Dutch

Bernard James, Jr., a.k.a. Dutch, grew to become the most dangerous criminal in New Jersey. Street smart and ruthless, Dutch was gifted at reading people. With careful positioning and luck, Dutch was able to win the attention and respect of Italian mobsters. Planning, luck, and guts help Dutch move up from teenage carjacker to drug lord. With the help of criminal bosses and Dutch's past associates, District Attorney Anthony Jacobs is intent on taking Dutch down. As the action unfolds and blood flows, how will it end?

Dutch is a fast-paced and carefully crafted thriller. Each of the main characters are well fleshed out. Unwilling to accept traditional rules and authority figures, Dutch and his friends develop their own code of honor. show more Despite his ruthless and criminal acts, I found it easy to understand and sympathize with Dutch's choices. Overall, Dutch was a fast and engrossing read. I'd highly recommend it to persons who enjoy action and mafia-type novels.

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing; Collectors edition (September 23, 2009), 256 pages.
Courtesy of Hatchette Book Group. show less

I read this book years ago when I was in high school and while it had a slow start, it was one of the best urban novels I had read in a while. After the first couple of chapters describing the mother's life and how Dutch came to be, it was a face paced read that showed how a boy grew and became submerged in a life of crime.

This book gave me that feeling I had when I saw New Jack City for the first time.

This review was originally posted on my review blog : Falling Off The Shelf.

James Bernard, better knows as Dutch, is nothing more than a young hoodlum out to get what he wants, including his freedom. He's nothing more than a youngster when he begins stealing cars, and robbing people with the help of his best friend Craze. Dutch knows that this isn't the way to do things though, and he uses his street smarts to get the help and respect from the Mafia. With his crew, consisting of other youngsters they take the city as their own, selling drugs and running the streets. They don't let anything get in their way, even if it means murder.

Dutch now can look back on those years while he fights for his freedom once again, in a court of law. show more Everything that he did when he was young, up until now, as a man is coming back to bite him in the butt. He's confident everything will turn out alright in the end, but will it cost him his freedom and his life?

I just finished reading Dutch, and I'm not sure whether I can honestly say this was a book for me. I was excited to read about gangsters and such, because I am from New York and wanted to get an inside look at the streets. I got what I was looking for, but I just wasn't enjoying all the slang in this novel. There was a lot of cursing, and racial slurs. I don't mind cursing, believe me, I have a habit of going off at the mouth sometimes, but this was just too much for me. I'm also a firm believer that no matter the color of a persons skin, they still bleed red, so I didn't enjoy reading the many racial slurs that were sprinkled throughout every page of this book.

This book has been rated as a Best Seller, but not in my book. I will most likely not be reading the rest of this trilogy, as this was the first book. I'd like to thank Miriam Parker from Hatchette Books for allowing me to read and review this novel, even though I didn't particularly enjoy it very much. show less

This MF is crazy.. if you ever meet someone like Dutch RUN like the Devil the after you. the book was good and crazy all the same time.

Dutch by Kwame Teague is a street classic. The main protagonist is Bernard James, who goes by the name of Dutch, moves up the ranks by first stealing cars with his crew. He gets caught and thrown in jail on his first major heist at the port, and swears to never return to prison again. He devises a plan with his crew to go after a major kingpin who everyone feared, that's until Dutch discovers his weak link and kills him.

After he kills him, he makes a visit to the Italian mafia, and presents them with a surprise. The leader is convinced Dutch is ruthless, and decides to reluctantly agrees to his proposition of working in collaboration with him. It was then that Dutch becomes the most feared man on the streets.

To read more of this show more review, please visit www.ordinaryservant.com. show less

Wow! It's a fast pace book with twist and turns and now onto Dutch II! :)

Love this series.