Review: Brilliant and hardhitting. A book never to be forgotten.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 7, 2013
There are some books that just hit you in the face with their brilliance. "The Hood Keeper" is one. This account of the life of Scooter, (a tough bitter young "gangsta" living the high lowlife in nineteen eighties Brooklyn), is not just a gore-fest, although there is more than enough blood spilled to satisfy the most bloodthirsty of murder and mayhem connoisseurs. There is a humanity shining through the awfulness of the lifestyle depicted, that makes the reader identify and sympathise with the angry and bitter young anti-hero.In this truly excellent book, the horror of the predatory nature of the embittered urban underclass is laid bare with graphic and colourful description.This is a book, which should be required reading for anyone who thinks a life of violence is the way to go. The saddest thing, the part that moves the reader the most is the humanity that is screaming to get out of the apparently soulless characters.This novella is not a "barrel of laughs". I don't remember any part of it that made me smile. But I couldn't put it down. It really is a page-turner and an absolutely brilliant book. Someone ought to make a film of it. It would out clockwork "A Clockwork Orange".