Black Issues Book Review: Triple Take.

by Yanier Moore Strivers, Row, March 2003 $12.95, ISBN 0-375-76066-0

First-time novelist and former gang-member-turned-social worker, Yanier "Blak" Moore has penned a story of an ex-con's dream of getting out of prison and living a lavish life, complete with exotic cars, designer clothes, model look-alike women, and get rich quick schemes.

Set in Chicago, Triple Take opens as Jonathan "JC" Cole is serving his last few days of a 10-year prison sentence. Eleven years earlier, JC and his three childhood best friends, RichKid, Zo and Lil' G, decided to rob the local drug den/gambling joint in South Side Chicago, after being tipped off by an insider that a large amount money was expected on a particular evening. Everything went exactly as planned except for the last detail. All four boys were supposed to go home and lay low. Instead, JC's friends land in police custody and name JC as the mastermind behind the robbery, sending JC up the river for 10 years. While in prison, JC's three friends who framed him, become powerful crime lords. And everyday, all JC can think about is revenge. Upon his release, JC buys himself a new Jaguar, fine clothes, and a million dollar luxury condo with a stunning view of Lake Michigan, plus a new home for his mother. All courtesy of the $712,000 he stowed away on the night of the robbery.

To help carry out his plan of revenge, JC enlists the help of Rat, his trusted young friend from prison who he affectionately refers to as "Young Gun" Champagne, who becomes JC's instant girlfriend, after an unrealistic sexual escapade at the gym in JC's building, and Champagne's friend Shaunna, who immediately becomes Rat's woman. Rat, Champagne and Shaunna join JC to form a posse and set out on a predictable journey to destroy each traitor, one by one.

For the most part, Triple Take is predictable and at times implausible. However, fans of Donald Goines' crime novels or Sister Souljah's The Coldest Winter Ever might enjoy this story, though the level of writing doesn't measure up to the craftsmanship of either Goines or Souljah.

--Jan Anders is a Washington, D.C writer.