He Had It Coming [Hardcover]

Camika Spencer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 12, 2004

Five Women. A Man. And a Plan.

Meet Marcus Brooks. He's gorgeous. He's successful. He's the bestselling author of African American fiction. He's also the most obnoxious male alive....

Meet Raylene, Naomi, Thelma, Gwena, and Latice. They are five women who belong to a reading group, strong women with strong opinions. They don't take any grief from anyone (well, not if they can help it), and their friendships have stood the test of time. One night they meet up with bestselling author Marcus Brooks. At first they are in awe. Then they are puzzled. Next they're enraged. How can a man whose books are loved by millions act like such a dog? Words are exchanged---and more---and they soon get in way over their heads. The book club takes Marcus captive---and the longer they hold him, the more complicated things get. Can these five women rehabilitate the most arrogant author in the world and teach him a few lessons about life, writing, and women? He Had It Coming is a wickedly delicious novel, as shocking as it is hilarious---a delightful send-up of fame and success.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"He's a narcissist, and he hates women" is one of the mildest barbs tossed by a group of five black book club members at war with a self-centered, narcissistic bestselling Dallas author in this spicy if somewhat crass modern-day battle of the sexes. Hyperarrogant writer Marcus Brooks, 32, has been the target of protest groups ever since his hateful, misogynistic novel, Bitches, was slated for release. But Brooks knows that his male audience will devour the new book and that's his only concern. In between protests, the book club women have their own dilemmas: Naomi has marriage troubles, single mom Latice is as frustrated as fiercely independent Thelma, television camerawoman Gwena is hiding secrets and Raylene's fairy tale wedding is sabotaged. After a rather hokey back-alley fistfight between Marcus and the five women over a few dollar bills, the women manage to kidnap him, promising freedom only after he completely rewrites his new novel. Then Marcus recognizes Gwena as an old girlfriend from his college days, and their secret past has everyone taking sides. Will the book club's tough love be enough to soften haughty clod Marcus? Will true love conquer all? No one's very likable in this spiky satire, but the backbiting and domestic squabbling are sharp, and Spencer's (Cubicles) clever parody of a successful black male writer should strike a chord.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Marcus Brooks is an obnoxious, handsome, arrogant, and successful author. When females boycott his latest book, he counters that his fiction is for African American male readers, so he is not concerned that women do not like it. While on tour in Dallas, he encounters a local female book club, the Second Pew Book Club, the members angry about his work and attitude. On a chance encounter, without planning or forethought, they kidnap Marcus to teach him a life-lesson about women. These five females--Raylene, the fiancee of a fire-and-brimstone preacher; Thelma, a single veterinarian; Gwena, who has a past with Marcus; Latice, a single parent fighting desperately to keep her son from adopting Marcus' ideals; and Naomi, married to a great guy but unappreciative--get in over their heads. In the aftermath, everyone is forced to reevaluate his or her life and feelings about the opposite sex. The incident is ridiculous, but the characters are believable and the dialogue is often quite witty. Lillian Lewis
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (August 12, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312323344
• ISBN-13: 978-0312323349
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,610,431 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dishing Out What You Can't Take, July 27, 2005

By 

Elli Venal (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: He Had It Coming (Hardcover)

As a rule, Marcus Brooks wasn't genuinely kind to anyone, but the mysogynistic Marcus Brooks, dished out plenty. A plenty of venom, name calling, pushing, shoving and even throwing things at females of every rank and file. Spencer prepares the reader well with a clear view of more than each character's personality, but a peek into their secret lives; no one escapes - they `all' have a secret. It is those `secrets' that finally tie them all together, but not without first causing them to burst at the seams. If ever there was a healthy helping of just desserts served it was at the parking lot bru-ha-ha. Don't worry about being horrified at unwarranted abuse toward poor defenseless women; there's no such concern, but the fight wasn't all in their favor either. This was the `I can't put this book down' point for me. How many times was this pendulum going to swing? When would the dishing and the taking finally resolve itself? Trying to imagine the outcome was about as easy as putting toothpaste back in the tube with a toothpick. The way Spencer squeezed loving and caring in between the chaos was nothing short of miraculous and she even manages to leave the reader with a reasonable explanation for it all. He Had It Coming is a good fast read and worth the time. Oh, I dare you try and guess who Marcus falls in love with.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I Liked It, August 23, 2006

By 

Ms. 90 (Maryland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: He Had It Coming (Hardcover)

Need something to read on a lazy Saturday afternoon? Pick up this one and become engrossed in the lives of five bookclub members and the author who crosses their path. I enjoyed this one - the antics of Marcus Brooks and Johnnie Coleman were the highlights for me. It's interesting that Spencer was able to capture the thought-process and dialogue of Marcus Brooks and make it down-right unbelievably believable. That line about Eric Benet had me laughing out loud.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mixed Views, September 15, 2004

By 

Shamontiel L. Vaughn "Message from Montie" (Chicago) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: He Had It Coming (Hardcover)

There are many spots where I was cracking up and my jaw was on the floor from how bold Marcus was. But there were other parts of this plot that were just way too overboard (church women with guns who never seemed to know anything about guns before, minus the security guard, the strange way one of them just happened to have a jar of something that Marcus feared even though she didn't know he feared it beforehand, the way no charges were pressed or the t.v. producer wasn't fired for attacking a guest, the whole rape/rough sex was absolutely unnecessary, etc.) The book's plot was good but after awhile, I think the author went too far and it just turned into a bad action movie.