This is a tense thriller about drugs, revenge, betrayal, and murder. The reader will come away with a breath of optimism spawned by the two main characters in the book. The world needs more sheroes. It tells the story of how two powerful superwomen joined forces to rid a community of a menace to society named Chance. Blood is not the only thing that runs through their veins. The oxygen supply they deliver to the residents of the Queenstown community will give them a sense of hope and purposeful pride.
Char-lama, an investigative reporter and Spirit, an agent with the Backbone Central Guardianship (BCG) agency lives will intersect, not on some lonely highway, but on their journey to burn down the house Chance built. Chance, the leader of the Second Chance criminal enterprise is a smart and unpitying drug dealer. For years, his organization terrified the residents of the Queenstown community with the flow of endless drugs and murder.
This is a tense thriller about drugs, revenge, betrayal, and murder. The reader will come away with a breath of optimism spawned by the two main characters in the book. The world needs more sheroes. It tells the story of how two powerful superwomen joined forces to rid a community of a menace to society named Chance. Blood is not the only thing that runs through their veins. The oxygen supply they deliver to the residents of the Queenstown community will give them a sense of hope and purposeful pride.
Char-lama, an investigative reporter and Spirit, an agent with the Backbone Central Guardianship (BCG) agency lives will intersect, not on some lonely highway, but on their journey to burn down the house Chance built. Chance, the leader of the Second Chance criminal enterprise is a smart and unpitying drug dealer. For years, his organization terrified the residents of the Queenstown community with the flow of endless drugs and murder.
Char-lama
Char-lama and her two brothers were raised in the Capillary housing projects in Queenstown. Her mother became the single head of the household after her father went to prison. It was a time of great turmoil in her family, but her motherâs love and strength kept the family stable. She worked two jobs to make ends meet. It was this strength in her mother passed down through her grandmother that Char-lama would inherit. Â
Her father was a good man who did bad things. He became a professional thief as a means of survival. Survival to feed and clothe his family. His last crime came when he attempted to pull off the biggest heist of his life, rob a bank. It would be his last. He was convicted and sentenced to twenty years in prison.
Char-lama was sixteen years old when the police raided her home and escorted her father out in handcuffs, it was the last time she would see him. She remained a faithful daddyâs girl. She wished he had chosen a different path, but her grandfather infused in his brain that men are supposed to take care of their family by any means necessary. Unfortunately, that did not mean becoming a criminal to do so.
Despite the negative dangers that lurks in the hood, Char-lama surrounded herself with positive friends and positive things. Her mother made sure she raised her children in a loving environment. She drilled in Char-lama to always be cynical of her surroundings even when they appear innocent. The one thing Char-lama carried close to her heart was her mother teaching her that âeven though she lived in the hood, the hood did not live in her.â
Char-lama was able to survive the hood and become a success because she had a praying grandmother. She got excellent grades in school, graduated from high school, and earned a journalism degree from college. Char-lama loved to write; it was her escape from reality.
While in college, Char-lama met the man of her dreams, Clyde. Â They dated all through college. After college, he asked her to marry him. Char-lama was hesitant to say yes because she was concerned about Clydeâs career pursuit in the field of law enforcement. Eventually he convinced her to marry him. Clyde retired from the police force and created his own investigative agency.
In her young adult life, Char-lama experienced many tragedies that were not her own. Her younger brother, Devin, followed in their fatherâs footsteps and robbed a bank. He made the worse mistake of his life after getting involved with friends who were known thieves. Her best friend survived being shot by an abusive boyfriend.
All these tragedies would have pushed the average person over the edge, but it forced Char-lama to dig deeper into her soul and taught her that if a person looks hard enough, they will find the strength to make the impossible possible. It is this strength that will provide her with the courage to investigate one of the biggest drug lords the streets of Queenstown had ever experienced.Â
This book is billed as a âtense thriller about drugs, revenge, betrayal, and murder.â Itâs the story of how two powerful âsheroesâ join forces to rid a community of a menace to society, a drug kingpin named Chance. It has potential but doesnât quite deliver.
Char-lama is an investigative reporter. Spirit is an agent with the Backbone Central Guardianship (BCG) agency. Both have lost their fathers â one to prison and the other to murder. How and why their lives intersect is the basis for this story.
Char-lama was raised in Queenstownâs housing projects. Her dad is in prison and her mom is the single head of the household. Char-lama is out to investigate one of the biggest drug lords to ever walk the streets of Queenstown.
Spirit grew up in a quiet and affluent community. Her father was a BCG agent who was murdered while working undercover. Spirit is now a BCG agent herself, with a thirst for revenge. The day she hoped for has arrived when Spirit is asked to infiltrate the notorious Second Chance criminal enterprise. Sheâs working as a lone wolf. Thereâs no room for mistakes.
Hot on the trail of her fatherâs killer, Spirit, aka: âStarr,â decides to âgo rogueâ and pursue her fatherâs killer without the agency knowing about it. If this is the case, however, then why is Spirit/Starr having the agency run a background check on âQueen Hurtâ a few pages later? This doesnât make sense. Meanwhile, the "$64K questionâ remains: Who ordered the hit on Starrâs father, and why?
This book would benefit from another proofread and some attention from a copy editor. Errors in usage and basic mechanics are frequent. Examples include: âCapricorn was able to allude capture.â â⌠his instincts had never stirred him wrong.â âChance⌠had become a shallow of a man he once was.â And so on.
Proper paragraphing for dialogue and shifting POVs is often problematic. Thereâs also quite a bit of âTell, Donât Showâ rather than the converse. This effectively slows the action and begins to sound like a lecture rather than a high-octane thriller/suspense story. It also puts the reader outside the story looking in. Thus, the plot has good potential but is predictable and somewhat thin.
Based on the synopsis, I expected this book to be about two strong, courageous butt-kicking women who are going to take down a criminal enterprise and make their community safe. So it was rather surprising and somewhat disappointing to find that the vast majority of this story focuses almost entirely on Spirit/Starr and her efforts to infiltrate Chanceâs criminal enterprise and find out who killed her father. Char-lama is a second fiddle, almost an afterthought.
While this book has potential, it would benefit from additional elbow grease and another coat of polish.