (or, in one case involving Random House saving the day, too hokey) and the prose is little more than serviceable.