Customer Reviews

Crime Partners

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Donald Goines' books are brutal depictions of drug abusers, racist & corrupt cops, lethal gangsters & newly politicized blacks trying to fight these scourges. Goines, himself, lived a life like a character in one of his 17 books. He began writing in prison after someone turned him on to the works of Iceberg Slim & was hailed as one of the successors to Chester Himes. After his release, he rattled off as many as 8 novels a year. Then he was gunned down at his typewriter while working on his final book, Kenyatta's Last Hit.

This is the first in the Kenyatta series, and it picks up where Sam Greenlee's The Spook Who Sat by the Door left off. Billy Good and Jackie Walker are two small-time hoods on the streets of Detroit, but they hit the big-time when they meet up with Kenyatta, a black nationalist ghetto lord. Kenyatta and his gang have started taking back the streets by killing drug pushers & white cops. As he tells Billy and Jackie: "Kill the honkie. That's our rally cry. Death to Whitey." Then things get wild...

GRADE: C+

I was introduced to Donald Goines when I heard about the movie version of "Never Die Alone". I'm a fan of DMX so I saw it and was amazed by the story and the movie. So when I found out that the movie was based on a book, and that there was lots more, I decided to give them a try.

Since I'd already seen the movie, I didn't wanna get the "Never Die Alone" book first(I will eventually). So I came across "Crime Partners", the first installment of the Kenyatta series. This book introduces us to Jackie and Billy, two stickup partners who are tired of not being recognized for their crimes. So they team up with Kenyatta, a sort of general to an army he's built up to stop crime and corruption by using it. On the other side of the law two detectives, Benson and Ryan, are angered after four fellow police officers are murdered and they're out to find out who did it(it was Jackie, Billy, and Kenyatta's gang). As Jackie and Billy's hits get bigger, so do their hearts as they fall in love with two women in Kenyatta's organization.

I liked this book. This, like I said, is my first Goines book, and it surprised me. It was so real, from the sex, to the drugs, to the cussing, and finally to the brutally true violence. I've heard people say that Benson and Ryan are corrupt cops and I haven't found them to be in this book. True, the book did end quick(along with Jackie and Billy's story), but this book had a first installment feel to it. It's like you almost expect the next book to be Kenyatta's revenge against those who ended his friends' lives. He's an odd character in this book. Sometimes you don't like him at all, and then sometimes you laugh at his charm(especially the part where he walks in on Billy and his newfound honey sleepin together). I hope that Kenyatta is explored more in the other books, because he hasn't effected me like King David did, where you were at a loss of feeling sorry, sickened, or charmed.

Anyways this is a good book, and I suggest everybody read it and read Goines' other books, like I will.

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Just like all the other Donald Goines books I've read, the first chapter drew me in like a bee to a flower. But, unlike the other books, from chapter two on almost made me lose my desire to finish the book. To me, some of chapters lost connection from one chapter to the next. And, not to mention the detectives, they truly did not deserve the mention that they received. Anyone could have played those characters -- even without names. However, one bad apple does not spoil the whole bag and I will continue to read all the books written by Donald Goines.

This book brings Billy and Jackie, two hit men to the forefront. However, it wasn't until they ran into Kenyatta when they realized what they were truly capable of. The book is kinda short, but it also sets the tone for the Kenyatta series. There's plenty of murder in the book, but not simply senseless murder. Once you read the book, you'll see what I am talking about.

Goins is a good author, but he has written better books (see Daddy Cool or Cry Revenge). I agree this is a book you can't put down, but only because you want to finish it quick and get it out of the way. The first chapter or two draws you in with rich character development, but the plot falls apart quick. You should check out some of Goins' work, just not this one.

"Crime Partners" was my first exposure to Donald Goines, but I'm already putting some of his other books in my shopping cart. The book is dynamic with a capital "D"!

The opening chapter draws you in, paragraph after paragraph until you reach the end of the chapter. You take a deep breath, trying to work through what you've read, trying to tell yourself that you don't know people like the characters but you know you do, then you begin chapter two. Chapter two ups the stakes by introducing two new characters.

Characters. That's what drives this action-packed tale of ghetto justice. Realistic, emotion-filled, hardened or soft, passionate, CHARACTERS. Goines has a way of getting inside a character's head like few authors can. You understand the motivations behind their actions. You feel their pain, their joy, their disgust.

What more can you ask for from a writer? The next book!

I could not put this book down once I picked it up. I grew up in Detroit, and Mr. Goines mentions streets in the story that I have seen in person. The characters are well developed and the story never has a dull moment. It is very graphic in detail. For example, He decribes one shooting victim as having brain matter ooze from his head after a point blank shot. This book is full of emotion, from the first paragraph to the last. Some parts of the book made me chuckle, but this book is as realistic and hardcore ghetto as it gets. He writes how people talked in the mid-70's. He follows up crime parters with a sequel called death list which is another classic of this genere. If you really want to know what went on in the inner city ghetto behind close doors, this is a must read!!!

While I must agree that Crime Partners is not one Donald Goines greatest books, it is only book one in a series of three books. The other books in the series are Kenyatta's Escape and Kenyatta's Last Hit. The purpose of Crime Partners is to set the stage for the other two books and that it did.

RIQ

THIS IS A GOOD BOOK BY DONALD GOINS
HE SET'S THE STAGE FOR THREE BOOK
SERIES, I THINK HE COULD HAVE WENT
IN TO MORE DETAIL ABOUT THE PEOPLE
IN THE BOOK.

THIS WAS ANOTHER BOOK ABOUT LOYALTY! I ENJOYED THIS BOOK! AT FIRST I WAS LIKE, HERE WE GO HE IS TRYING TO SAVE THE STREETS! WHEN I GOT INTO IT I COULD NOT STOP UNTIL I WAS DONE! CRIME PARTNERS WAS JUST WHAT THAT WERE UNTIL THE END. THEY DID CRIME TOGETHER, LIVED TOGETHER AND DIED TOGETHER! THIS IS A MUST READ! I LIKED THE BOOK!