Title: Code of the Hood
Author: Alfred Blue Flowers
Publisher: XlibrisUS
ISBN: 978-1-5245-2610-8
Pages: 166
Genre: Fiction, Novel
Reviewed by: Ben Adams
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Winston-Salem North Carolina, from the outside, looks like a pristine American city, with skyscrapers and suburbs; a town built on the revenue of years of a flourishing tobacco industry. In Code of the Hood, author Alfred Blue Flowers introduces us to what is being smoked nowadays in the sub-culture of this city; crack cocaine.
Carlton is the man – the head of a local gang of thugs in the distribution business of drug dealing. He moves thousands of grams of rock crack, about 10 keys a month, amassing a cash flow and wealth daunting legitimate income. A “Superfly” kind of guy, with his Rolex, Italian suit, hot car, palatial home and his sassy and rather naïve girlfriend Latrice by his side, Carlton heads up his gang of street peddlers with his appearance of opulence, outrageous ego and of course, killings and violence. Into their world comes a rival drug dealer, Carlos, nicknamed Dawg, a major player that eventually crosses paths with the protagonist.
What is unique, is in the beginning of this book, written flawlessly in the vernacular of ghetto-English, akin to the rap genre lyrics of songs, I was lead to believe this book was a tell-all about the inner workings of a street gang. I needed to “slow down” my speed in reading to absorb the colloquial dialog, understand the use of these culturally inspired words and phrases, to retain my cognitive understanding; which, by the way, was a pleasurable experience. Then, like an episode of “Law & Order,” author Flowers begins the second half of the book in the courtroom drama with lawyers and prosecutors by morphing his writing style to Americanized English; a very impressive literary technique. Heavily laden in dialog, the tracking of who is “talking” throughout Code of the Hood was impeccably written, flawlessly punctuated and easily understood.
One part of the story resonates in my mind causing me to still think about it. Latrice was in the hospital, in a coma, after being assaulted and was at the verge of dying. Flowers presented a conversation she had in her comatose state with her deceased Grandmother. Okay, that is interesting but what is fascinating is what happened once her Grandmother told Latrice to “Wake up – wake up now – wake up honey, it’s time to wake up.” Latrice came out of her coma and told her sister and family about the conversation she had with Grandma. In her description she tells about seeing Grandma in her pink satin dress, with her hair done a certain way. Her family realizes that Latrice wasn’t at the Grandmother’s funeral, and didn’t see her in the casket, but that is exactly how they dressed her when she was buried, dress – hair – everything as Latrice described. Even when Latrice “came to” in the hospital, her Grandmother giggled a little laugh, which was overheard by an orderly in the room. These spiritually inspired supernatural miracles added so much more depth to the character development; a subtheme of a treat for the reader to ponder long after the story about drugs, violence and death fade from thought. I’ll never forget this incident.
Code of the Hood is the definition of a page-turner – hard to put down and capable of being read in one sitting. Alfred Blue Flowers has done an amazing job illustrating his skill in stylized writings and wordsmithing. I look forward to reading other works from this talented author.
