Customer Reviews

Alibi

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I liked this book but it was missing something. The brutality and violence that I'm used to from Ms. Woods isn't here. The plot seems "too big" without enough dedication given to it. There were a number of HUGE things that happened in this book that would have made King-Kong do a double take, but instead they were just glazed over.

The best parts of this book, even though they only made quick cameos', were Dizzy and Simon. The power these characters gave off in the few paragraphs they were in had me shaking my head saying, "why couldn't the rest of the story be as engaging as these two"?

Even good authors "trip up" from time to time. Unfortunately, this time its Teri's turn.

While tallying up daily profits from drug dealing, Nard and Poncho fall victim to an attempted robbery that ends up in a triple homicide. Having to cover all bases to secure his freedom, Nard goes to Sticks to clean up his mess. With two murders already under his belt, he's on a mission to eliminate all witnesses that hold his future in their hands.

Daisy Fothergill, a stripper, gold digger, and jump off of Sticks, is about to become involved in an explosive mixture for the love of money. In the midst of sexing Sticks for money, Daisy accepts $2,000 as payment to become Nard's alibi. Naïve to the serious issue that she has become an integral party to, Daisy finds herself in a dangerous liaison with cold blooded killers.


Alibi is a mediocre read with an enhancement of suspense. The plot is acceptable, the characters are ordinary, and there really aren't any riveting people in the entire storyline. There are minor lessons that could have been better developed such as the mother-daughter relationship and the admonishment that existed. Each time a scene was showing promise with a bit more depth, it was cut off too soon. Alibi is a quick read that with better development of characters and plots, had potential to be a notable read. Suspense, manipulation, murder, and intimidation centered around mafia ties abide within the pages of Ms. Woods' latest production.

Reviewed by Tazzyt2bossye
for Urban Reviews

In the urban literature tale Alibi, Terri Woods tells the story of Daisy Fothergill, a 22-year-old stripper who has trouble making ends meet. All at once, she sees the chance to get ahead when her street hustler boyfriend Sticks offers her $2000 if she will complete one simple task: she must provide an alibi for murder suspect Nard. Daisy does as she is asked but unwittingly gets herself in a whole new world of trouble. Alibi could have been a compelling look at a young woman trying to get her life together but instead falls into cliché. The book that tries very hard to build suspense to its predictable climax, well, doesn't. The characters are one- and two-dimensional at best and the reader can find no reason to care about what happens to them. Worst of all, this is a pretty boring read. Woods tries to focus more on character development rather than the sex and violence that pervade the book, but the results are lackluster. Seriously, the most exciting part of this book is the preview of the inevitable sequel due out next year. Yet, after reading Alibi, you might find yourself looking for your own to avoid reading Alibi II.

TaKeshia Brooks
AAMBC Book Reviewer

If there was ever a character who could say, "If it wasn't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all," it would be Daisy Mae Fothergill. She's a stripper who cares for her ailing mother. Money is always an issue. When she accepts money from her boyfriend to be an alibi, she has no clue it was for a murdering street gangster named Nard. All she knows is that it covered her mother's funeral expenses when she died later that day. Life is like that for Daisy. Something seemingly wonderful would happen, but she'd find out later it was never what it seemed. Whatever positive thing would happen always ended badly.

Take for example the man she met, Reggie Carter. He seemed like such a nice businessman who had money and wanted to marry Daisy. She quits her job, believing this is her chance to start a new life. Her optimistic attitude is soon gone when she finds out she's pregnant and that she's contacted a STD. Not only that, it doesn't look like Reggie is coming back from his business trip as promised.

Daisy's life is a dismissal one and eventually, she'll hit a brick wall. What I found a bit far-fetched was how innocent Daisy was portrayed throughout the story. Yes, she was twenty-two, but she was no innocent of the street, gangsters, and the streets of Philadelphia. Another area I had believability issues with was the police at the end and how the Federal Bureau of Investigation let $50,000 go.

The beginning had so much promise, but faltered midway through. Who didn't falter was the book's narrator, Paula Jai Parker-Martin. Her voice breathed life into the characters.

I loved True to the Game, but can't say that I loved any of her books, but I always kept reading in hopes of another urban classic. Alibi is not it.

Alibi tells the story of Daisy Fothergill, a poorly paid stripper who is trying to support her mother, but always seems to fall short. When her sometime boyfriend, offers her cash to supply an alibi for a murder suspect, Daisy jumps at the chance to make a quick couple of grands.

But the lie she tells on the murder suspects behalf quickly becomes a series of lies that need to be told, and bodies start multiplying with each new lie.

Alibi is a quick read, but even with all the drama Ms. Wood supplies, the story just never becomes interesting. And some of the things in the story just don't make sense. For instance, there's more than 10 pages used to give back story on Daisy's mother that just weren't needed, and slowed down the story dreadfully. And then when Daisy makes a trip to Mursfreesboro Ms. Woods portrays the town as a backwards place caught in some kind of time warp. I've been to Mursfreesboro, it's a small town, but no where near as backwards as its portrayed in this book.

