HAZARDOUS CHOICES [Kindle Edition]

Joseph Rinaldo (Author), RinaldoWrite (Editor)

Book Description

After surviving life in a violent Chicago street gang through his high school years, Darnell Jackson’s future appears promising. A football scholarship gives him the chance to escape the thug lifestyle.

During his first year in college, Darnell safely resides in a small Kentucky town, playing Division Two college football and trying to make something of himself. Adjusting to the new surroundings proves tough, but a teammate and a girl give him hope that his future will be better than his past.

In the summer after his freshman year, he returns to the old neighborhood to be with his mother. The gang reasserts its hold on him, and the leader orders Darnell to kill a member of a rival gang. Nearly dying in a gang fight, Darnell shoots an enemy gangbanger. This forces Darnell to re-evaluate his future. As a result, he lies to the mercurial leader of his gang, claiming he completed his assignment. After “doing work” for his gang, Darnell receives permission to head back to school and the security of small-town life.

When the head gangbanger learns of Darnell’s lie, the small Kentucky town isn’t so safe anymore.

Product Details

• File Size: 406 KB
• Print Length: 278 pages
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B005SJSN0C
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,009,283 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars HAZARDOUS CHOICE ? January 17, 2012

By G. G.

Format:Kindle Edition

Perfect title for a novel who's author convinced dozens of people to "like" it, but few are wasting their money to buy it and even fewer are wasting their time to review it.

3.0 out of 5 stars While the book didn’t rock my reading world it was an interesting story. November 27, 2012

By D. Brown

Format:Kindle Edition

Hazardous Choices tells the story of a former street gang member trying to make good in a new life in a small Kentucky town. With a place on the football team, new friends and a chance to start over, things are looking up for Darnell. However, in the Summer he returns to his former neighbourhood and becomes embroiled in gang ‘politics’ and hazardous choices transform Darnell’s life once again.

There are aspects of the book that make for a well written story. Despite some very poor choices, Darnell does come across as quite a sympathetic character, embroiled in a culture that originally seemed to offer security but which quickly becomes a burden. There’s an incredible weight of expectation on this young man and Rinaldo does manage to get the message across that the walls seem to be closing in on his bright new future and the panic that that creates in Darnell’s world.

There were other aspects of the books I found harder to connect with. There is quite a lot of jargon about football and even though this is a huge part of Darnell’s world I did think it was sometimes overplayed within the book. Additionally, sometimes I did feel that the book was slightly repetitive or circling. At 279 pages, some of it felt a little like ‘filler’ and it could have been stripped down.

Rinaldo shows promise with this title and does seem to have an aptitude for character development and a good storyline. While the book didn’t rock my reading world it was an interesting story.

** I received a copy in exchange for a fair and honest review. I did not receive any additional compensation and all views are my own.**

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Wasn't for me. March 30, 2012

By Leighanne's Lit

Format:Kindle Edition

**I received this book from the author in exchange for a completely honest review**

I read another one of Rinaldo's books and I liked it, but this one left something to be desired for me. It has received a lot of good reviews on several different sites, but I guess I just didn't connect with the story very well. But, it does have a pretty sweet cover!

The very beginning of the book was a lot of talk about football, which I personally found hard to get through. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE football, especially college football, (I am from the south guys) but its something that I would much rather watch than read about. I get that this was how Darnell was supposed to be changing his life, but I felt that some of it could have been left out.

I really liked the premise of the book, and even some of the characters I liked, but I just couldn't connect with it like I wanted to. The ending was also pretty abrupt for me, and I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about that.
By no means is it a bad book, like I said, a lot of other people have really enjoyed it, but sometimes these things happen, you just can't connect with a book like you want to. If the blurb sounds interesting to you, I suggest you get the book and give it a read yourself, maybe you will find a better connection than I did.

Like I said, its not a bad book, but I couldn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to, and for that reason it only gets 2 out of 5 stars.

To read more reviews, visit my book blog [...]

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Thought provoking read September 16, 2012

By Kathryn Lamee

Format:Kindle Edition

Hazardous Choices by Joseph Rinaldo is a book that follows the lives of three intertwined characters. First is Darnell, a young college student, we meet him as he finishes up his freshman year at a small Kentucky school and heads back home to Chicago and a former gang-life he'd like to forget. We also follow his team-mate and best friend, as he deals with his own home life back in rural Kentucky. Finally, as readers we get to know the head coach and his family, including his teenage daughter and his 22 year old son. The story is told in segments through the eyes of these different personalities and lives that all meet up on the football field. The main plot centers on Darnell, as he heads home and has to function in the gang in order to stay alive. When he has to risk everything to get out of Chicago, things go very bad, both for Darnell and folks back in Kentucky.
Rinaldo has a very distinct writing style. It's conversational and extremely descriptive and sometimes reads like a memoir. I easily connected with each one of the characters and the individual story lines. That said, this book is very different than a typical sports-centered fiction book. There is a lot of football talk, which in all honesty drug it down for me. I'm not familiar with nor am I interested in the fine points of the sport, and I think I would have gotten just as much out of this book without all of the football education. I was tempted to put it down at times because I couldn't stay on track during those segments of the book. However, the rest of the story kept me engaged and needing to find out how it all ended. I was very intrigued by the story of the coach's family. I can definitely see where Rinaldo used his own life experiences to draw the reader in to the plot line with coach and his family dynamics.... You can't help but fall in love with his son who has Down Syndrome and learns to overcome some communication barriers.
Darnell and his plight is one that is common, or at least perceived as common to those outside the rough neighborhoods of large cities. He is drawn into gang life because he has no choice and football offers him a way out. My heart ached for Darnell and for kids who have to experience this type of life because they have no alternative. You can easily see why he wants to get back to Kentucky and the small town `normal' life.
Overall I enjoyed the read. There are times when I feel it is plodding along, and there is some repetition due to cross over of characters and how the book is set up. But, at the end of the book, I felt like I'd gained something worthwhile in my time. I've thought a lot about this book and about the topics that Rinaldo covers. For me, I like books that leave me chewing on the subjects over days or even weeks. I found that satisfaction in Hazardous Choices. I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. TracyRiva.com Read more ›

More About the Author

Joseph Rinaldo currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee. From this most American of southern cities he writes about the violent activities of a Mormon sect in A MORMON MASSACRE, the internal turmoil in the CIA in A SPY AT HOME, and about deadly gangs in HAZARDOUS CHOICES. You've probably heard that authors write what they know. Think it's true?