cover image Show Stoppah

Show Stoppah

Thomas Slater, S&S/Strebor, $12 trade paper (288p) ISBN 978-1-59309-339-6

Slater, the author of two self-published novels (Run with the Pack and Blue-Collar Diary), makes his professional debut with a provocative if somewhat far-fetched tale of revenge. At Detroit's Woman's First Shelter, two battered African-American women, Kimpa Peoples and Isis, listen in fury to a radio shock jock, Mindspeak the Truth, as he hosts a national show on the topic of "women who kill their abusive lovers." The sistahs hijack the show the next day, to tell the world about their experiences as abuse victims. Kimpa leads the way, sharing her seedy history with her former pimp, Brody Ellis, now a bestselling urban fiction author and screenwriter with a dark secret behind his success. Next, Isis relates her harrowing life after being kidnapped by sexy but terrifying Denairo Ganteeny, who claims to be an FBI agent but is really a mob hit man. Quicksilver pacing and super characterizations more than compensate for the fairy tale denouement. (Apr.)