Review: ...his shoes saying dirty whispers on the carpet.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 8, 2012
Roger Smith has a definite talent for bringing unusual, hard characters to life.  He writes about Cape Town, South Africa and the dichotomy of cultures there - the poverty stricken and the very rich.Ishmael Toffee is out of prison for the first time in twenty years.  He is working at his first job - ever - gardening, a passion he discovered in prison, after he decided that he didn't want to kill any more.  He had been an assassin at the prison for most of his time sentenced there.Smith develops the character of Ishmael very adeptly.  He is a hard, extremely dangerous man who has fought and scrabbled for everything he has ever had his whole life.  He is not a man you would expect to be a hero.  But Smith introduces young Cindy into the story, daughter of Ishmael's employer, and the reader finds that the poor/criminals can be heroes and the rich/high society can be monsters."Ishmael Toffee" is a powerful story - one I won't be forgetting any time soon.Also included with this novella is a short story by Smith called "Falling."  Again taking place in Cape Town, the reader is introduced to the world of a man who has lost everything because of drugs and is given one more chance at redemption.Be warned that neither story is for the faint of heart - violence, rough language, and abuse abound.  I've never been to South Africa but the stories read as much too true to this reader.