Main character Raygene, a highly self-regarding football player messes with an old wanna'-be black man from school after he's out of prison and despite all the protection his agent affords him, just to hold out until the new contract is signed, things get messy - what's entertaining is the satiric presentation of race as Haywood takes off on stereotypes that make the plot move forward and reveal their unreality - gorgeous women, scamming crooks, and swaggering ball busters, and there is a real story going on with underworld characters, and blackmail that reaches to highest level of football stakes. He discovers the ruses set up around him to 'protect' him and doesn't know who to trust until the mother of his baby is jeopardised .. it all starts to go even more haywire. when old 'friends' start to mix in who just know too much. This is really adept writing with broad humour added in - a relaunch of a title Brash Books has found. Haywood keeps all the balls in the air, and manages to stay with it (and bring us along too) until a dream ending, hilarious itself. It reads like a shot too. really loved it ...

Firecracker by Gar Anthony Haywood This was a really interesting story with many twists and turns and even though all the references to ‘tight ends’ and other American Football terms passed me by I understood enough to know that people who can throw far are of value just as are people who battle their way out of scrums or run very fast. It also brought home the ‘rapper’ life style that so many young men aspire to. The pretence of being really tough. The need to wear baseball caps on backwards. The need to wear certain clothes and be tattooed and so on, that seems to signify success to those who have used their body rather than their brains to escape poverty. And how easy it therefore is to scam these people and to bully them and encourage them to spend way above their means when they really don’t understand the value of saving as they have never before had any money to save let alone spend. We hear so often of these football stars ending up broke as their managers failed to invest wisely, sometimes because it was deliberate as a way to line their own pockets, or sometimes because the people in charge of the money are not capable - through lack of education for instance. Many of these suddenly immensely rich young men spend all their money on entertaining their friends from their old home areas as well which doesn't help matters.
In this story we have the conflict between a young man who carelessly impregnates several women and pays his way out of trouble. But he then encounters a savvy young women who, whilst she unfortunately also falls pregnant, knows better and can manage against the odds to make things work in her favour.
Las Vegas and gambling and bodyguards with heart and faith are part of the story too as well as very nasty young man who is a wannabe ‘gangsta’ but plays the part with gusto.
A good story that kept me interested until the end.

Only an African-American could pen this story without causing an uproar over the slang used. Some will no doubt still find it offensive. The language however does lend authenticity to the characters and the story. I found the story to be thoroughly enjoyable. A good PI story with a plot sure to engage any reader. Characters and settings are realistic enough to make the story believable. I look forward to more reading enjoyment from this author.