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The Importance of Being Dangerous [Paperback]

David Dante Troutt (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

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Book Description

June 3, 2008

In the 1990s, as the Internet boomed and investments soared to unthinkable heights, many people were left with their feet planted firmly on the ground, looking enviously up at the more fortunate winners in life's game of roulette. This is the era in which we meet Sidarra, Griff, and Yakoob—hardworking folks who can't seem to get a toehold while wealth explodes around them. Each has personal struggles, but when they join the Central Harlem Investment Club, a plan to restore a little justice to their lives takes shape.

It seems Yakoob has found a way to siphon off funds from wealthy individuals—the kind of people who are well insured and will probably barely notice the missing money. But in order to justify personal gain at others' expense, the group decides to pick their victims based on people who have done harm to the black community in the past. A plan hatched in a dark pool hall could be a way to escape their drab lives and bring some equality back to the world.

But when the group takes in Yakoob's shady neighbor Raul, their scheme takes a sinister twist. Now, with murder in the mix, and the possibility of serious consequences, their best-laid plans may spiral into much more dangerous territory. . . .


Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Set in New York City in the mid 1990s, this uneven thriller from Rutgers law professor Troutt (The Monkey Suit) delivers a somewhat murky political message. Attractive single mother Sidarra, a frustrated employee of what she's derisively renamed the Department of Miseducation, struggles to make ends meet. Her chance attendance at a Harlem investment seminar leads her into a criminal alliance with Griff, a hunky defense attorney trapped in an unhappy marriage, and computer whiz Yakoob, whose skills enable the trio to steal credit information from rich whites who they think have harmed the black community. Sidarra, an idealist who chafes at the corporate, child-unfriendly approach of her bosses, lines her pockets with few qualms. The explicit sex scenes between Sidarra and Griff do nothing to advance the plot or develop the characters, while the finale will come as no surprise.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

“...earns good marks for its nifty premis, crisp dialogue and well-handled plot...” (Kirkus Reviews )

“...intelligent thriller, sharp as a razor...” (Tananarive Due , American Book Award-winning author of Joplin's Ghost )

“A fine, textured novel with three characters—Sidarra, Griff, and Yakoob—who hold us spellbound from start to finish.” (James Patterson )

“red -hot” (Ebony )

“A sexy thriller” (Washington Post Book World )

“There’s plenty here to quicken the pulse and even tug on our sympathies...” (Washington Post Book World )

Product Details

  • Paperback: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Harper Paperbacks; Reprint edition (June 3, 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0060789301
  • ISBN-13: 978-0060789305
  • Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,132,507 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars strong sharp exposé of not making it in America, April 27, 2007
In the early 1990s, thirty something single mom Sidarra detests how the "Board of Miseducation" promotes unqualified white coworkers while ignoring her much more skillful efforts. Public Defender Griff Coleman is bone marrow tired of defending the pathetic poor in a system that simply wants to lock away his mostly black clients; however worse is the attitude of his investment banker spouse Belinda, who acts superior to him in every possible way. Computer Programmer and wannabe comedian Yakoob Jones wants to make it in a white-only power structure that prefers he quietly do his menial chores hidden in a basement.

The three of them learn of the Cicero Dean Investment Club, whose vision is to offer opportunities for humiliated middle class blacks to make money like the whites do via capital investment as a group. The three disillusioned Harlem residents invest in the company. However, they learn the truth about their investment club when drug dealer Raul joins as the Club's pyramid scheme of laundered money, stolen assets such as credit-card fraud and identity theft, and dummy corporations collapses leaving the trio feeling even more disheartened and disenfranchised.

This is an interesting look at middle class ambitions blacks who want to make it, but feels the system rejects their efforts by de facto selecting less qualified whites. When the story line swings into romance (between Sidarra and Griff), it loses much of the stinging momentum as the plot stops exposing the hypocrisy of racial prerequisite only at the higher levels of the economy in spite of decades of EEO. Still this is a strong sharp exposé of not making it in America.

Harriet Klausner
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Inside This Book (learn more)
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
police hackers, schools chancellor
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
The Importance of Being Dangerous, Aunt Chickie, New York City, Full Count, Cicero Club, Board of Miseducation, Anita Baker, New Jersey, Jack Eagleton, Robert Billingsley, Miss Horn, Jeffrey Geiger, Central Harlem, New Mexico, Desiree Kronitz, Nestlé Crunch, Fidelity Investments, Charles Harrison, Transfer Command, Wall Street, Grace Blackwell, Clayborne Reed, Great Walls, Pussy Galore, Central Park
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