Seventeen-year-old Lorene Hobart's mother is a drunk. After the two get into a fight, Lorene's brother, Brian, invites Lorene to go out for pizza. Instead, brother and sister meet up with Brian's friend, Dwight, and Lorene is forced to be their getaway driver when the boys rob a liquor store. After the robbery, Dwight purchases some dope, which Lorene tries for the first time.
Brian becomes further involved in criminal activity as does Lorene. Eventually, Lorene teams up with Dwight, who takes her to New York City. Lorene's life spirals out of control, and she faces possible prison time. Can Lorene find a way to escape from her dead-end lifestyle?
The publisher's summary reveals too much information, so I had to write my own. I looked at the summary not too long after I began the book. As a result, I knew an important plot detail that doesn't happen until the final 20 pages of the story. That sort of information should be omitted from a summary.
This book is overall good, but I found it tiresome. The book consists of one scene after another where Lorene has to help with a criminal act. In every scene, Lorene protests constantly and questions what they are doing. I got sick of it and skimmed through parts of the book.
110th Street was a tough area to grow up in, and while he was still in his teens, Rocky Gardini became addicted to heroin. It wasn't long before he started mugging people to support his habit. By the time he was twenty-three, Rocky realized that threatening people with his switchblade was taking a chance. Some mugging victims would fight back—and his switchblade would be useless against someone who packed a handgun to defend himself. Rocky knew that mugging was risky business—until he discovered how easy and effective a sawed-off shotgun is.
However Rocky's use of firearms only led to a new kind of trouble and violence, including drug pushing, gun battles, and being an accomplice to murder. Peddling dope landed him in prison for four long years, but upon his release he continued his risky lifestyle of drugs and crime, eventually being shot down himself. After being released from the hospital, Rocky teamed up with a pimp in his sordid business. Living a life of violence and crime, Rocky was certain death awaited him—until he met a caring pastor with a unique mission. Rocky gives a vivid example of how God's love and mercy can transform anyone's life or any situation, no matter how bad it seems.
Content: drug use, murder, violence, prostitution
The murder, while described minimally, is still graphic. I won't say what happened, but it is gross.
From page 64:
I knew I was taking a chance with hepatitis. That pusher looked like he had drilled a few times with a dirty needle himself. But when you need to get off, you don't even care about hepatitis or any other disease.
I had wondered when Benton would finally address the possibility of a junkie getting a disease from a shared needle. This is the first time that the risk of shared needles has been mentioned in this set of books, and just about all the characters in these books share needles. This book was published in 1985, when bloodborne pathogens were getting heavy coverage in the media.
I never place tape on books, but I made an exception in this case. By the second or third page of the story, I realized that the front cover was brittle and splitting along the left edge. Meaning, the front cover was attached as I read the first page and then had split about halfway by page 3. I had to use clear tape on the outside and inside of the front hinge in order to salvage the book. Otherwise, it would have fallen apart as I read it.
This book starts out with the same approach as Lorene. Rocky questions everything, and it's hard to read. Also, various people continually tell Rocky how stupid he is and tell him what he did wrong. I skimmed a lot of it.
Around halfway through the book, the writing style shifts so that Rocky isn't questioning and acting stupid. Finally, the story becomes interesting and engaging. I quit skimming the story.
The first half of the story is tedious, and the second half is very good.
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