Dodgers

East is 15 years-old and lives/works in the inner city section of South Central Los Angeles called The Boxes, that’s about as poverty stricken as can be. He has seen more than most of us ever see in a lifetime. He’s in a gang; it’s works the midnight shift keeping watch over a drug den. Most nights, after work, he breaks into an office building’s basement and sleeps, undetected, under a box.
The gang’s leader, Fin, has a soft spot for East. However, a soft spot in a drug dealer is much different than soft spots in others.
The house is busted one night, but everyone gets way. Fin has a new job for East: kill a judge who is the key eyewitness in an upcoming trial. East, ready to be a man, steps up to the challenge. Following show more Fin’s orders, he climbs in a ratty van along with three others: Michael Wilson, oldest of the bunch; Walter, the fat kid, and Ty, East’s equally-hardened younger brother. East has never been outside of his neighborhood, and the trip is both frightening and exciting.
The quartet sets off for Wisconsin where the judge is hiding until the trial begins. Author Bill Beverly does an amazing job of making the reader feel as h/she is along for the ride. The trip takes about half of the story, but Beverly does an excellent job in keep the sentences fresh. Writing about driving halfway across the country and keeping it fresh, even with their side adventure, is a masterful feat. Tension rides high on each page.
The hit is completed, but there are complications. Complications that have a lasting, deep impact on East. I can’t give too much away, but East is at a crossroads. Does he go back to LA and live with the consequences or does he stay in the Midwest and start over?
East winds up in Iowa, at a paintball range, sleeping in the storage room under a box. Perry, the range’s owner, becomes somewhat of a father figure to the young man. When East’s past resurfaces, it’s up to him to determine his fate.
I think this was an amazing book. I don’t often care to read book about gangs and violence, but this one captured my attention from the opening paragraph. Beverly shows a lot of empathy toward East, who in many, many ways reminded me of Richard Wright’s Bigger Thomas. Beverly writes with such first-hand knowledge of an African-American teen, I was truly surprised to discover that he is a white dude. Tagged as a young adult novel, Dodgers deftly crosses the line into adult fiction.
I give Dodgers 5 out of 5 stars. show less

Dodgers by Bill Beverly is a beautifully written coming-of-age crime novel with grit, character and heart. The story follows the journey of East, an LA gang member, who, along with three other black teenagers, is on a mission to kill a witness in an upcoming trial. East has never been out of his neighbourhood and so this journey is eye-opening for him in many ways.

East, although only fifteen, is a leader. The others declare him “no fun” but they do respect him and mostly listen to him as he tries to keep them on task. The team consists of Ty, East’s psychotic half-brother who, at thirteen, is truly terrifying. Overweight Walter is smart, he knows how to manipulate both paperwork and people to his advantage. Finally, there is show more Michael, a college student who pushes drugs on campus, loves to enjoy life and has been sent on this job to give the group some shred of middle-class respectability. As they travel along, East’s control of the group is continually challenged by arguments, fights and the temptations that are met along the way.

I was absolutely enthralled by this book as the author’s descriptive writing and his ability to make these junior assassins spring to life moved the story along at a good pace. East is a unique character, an interesting blend of young and old, innocent and experienced, that you can’t help but feel an attachment for. Dodgers was an unforgettable road trip and a great read. show less

Once begun, this book is really hard to put down. The characters become close to you and you find that you root for some and detest others. The short staccato sentences burst forth on every page creating constant tension and interest.
East is not quite sixteen. For two years, he has been at his job as a watcher in The Boxes neighborhood, supervising a team that he set up to warn if danger was coming. He works for his Uncle Fin. He has been since he was ten years old. East’s mother is a drunk. She is only 31 years old. His brother Ty, his half brother is two years younger than he is, but he does not live at home. He is out on the street on his own for two years. He also works for Fin, although he does not share the same father, and Fin show more is not his uncle. Ty is angry and tends to be violent without any sense of conscience. He doesn’t take care of his mother, doesn’t keep in touch with East. East is more responsible. He cleans up his mom’s house and gives her money, but he rarely sleeps at home either. The brothers, diametrically opposed to each other, are estranged. While one known for being a loner, working alone without any ties, the other is known for his steadiness and fairness, for carrying out and following orders. All of these boys who were working in The Boxes for Fin are wannabe men, but they were still young, still boys. They were, however, street smart. They knew the rules of the street, and as young black kids who broke the law, they knew how to play the game to stay out of trouble with the cops.
East knows everything about The Boxes. He protects this house that Fin runs. He has trained his team well. One night, the system fails; there is a raid, a young black girl is murdered. Fin turns himself in shortly after, but not before he asks East if he will do one last job for him; he asks him to murder the judge who is a witness against Marcus, one of Fin’s boys. East has never been involved in anything like that before. Is it a test? Is it a punishment for failing at his job as a watcher and supervisor? Or, is there another reason?
The team is made up of four boys who are wannabe men. Michael, Ty, Walter, and East set out to travel from Los Angeles to Wisconsin to commit this crime for Fin. East keeps thinking about not doing it, but he follows orders and keeps on going toward that goal. Michael is bright but a brute who thinks with his fists. Walter is overweight, jovial and a follower. Ty is callous and thoughtless when he reacts. East is the stabilizer. Neither Walter nor East are the “gunners”.
This is a story of misguided young men operating with a false bravado, operating within a system that requires actions and reactions, punishment for infractions, examples to be set. Brutality is just part of the game. It keeps everyone in line. Most of them have no sense of purpose or future. Even those that do move out into the world, tend to stay within the same corrupt system after they educate themselves. It is all they know.
None of these boy/men are nice guys, essentially, they are nothing but thugs. They even prey on each other. Yet, some have goodness inside of them fighting to get out, fighting to be different. This is the story of “bad” boys everywhere. It is the story of how they become “bad boys” and how they think about life. Some of these “bad boys” are victims of circumstance. Some want to escape that life but don’t know how. East is a “bad boy” because he has been trained by his uncle to be just that. It is all he knows. His uncle is a gangster. East has no education. He has no family to fall back on except for his Uncle Fin. All he has to really depend on are his own wits. Will they be enough or will they be his downfall?
One question will be answered when the book nears the end. Why were these boys sent to do a man's job? show less

