Snow

Nicknamed for his snowflake-shaped birthmark, the title character of Jasper's taut, brutal inner-city character study is trying hard to preserve a shred of purity and decency, but the mean streets of Washington, D.C., make it a tough proposition. A murdering thief for hire, Snow manages to keep just out of reach of the cops, and of his archrival Kamau. Luscious Adele and baby Kayi are what he comes home to, and what he wants to quit for, if he can manage both to make a big enough score, and to get out of the business cleanly. Authentic and cinematically convincing details (a poker game puts "local weed and weight money, high four-figure money, in the middle") underpin Snow's inner struggle as, in flashback, he tells the story of his street education; they help move the latest from Jasper (Dakota Grand ) beyond casual urban nihilism. But it's Snow's voice—at once sardonic, tough, tender and full of a bravado that can't quite hide the cold fear underneath—that propels the novel forward. (Mar.)