And the writing in the book was below average. I would rate this book 2 1/2 stars out of five.

Review by Cynthia Robinson of Real Urban Fans ([...])

This can not be the same author who penned the hood classic True to the Game. Alibi was boring!! It was like torture finishing this book. I read at least 4 books each week and I finish them all rather quickly. I've had this book since it came out in August and I just finished it today! It took me months to get through the horrible plot and unintriguing characters. This one was a flop and I will think twice before I support her again.


Highly Disappointed

This book was okay not like Teri's other books it was slow and dull. I agree with some of the other reviewers it was missing something. Teri is one of my favorite authors I will continue to buy her books however I hope the next one is better then this one.

Sticks, in Alibi by Teri Woods, was on the edge. He was supposed to be the look-out man but he screwed up. Now three men are dead, Nard is on the run and Sticks does not know what to do. Sticks has to fix things before his boss, Simon Shuller, finds out. So he calls his girl, Daisy.

Twenty-one year old Daisy Mae Fothergill is looking for a break. Working as a stripper is not her idea of a dream job. She is not making enough money to pay the bills; her mother died suddenly and her boyfriend mysteriously disappeared without a trace. When she received a phone call from Sticks asking for a favor for a fee, she jumped at the chance. Now she is being tracked by homicide detectives, drug dealers and the FBI.

Set in 1986, Woods puts in place a very suspenseful story that was fast- paced and fun to read. There were bits of the story that were predictable and slow moving. There were also a few slang references that were out of place for the time period. All in all, I think fans of Woods will be pleased with this story and will look forward to its sequel.

This book was provided by the publisher for review purposes.

Priscilla C. Johnson
APOOO BookClub

I don't like Teri Woods' books and had to read this one for a book club meeting. When I couldn't get into the actual hard copy, I got it on CD. The CD makes the storyline seem a little interesting. I really wanted to know how the story would turn out, but I did not care. If you can't get your readers to care, you have not been a success in writing a book.

I didn't care what happened to Daisy. True, she was a stripper at 22, lost her mother at 22, was raped by her casual boyfriends' friends, was paid to be an alibi, was dumped by her boyfriend, had six abortions, had herpes, trichomonotosis (sp?) and so on, but she just was not a sympathethic character.

A whoe on the row for 4 years would act totally different than Daisy. First, when Sticks set her up to be raped, there is NO WAY a whoe on the stroll would have agreed to do more favors for him. Also, when your boyfriend/financee dumps your azz, you go to his momma's house to at least see what happened. Daisy Mae gave up too easy. Stuff would happen and she would just let it slide.

The main problem with this book is the narrative dialogues; they were too long. Abigail's background took on a story of its own and led no where. There were detectives talking nonsense all the time and there was just pointless narration.

Specifically to the audio: the voice acting was HORRIBLE; some of the detectives sounded like keystone cops, some of the thugs sounded like Scooby Doo. Now, I do want to add that the actor's narration and the voice for Daisy was good; the acting only got bad when a gangster or a detective showed up; it became HORRIBLE.

I hope to have to never read another one of this author's books again. It wasn't horrible or bad, but it didn't add anything to my reading repertoire.

When an attempted robbery goes awry, Nard finds himself caught up in a triple homicide investigation where all fingers point to him. Desperate to evade a life sentence in prison, he turns to his boy, Sticks, to come up with a plan and execute a rescue mission. Sticks claims to have everything under control, as he puts things in motion to guarantee Nard's freedom, but this is far from an open and shut case. Sticks finds out the hard way securing an alibi that sticks is a lot harder than he imagined.

Daisy Fothergill, a young stripper turned prostitute, is quickly drowning in a game she is ill-equipped to play. When Sticks asks her to provide an alibi for Nard, she thinks it is well worth the small fortune he pays her to tell the little white lie. But when things quickly start to spiral out of control, Daisy finds herself forced to make a decision that may cost her her life. The death of her mother sends her on a tumultuous journey. Just when she thinks she is able to pick up the pieces of her shattered life and start over, the ugliness of her situation brings her right back to reality. Will Daisy escape with her life?

ALIBI had an intriguing plot that had me guessing until the very end. However, I felt Terri Woods' execution was poor. There were several occurrences throughout the novel that lacked enough detail to make an impact on the story. I was confused by the detailed back story given about Daisy's mother that completely removed the reader from the current story and gave unnecessary information that did nothing to move the plot forward. There were several twists presented throughout the novel, but they were so quickly rushed through, I never got a chance to settle on one before the next one presented itself. The plot was compelling, but the writing was not.

Reviewed by Monique D. Mensah
for RAWSISTAZ(tm) Reviewers