Hood

Blood, lust and loyalty are at the heart of this latest pulp offering from Noire. At 18, Lamont Mason, aka “Hood,” rises up in the hierarchy of the Brownsville, Brooklyn, drug trade, despite a tough childhood where he and his younger brother, Moo, are cast off (at 11 and four, respectively) by their crack-addicted mother. Hood forges a new “family” with the corrupt barber Fat Daddy and his gorgeous, full-of-future-plans daughter, Egypt, as well as with a fellow dealer, Dreko, whom Hood sees as a brother, despite Dreko's own mother thinking he's a “twisted demon.” When allegiances start to falter, big deals go down and the lure of the drugs he sells begin taking over the lives of those close to him, Hood, while constantly inventing rhymes that keep him sane, has to decide who he can afford to love if he wants to survive. Behind Noire's hyperrealistic graphic violence and raunchy sex are interwoven stories, a strong plot and carefully drawn characters with classic motivations. Noire is Dickens for the age of dojah, donuts and dawgs. (Aug.)