Books by Donald Goines

Kenyatta, a successful kingpin of 1970s Detroit, makes a deal with the police in order to reel in the shady drug dealers who are stealing his business and sullying his name.

Donald Goines, one of the most prolific writers of the 20th century, has influenced many of today''s urban writers with his gritty, realistic look at the streets. For the first time in years, his classic Crime Partners is now repackaged and reissued in trade with a whole new look to attract new readers, as well as long-time fans of the legend himself.The godfather of urban lit, Donald Goines captures the raw, uncensored reality of life on the streets with a voice that has shaped hip hop culture. Prison buddies Billy Good and Jackie Walker made time pulling small jobs here and there. Not a bad living if you liked scraping by. The thing to worry about was the next fix. Nothing else mattered. When Billy and Jackie fell in with Kenyatta, a ghetto lord ready to take back the streets, they thought they''d hit the big time. Dealing with drug pushers and crooked cops in the name of justice sure felt good, but in a world where "kindness was the sweetest con of all," every bullet fired echoed with the sound of payback.

Johnny Washington, a black teenager in Los Angeles, knows the freight yard like the back of his hand. He and his pals, Josh and Buddy, hit them often, stealing for a fence. They have to. They're the soul support of their families. But when Josh is killed by a security guard (who gets his brains scattered by Buddy with nunchaku sticks), they are forced to look for other work. They find it with the underworld kings in Elliot Davis. But when Davis recruits Johnny's sister for his stabke and later OD's her, Johnny and Buddy come on with a vengeance. "He lived by the code of the streets and his books vividly recreated the street jungle and its predators." -New Jersey Voice