Review: Crack – Shaka Senghor

Less than six months after returning to his hometown of Detroit, Homicide detective Devon Jensen finds himself knee-deep in a murder investigation that involves a few familiar faces from his past.  Damu, a ruthless drug dealer who has done a stint in the military is determined to provide a better life for his family by any means necessary, but when people close to him start turning up dead, he sets his eye on his nemesis, Dominique Santiago.  Is Dominique Santiago behind the murders or is there another killer in their presence? Will Detective Jensen find the killer or killers before the bullets start aiming his way?

As a native of Detroit, it was very nice to revisit some of the places I grew up, but as I relived some of the precious moments I was also reminded of the “dark” parts of Detroit.  “At one time, Detroit held the promise of becoming the model of middle class integration, until the arrival of the crack cocaine epidemic that started in the late 1985.” (Page 4)

The only thing that kept it from being a perfect read was the author’s way of separating past and present events, I did find myself going back a few pages to make sure I was on track, but once I got the hang of his style of writing it was an easy flow from there.

When I read the back of the book, a reviewer wrote “Crack is something urban books have been missing since Donald Goines” – I raised my eyebrows because Donald Goines is one of my all-time favorites, but I’m happy to say you made this Detroit native very proud.

Shaka Senghor delivers a fast paced rollercoaster of a read.   I really enjoyed reading this book and look forward to Volume Two.

Reviewed by: Orsayor