The reluctant King

Set in present-day New York City, this derivative crime novel from K'Wan (the Black Lotus series) focuses on the King family, "players in the New York underworld since the 1930s." The familiar cast includes a violent son, Ghost, groomed to inherit the criminal empire; another son, Shadow, reluctant to get involved in the family business; their sister, Lolli, who wants her potential as a crime boss acknowledged by her father; and a significant character betrayed by a relative and gunned down in a hail of bullets. Current patriarch Chance King, a councilman, is planning a run for Brooklyn borough president, which he hopes will be a stepping-stone toward the mayoralty and, eventually, Washington, D.C. To get elected, Chance must distance himself from his illegal enterprises and designate someone else to keep them running. A predictable struggle for succession follows. Awkward prose ("Christian's eyes flickered sinisterly as he applied pressure") and sloppy details (New York City has not had aldermen since 1938) don't help. Fans of the Godfather saga looking for more of the same may want to have a look. (Sept.)

A crime family prepares for a birthday party. K'wan focuses on a powerful, violent family in his latest urban thriller. The Kings live in a large home in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, but control a political and criminal syndicate in Manhattan's Five Points neighborhood. The novel takes place during a single day in which the family prepares for a birthday party for the matriarch, Maureen, that will also serve as an announcement by her husband, Chancellor, that he's running for Brooklyn borough president. The book focuses on the couple's three children: Ghost, a violent sociopath and gangster ("Men who ran afoul of him left the world of the living"); Lolli, a savvy and ambitious nail salon owner; and Shadow, a 17-year-old with "little stomach for the family business." Ghost spends the day taking care of the criminal side of his family's business, while Lolli tries to convince a politician to endorse her father's campaign, and Shadow goes in search of a missing family member at his mother's request. It won't surprise readers to learn that the birthday party, when it happens, doesn't go quite as planned. K'wan is exceptionally gifted at ratcheting up suspense, and his dialogue rings mostly true to life. Some readers might be put off by the novel's unending machismo, in particular two sex scenes that read like transcripts of male-fantasy porn clips ("Mike plowed into her like he was drilling for oil"), but there's no denying the writer's talent for dark, gritty fiction. It's a page-turner. Suspenseful, gritty, and (sometimes painfully) macho. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.