Memphis Reads Archive

SPEED. DRAMA. REVENGE.

Eric Jerome Dickey's latest has hit the shelves of the Popular Library. I hope you don't have to get up too early because CHASING DESTINY (Dutton, 2006) will keep you up all night.

Billie (aka "Ducati") lives on the edge. She likes fast motorcycles, hot clothes, and refuses to be tied down by a full-time gig. Keith is her soulmate, a man who is easy to be around. No stress. Lots of laughs and great sex. That is until (as you've probably guessed already) Billie learns that Keith is married and that she is pregnant. Keith is trying unsuccessfully to divorce his witch of a wife, Carmen. They have a fifteen-year-old daughter named Destiny who is confused by her fractured family life and enraged at her manipulative mother. Deceitful, impulsive, and bold, Destiny will remind you of Winter Santiago, the woman-child at the center of Sister Souljah's The Coldest Winter Ever. Destiny steals her mother's Jimmy Choo boots and sneaks out for a night out on the town. She hooks up with a dangerous crew, hits another girl with a brick, and becomes the unwitting star of the flick "Hoodrats Gone Wild." Destiny's acting out sets off a series of events that has dangerous repercussions for Billie, Keith and their unborn child.

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For fast-reads with lots of romance, drama, and deceit, try authors Carl Weber and Mary B. Morrison.

Readers who appreciate Dickey's description of modern-day black Los Angeles (the hang-outs, the dances, the ambience) might like Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlins series of mysteries.

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For your consideration:

Originally from Memphis, Eric Jerome Dickey is an ambitious writer. He tries to accomplish much in 416 pages: tell a fast-paced story involving love, jealousy, conflict and deceit; stage numerous confrontations; illuminate the trials of biracial and multi-racial people; introduce a new comic book character ("Black Panther"); recommend some classic Science Fiction titles....

How well does he pull it off?

Labels: African-American Fiction, Reviews by Doris Dixon