Review: Had Alot of Potential
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 04 18, 2012
A friend of mine suggested that I checkout this book, and while I found that I did enjoy the premise, black lady cop falls for white thug, I think the execution was off a bit. Initially I thought the author's characterization of Misha was really spot on. She was  hard because of her job as a cop, but she was still very vulnerable and soft because of her father's murder, her mother's withdrawl from her as a result, and her overall bad luck with men. Even her depiction of Mark was spot on...he wasn't a faker, he was a genuine inner city, drug dealer. But the author deserves kudos in that she did not allow Mark to wallow in stereotypes, he was a drug dealer and a felon, but he was three dimensional as well. He was smart, and had an awareness of how his circumstances came to be and evolved. This was unexpected beause it is so easy to rely on a character's one dimensional outer shell instead of pulling out the textures and dichotomies that exist in real people. What did disappoint me with these characters, particularly with Misha, was that once her and Mark got together she devolved into this needy, clingy, over reacting woman that was foreign to the woman she was prior to their hookup. The author took her so far off character that she had her whining that he was always leaving her and flying off the handle about a makeup smudge on his clothes. I was definitely put off by this, as I really thought Misha was a bit more level headed than those instances showed her to be. There was also a scene in the beginning where Mark first sees Misha and notes that she was fine for a dark skinned girl and couldn't remember when the last time was he saw a cute dark skinned woman. In my mind, even if it was truly a matter of his preference or taste, given that he grew up among black people, he would not have made that kind of observation.Then there was the story as a whole. When the author gave us a climactic moment with Mark and the antagonist, Scorpio, I thought it was time for the story to move into the resolving conflict phase. Instead the author inserts another bit of drama, which came off as a contrived second thought that was not fully explored. Perhaps this second bit of drama should have existed as a separate story for Misha and Mark.Overall, this wasn't a bad book, it was OK, and I might check out more from this author.