Gar Anthony Haywood

A great detective book published in 1996. Set in South-Central Los Angeles with plot locations covering the whole city, the Private Eye Aaron Gunner’s social orbit looks out of control but author Haywood keeps everything locked down tight. Technically speaking, a well constructed narrative with enough tangential characters to distract the reader yet enough realistic dialogue and action to keep things moving. Published by Putnam, this is a good looking book from a writer I’d never heard show more of before but wish that I had. Familiar locales were: Oakwood, Venice; Original Tommy’s Hamburgers, Rampart; Our Lady Of Sorrows Catholic Church, South Los Angeles; The Fabulous Forum, Inglewood; Fontana, Calif.; LAPD, Southwest Division. The Private Det. is a black Viet Nam Vet and the story engages domestic abuse in the black community. show less

Football player's one night stand produces a pregnant publicist with a betting slip worth potentially $1.25 million, bought with a $25,000 gift from the player, who is now plagued by his drug-dealing former friend (who knows way too much about his past). Luckily his agent has sent a PI, posing as a writer, to keep an eye on him. Lots of violence. Lots of twists and turns (maybe one or two too many), but also a surprising depth of characterization, from the heroic (the PI and the pregnant show more protagonist), to the likable despite his flaws football player, to the despicable drug dealer/blackmailer, to the football player's increasingly reflective bodyguard who accidentally got hooked on a radio preacher, to the dwarf---well, you may have guessed by now it's that type of book. Haywood is a writer who can throw all this stuff together in a nonstop narrative that doesn't leave you time to think and make it all extremely enjoyable. You'll forgive him the occasional implausibility or somewhat loose end. Just enjoy the ride. show less

Nonstop action from beginning to end as a beautiful female movie exec, with a past she needs to hide, crosses a hired killer and has to befriend an ex-con screenwriter to help extricate herself from the mess. And that's not the half of it! Haywood does a great job juggling a cast of memorable, mostly despicable characters throughout a violent, thoroughly engaging tale. The dog-eat-dog Hollywood system is well-depicted and convincing as are the machinations of the plot. This is one of those show more books where the author juggles around various closely-related subplots and characters and you just know it will all come together in a violent conclusion. But while the ending is satisfying, it isn't as exciting as what comes before it. And the author's tying up of all the loose ends takes a little longer than it should. Nevertheless, this is a can't miss book if you are a fan of writers like Anthony Neil Smith. show less

Very quick read and quite the page turner. I was surprised by the parent-son relationship. Very different from my own upbringing. I heard Gar Anthony Haywood in a webinar about Black crime writers. He is an interesting guy. I was glad to hear of this book at that time.