47th Street Black

Book excerpt: The prize-winning debut from an incendiary new voice in contemporary fiction, 47th Street Black is the story of JC and Mookie, whose rise in the gangster-driven ghettos of Chicago is as swift as it is brutal. Told from both perspectives, the story follows their rise to power with Mookie as the de facto leader and JC as the enforcer, roles that land JC in jail for fifteen years, while Mookie takes over all of the South Side. By the time JC is paroled, the neighbourhood and the two men's lives are on an inexorable path to an explosive confrontation.