Why the foolish requirement to wear Dodger caps and shirts on their cross-country trip?

"I don't disagree," sighed Johnny. "What can I say? White people love baseball. White people love the Dodgers."

"What do I care what white people like?"

"Boy", Johnny said, "the world is made of white people. So you just pick out a nice hat."

Here's one with a teenage protagonist that will never be considered YA. 16 year old East is a watcher for an LA drug house, heading a team that looks out for any trouble. When hordes of police descend without warning, he's not blamed, but is expected to redeem himself by joining three other gang members on a cross-country trip with murder as its goal. He's joined by his wild younger brother Ty, overweight Walter show more who has some education and knows tech, and Michael, the oldest but least disciplined.

Despite his age, East is the most mature of all of them, and is expected to keep the team out of trouble and on task. "{T}hey respected him, for though he was young, he had none in him of what they hated most in themselves: their childishness. He had never been a child."

With new identities, they drive from LA to Wisconsin, experiencing a world previously unknown to the younger boys, sometimes puzzling, sometimes dangerous. What East has to do to maintain order is sometimes simple and sometimes complex. Despite the circumstances he is in, he has an innate decency and reluctance to harm, kill or steal unless there is no other choice.

The cover calls this a "crime novel", and that is true. But it is East, wise beyond his years, yet still an inexperienced boy, who pulls the reader through the pages. East, and the believable, ring true dialog, keep the pages zipping along. This is a surprisingly accomplished first novel that deserves the accolades it has been getting, and a romping good read to boot. show less

East is a sixteen year old, gang-banger, in South LA. He guards a drug house and has all ready become a seasoned street veteran. His uncle has a special job for him. Along, with three other gang members, he is given the task, to travel to Wisconsin and kill a key witness, who also happens to be a judge. They will travel by car, pay in cash and leave no paper trail.
Sounds easy enough, right? Well, no...Tagging along is East's younger brother, who at the tender age of thirteen, is a gunman and burgeoning psychopath and the whole mission, boils with tension and peril.
The real treat, in reading this exceptionally well-written crime novel, is all the unexpected turns it takes and continues to open new doors, until the very last page. What a show more terrific debut. Find a copy, ASAP. show less

A thriller with depth, written in a style that is very intimate and innovative, resulting in one of the best reads of this year. This was Beverly’s first piece of fiction (and it seems he hasn’t produced any since!). It yielded him at least 4 literary awards including the prestigious CWA gold dagger. Yet it is no typical crime novel or thriller.

Rather it is a coming-of-age novel cum road movie of four black youngsters from LA performing a targeted assassination of a judge in Wisconsin who is about to testify against an LA drug lord, Fin, boss and stepdad to East (for Easton). East has just been witness to a police raid on a drug house under his guard. He could not help it, but Fin makes clear to East that he has to undertake a new show more job (the assassination) for him, if he wants to stay in business. The motley crew of youngsters assigned for this job, falls under East’s responsibility, though he had no say in its composition: There is the 22 year old Michael Wilson, the oldest hand, a duplicitous snitch who runs a drug network at UCLA for Fin; there is the young and fat Walter, who thinks of nothing but food, is chatty and turns out to be a computer geek cum ID fabricator; and to crown it all, there is East’s younger half brother (same mom, different dad) who acts like a sulking, yet trigger happy street gangster. And sure, almost from the word Go, things start going wrong.

Yet in the end the job gets done, and East wants out. Just when you think East has managed to achieve an opt-out, a ghost from the past gets back to him, and he is all set for the next step in his criminal career. Finger-licking good. show less

A dark and poetic story of a group of young men enmeshed in the gang scene of South Central Los Angeles. When they are asked to road trip across the country to kill a prominent judge, the boys, especially East, are awakened to the world outside of what they've known. Plans and circumstances change, leaving East to take matters into his own hands, eventually contemplating creating a new life for himself.

The novel is well-written. The character development and plot twists superb. My only challenge was how authentic the voice of a young LA gang member could be written by a middle aged white man from Michigan.