Self-publishing street lit phenomenon Aaron (To Live and Die in Harlem
) serves up a smoldering batch of raw erotica and criminality. Mason and Adena Fickle are a black suburban couple trying to put distance between themselves and their hardscrabble roots; Mason is an accountant with disciplined work habits and a bullheaded attitude about making a good living for himself and his wife, Adena, and to keep things "creative" at home, the two engage in increasingly kinky sex. But when Loween, the third member of their threesome, chokes to death on Mason's copious ejaculate, the Fickles find their aspirations in jeopardy after the shady, wheelchair-bound Sid, claiming to be Loween's cuckolded boyfriend, appears on their doorstep and reveals Loween wasn't who the Fickles thought she was. As much a story about the sexual taboos of middle-class America as a cautionary tale about the dangers of "going white," a taboo of upwardly mobile African Americans, Aaron's book mines Mason's and Adena's internal lives fairly well, though the plot has its share of ridiculous turns, and characters are more notable for their extreme natures than for their depth. It won't make many Mother's Day gift lists, but Aaron's latest is a full-throttle tour of a sordid world. (Sept.)
