cover image Got

Got

. Akashic Books, $13.95 (171pp) ISBN 978-1-933354-16-3

At the start of the pseudonymous D's gritty, streetwise debut, written in the second person, a 24-year-old bagman working for a Brooklyn mobster gets ripped off by a stripper in a seedy club. Thereafter the bagman desperately scrambles to recover the haul and return to grace. Solid writing and unrelenting, brutal detail liven up an otherwise standard gangsta plot. The offhand ""Then you killed a man over a bag of money that ain't even yours"" is merely a precursor to ""You've now killed four people in six hours"" as the body count escalates and the payback roars out of control. This first release from the Armory, a new imprint showcasing modern urban noir, is sure to appeal to the audience that has made Akashic's city-themed anthology series (Brooklyn Noir, etc.) a hit.