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By Solomon Jones
Publisher: St. Martin’s
Minotaur
ISBN: 0312306156
Ê
The
disappearance of a well-loved ten-year old girl is the backdrop for murder,
melee and bedlam in a Philadelphia housing project called “The Bridge”
by Solomon Jones.
The
story begins with Kevin Lynch, a hot-shot Philadelphia detective forced to
confront his demons by returning to the projects from which he emerged to
find the missing, adored ten-year old Kenya Brown. Kenya (everyone’s hope
and promise for goodness) has disappeared in the muck and mire of a
Philadelphia housing project, The Bridge, riddled in the despair of drugs,
bloodshed and sacrilege.
Lynch, a
survivor of The Bridge is drawn back into pandemonium when he
receives a call informing him that Tyrone’s daughter (Lynch’s childhood best
friend) has been abducted and possibly killed. Despite the fact that Kenya
is not Tyrone’s biological daughter, it was common knowledge that Tyrone
loved Kenya as if she were his own. That fact along with Lynch feeling
partially responsible for Tyrone’s death some years prior is more than
enough to passionately propel the detective into action. Thus, Lynch agrees
to search for the little girl whose life has been shrouded in deceit and
abuse from birth.
On a
race with time, Lynch along with Kenya’s recovering crack addicted mother,
Daneen return to The Bridge to question anyone who may be connected
with this crime. Here the reader gets a look into the horrific and
dysfunctional lives of several suspects. First we have Judy Brown. Judy
raised Daneen and her brother Darnell often paying more attention to her
growing crack trade than Judy’s bequeathed responsibilities. Prior to her
abduction, Judy had sole custody of Kenya raising her in the same bedlam in
which she raised Daneen and Darnell. Openly and without remorse, Judy
exposed the children to her drug trade and became Daneen and Darnell’s major
supplier of crack cocaine. And if Judy felt her jealous fits arise she
often took her frustration out on Kenya by physically abusing her with
closed fists for which Kenya could not defend herself.
It is
with Judy that we get the last glimpse of Kenya’s voice. Judy along with her
king-pin boyfriend Sonny runs The Bridge’s most lucrative crack house
out of their apartment. Sonny’s penchant for little girls is well known in
The Bridge neighborhood. Due to other un-related crimes and motives, Sonny
and Judy flee leaving a menacing trail of destruction that threatens to
overshadow the little girl lost tragedy. That is until Lynch enlists the
help of Detective Wilson, a juvenile aid officer and empathetic mother who
out of her own despair vows to help locate Kenya and the party responsible
for this hate-filled crime.
With
onionskin layers, Solomon Jones unravels sordid details about an often
forgotten people’s past attempting to explain their present and ultimately
their futures exposing a cycle of crime in the inner city. Vividly the
author describes the scenes of this story so prominently that the reader is
actually present with characters on the beaten paths of Philadelphia’s mean
streets and political tirades. And while this tale leaned heavily upon the
elements of a mystery, it was an intelligent and poignant read from an
author focusing attention on a critical nationwide crisis with a profound
respect for structure, style and the beauty of the English language.
Toni
Staton Harris is the author of the mainstream fiction novel By Chance or
Choice and the soon to be released fiction novel, Nothing
Special…Just Friends. She resides in Newark, New Jersey with her
husband.
A Review by
Toni Staton Harris
Toni@tonisatonharris.com
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