Dirty Red

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY JUL 3, 2006

A little bit of moralizing laces the graphic sex and violence in this third street lit novel by Stringer, publisher of Triple Crown Publications and a former madam and drug dealer. The story spins around Raven "Red" Gomez, a victim of her stepfather's sexual abuse and her mother's rejection, for whom every relationship is another opportunity to con someone out of their cash. From duping her boyfriend Q into believing she's pregnant by using the urine of another woman, to conning her abusive, incarcerated ex out of royalties on his street novel, Red's "goal was to rich at all costs, regardless of who was hurt in the process". For Red, sex-however pleasurable-is a commodity traded for cash and power, children are a means to "catch" a man, and revenge for one's last double-cross is around every corner. This barely plotted tale (after Imagine This) serves up some suffering for the immoral Red, but a close getaway at the end promises a sequel.