Customer Reviews

He Had It Coming

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

My bookclub recently read this book and it generated the lowest rating of any book we've read in the last 9 years. The ladies in my bookclub are between the ages of 32 - 50+ which may have contributed to the low rating. The comments from the book club were as follows.....The story was unrealistic. Childish. Characters not well developed. Rushed ending. Ending was anticlimactic.
Even though we gave the book a low rating, it amazingly...generated a good lengthly discussion with topics ranging from marriage to how silly we were in our youth.

Let me just say that I read Ms. Spencer's book "Cubicles" and absolutely LOVED it so when I saw that she had another book coming out I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. As I started reading this book I was like What In The -- is my girl Camika doing? The plot was way out there, I couldn't imagine these ladies taking a book author hostage and nothing happening. This book read like some type of Lifetime movie. I finally stopped trying to make sense of it and read it for what it was, just fantasy type thinking and then it was better. Maybe Ms. Spencer knows a particular black, male author that she thinks this should happen to :-) I went ahead and finished the book since it was short. I will say that even though I finished this book, if she continues to write books like this, I will not be purchasing another one. My advice to those of you reading this review is to buy "Cubicles" first if you haven't already and then borrow "He Had It Coming" from the library.

Raised with the knowledge that his mother is the only woman that loves him, Marcus Brooks writes his novels with the male perspective in mind. Fed up with the attitude portrayed by the stunningly handsome national best-selling author, Second Pew Book Club members Raylene, Naomi, Thelma, Gwena and Latice, along with every other book club in Dallas are upset over the title of his latest release. They stage a boycott when Marcus is scheduled to appear on a locally televised male talk show.

While walking to their cars after attending a concert, the ladies witness a confrontation between a man and a woman. They rush to the young lady's aid and discover that none other than the infamous Marcus Brooks is the one accosting her. After witnessing first-hand the enormity of his disrespect for women, they hatch a plan to kidnap him and teach him a lesson on respect.

HE HAD IT COMING not only centers on Marcus's trials and tribulations, but it delves into the lives of each character and the problems they face with their spouses, children and each other. I was immediately drawn into the storyline and fell in love with the characters. Camika Spencer has penned a fascinating novel about love, friendship and trust. This was my first novel by Ms. Spencer but it certainly will not be the last.

Reviewed by Pamela Bolden
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Whew!!! It is only a matter of time before He Had It Coming. Meet Marcus Brooks, a narcissistic, deeply scared, egotistical, plain out and out- no good man Did I mention he is also an author who thinks he looks good and doesn't need women, of all people, to buy his books? He further infuriates his loyal readers by using a single word, that's so cruel, as the title of his latest contribution to the literary world. Women everywhere begin to boycott and protest so loudly his agent practically begs him to rename his book and the publisher flat out refuses to move forward with publishing his book.

Let's meet the Second Pew Book Club. Five women- Raylene, Thelma, Latice, Naomi and Gwena- who attend the same church in Dallas and get together on Friday nights to discuss books and their lives. The worlds of Marcus and the book club are destined to collide in the most unimaginable way...during an outing to a Friday night concert.

When the dust settles, the Second Pew Book Club is holding Marcus captive. The antics that followed kept my eyes glued to the pages, as I read. The intermingling of the lives of the women and the delusional nature of Mr. Brooks' thoughts concerning women made He Had It Coming both comical and slightly distressing. The longer this best selling author remained prisoner to this book club the more complicated the entire situation became. If other books written by Camika Spencer are anything like this one, the reader will be thoroughly entertained.

I enjoyed this book I tried to place arrogant authors that I have met in Marcus Brooks place and boy did I get a kick out of that. Marcus Brooks was a very hateful man who was messed up in the head by his Momma. I felt at times that he could have been reformed but then I felt maybe he was to old to change. Change is something that a person has to want for themselves not something you can make them do. But those ladies did try to reform Marcus's arrogant behind. This was a fastpaced interesting read.

Having read Ms. Spencer's previous books, I was excited to read this one. It started out slow and at times was hard to follow. When Marcus met the 5 women, things really started to pick up. I won't spoil it for anyone, but I do have to say a sequel has to be in the making.

Obviously it choose me. I read this book a few months ago and a previous experience jogged my memory to this book.

A over confident arrogant author runs into the wrong women one night as he attempts to get his money back from a hustlin' bum. As he attempts to strangle and hit the woman, four VERY different close knit friends come to the rescue. After they realize that it is the one and only Marcus Brooks, they decide to take matters in their own hands (literally) and kidnap him. Oops, adultnap him.

After what it seems like for me years of holding him hostage, all he has to do is write a book that caters to women instead of dogging women. Which I won't tell you what the title of his new book was. Anyway, this tale was long and drown out with a few little twists that probably should have been kept out.

Does this sound like "Misery" to you?