Dating Games: A Novel
Johnson's latest (after Love Frustration) is an urban soap opera of sex, drugs, crime and deceit-and even true love-weaving together the dramatic, if predictable, story lines of various Chicago denizens. Livvy Rodgers, a nurse's assistant and single mother of twin 17-year-olds, is struggling to make ends meet as well as to get over her elusive and bad-hearted lover, Carlos. Daughter Hennesey is a sweet honor student headed for college with a full scholarship; smart-mouthed twin Aliz‚ cares for little but money and sex. Manly, kind Rafe Collins is fresh out of prison for a crime he didn't commit and stuck in a job as an auto mechanic for his old criminal pal, Smoke, who's using the fancy car dealership as a front for drug dealing. Cutting between different points of view-but always keeping a cool, almost journalistic distance from his characters-Johnson charts the heartbreaks and hopes of each of them. Livvy may have finally found a good man in Wade Williams; Rafe takes a shine to Henny but not before Aliz‚ tries to rope him in; Wade befriends Rafe; and Henny and Rafe get their chance but it's a bumpy road, as everyone's lives cross and recross, binding them all together. Livvy's quest to find love and security, Rafe's struggle to escape the clutches of Smoke and make a decent life and Aliz‚'s misguided attempt to steal her way to luxury all come down to a violent denouement. The final chapters strain credibility, but this is a solid drama from well-known author and Essence bestseller Johnson.Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.