The Jook

Rating:
Summary: The spirits of Goines, Himes, and Thompson live on
Review: Gary Phillips is one of the most talented novelist of our time. Anyone who loves crime novels, or just a really good read, should check out "The Jook." You will be hooked and just have to wait for Phillips` next book. Let's hope it is not too long of a wait.

Rating:
Summary: A real page turner. One of the best crime novels ever.
Review: Gary Phillips is one of the most talented novelist of our time. Anyone who loves crime novels, or just a really good read, should check out "The Jook." You will be hooked and just have to wait for Phillips' next book. Let's hope it is not too long of a wait.

Rating:
Summary: The spirits of Goines, Himes, and Thompson live on
Review: I haven't read any of Phillips' previous books but this one is compulsively readable. The protagonist is not particularly likeable (he's a sexist, for one) but he has his redeeming qualities (loyalty to his friends), and many of the people he runs into are worse than he is. He's a complex character, a has-been who had it all and threw it away and is trying for a comeback, or if not that, just to survive. If you want an enjoyable read that has sex, violence, drugs, sports, and the inevitable LAPD, pick up this book.

Rating:
Summary: Buy this book
Review: If you only buy two books this year buy "The Jook" and some other book. Or better yet buy two copies of "The Jook" and give one to a friend. It is a wonderful page turning crime novel.

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Summary: A Tough Crime Story
Review: Over the past few years we've seen an ever-growing number of scandals involving professional sports stars. Whether the scandals have involved drug-abuse, sexual offences, violence, right up to murder charges, I always get the impression that these sports stars all think they are above the law thanks to the hero worship of which they are the object. A good proportion of these real life stars are rolled into the character of Zelmont Raines in THE JOOK.

THE JOOK is a modern hardboiled novel that contains a healthy (or should that be unhealthy) dose of violence, drug-taking, swearing and sex scenes. It's a tremendously fast-paced story set in Los Angeles amongst the seedier members of the cities rich and famous. As mentioned earlier, the story is told from the perspective of Zelmont Raines, an ex-NFL wide receiver used to living the kind of life a multi-million dollar salary could provide. But those high earning days are over. He has found himself short of money and decides that a return to football would provide him with the cash injection he needs.

The problems standing in the way of Zee and a return to the NFL are many and significant. The first is his chronic hip injury that forced him home after an attempt on the European NFL. The next is his womanising that has landed him with an unwanted paternity suit and an even less desirable statutory rape suit hanging over him. The last and definitely not the least problem is his use of drugs, the original cause of his retirement from the NFL.

Thanks to his appalling past record of behaviour and the wish of Julian Weems, the NFL commissioner who is trying to clean up the game's image, Zee is cut from the team he is trialing with and expelled from the NFL altogether.

Predictably, Zee is a seething mass of hatred, ready to lash out any way possible at his tormentors, namely Julian Weems and the owner of the new NFL franchise team the LA Barons, Ellison Standanko. As it happens, Zee's best friend Napoleon Graham is planning to rob Standanko of around 6 - 7 million dollars. Not only is Standanko the owner of the LA Barons but he is also a big time crook and Napoleon has information about how and when he moves his ill-gotten gains. This information comes courtesy of Wilma Wells, the lawyer for the new team and the love interest for Zee.

Zee, Nap and Wilma then set about putting their bold plan into action, but of course, nothing in the life of Zelmont Raines seems to run smoothly and with every win in the operation comes a loss. Without giving away any of the ending, it's one heck of a wild ride for all involved.

So, while in essence this is a hardboiled crime story featuring a robbery, it's also a detailed look at the hard living done by a high profile sportsman. It's a tremendously fast-paced book. Raines lives the life of a celebrity sports star and so always has a party to go to or a girl to meet. But he also dabbles in shady street deals and brawls in pool joints, not to mention his role in the main game - the robbery. Keeping up with Raines may leave you a little breathless by the end of the book.

Gary Phillips uses language to great effect in helping to describe the type of person Zelmont Raines is. He has obviously risen from a life in the poorer parts of town, a fact that is confirmed when he muses about how his life may have turned out if he hadn't become a pro ball player. The tone created by this constant use of slang is one of barely contained violence. It seems that at any point in the story, all hell is about to break loose. Because the one big problem with Raines is that, although he acknowledges all of his problems - drugs, alcohol, womaniser etc, he appears totally powerless to overcome them.

It was funny how my feelings changed for Zelmont as the story progressed. At the start I felt as though he was the misunderstood hero of the story who was smart enough to get his act together and had some sort of control over his life. Then gradually, it slowly dawned on me that he wasn't the great thinker that I first assumed he was. By the end it became obvious that he was simply grabbing at any life saver that was tossed to him in a bid to prolong the good life that he had grown used to. Rather than rooting for him to win, I just felt sorry for him.

It's rough and it's violent and it's definitely hardboiled. For those who don't mind getting down and dirty amongst some of the more depraved sides of life, then this will be a very enjoyable read.

Rating:
Summary: Phillips creates an unforgetable antihero
Review: Phillips' first crime novel easily outdoes his previous books. I'm an admitted fan of his Ivan Monk mysteries (especially Violent Spring), but the author's real calling was creating this volatile character, Zelmont Raines, a has-been football star trying to get his game back. Full of action, suspense, and intriguing conflict, The Jook is easily the best book I've read all year (sorry Oprah). If Hollywood had any sense, The Jook would be next year's Christmas blockbuster.

Rating:
Summary: Non stop! I loved the Jook
Review: Realisitic characters that you love to hate and hate to love, Gary Phillips brings them to life with a descriptive style that few could match. The non stop twists and turns in this book kept me turning pages and the descriptions were so vivid I could almost smell the garbage truck! Best of all, I wasn't cheated at the end, Mr. Phillips kept it real.

Rating:
Summary: Non stop! I loved the Jook
Review: Realisitic characters that you love to hate and hate to love, Gary Phillips brings them to life with a descriptive style that few could match. The non stop twists and turns in this book kept me turning pages and the descriptions were so vivid I could almost smell the garbage truck! Best of all, I wasn't cheated at the end, Mr. Phillips kept it real.