D Hunter
Created by Nelson George
Stop me if you've heard this one before...
D HUNTER (no period after the "D," please) is a tough, street-smart African-American cat with a penchant for wearing shades and black clothing. He's alternately angry and cryptic, distrustful of authority but, of course, stone cold fucking cool; the strong, silent type; a "complicated man that nobody understands but his woman."
In his one appearance to date, 2005's The Accidental Hunter, Hunter, a hard-nosed "security specialist" with his own Manhattan agency, is hired by showbiz manager Ivy Greenwich to act as a go-between, delivering the ransom for her client, rap artist Night, to the Brooklyn motorcycle gang that snatched him.Hunter impresses Greenwich enough -- and the kidnapping unnerves her enough that she hires him to play bodyguard for Bridgette Haze, a lightweight blonde pop singer dying to gain some much-needed "street cred" by crashing the hip-hop world.
In the meantime Hunter has to deal with the rambunctious staff at D-Security, his complicated relationship with girlfriend Emily Anekwe, a Nigerian beauty, assorted family problems and his recent discovery that he's HIV positive.
It's that unexpected development that suddenly transforms Hunter into a much more interesting and sympathetic character, replacing what was essentially just another bad ass dick stereotype with a character with some much-needed depth and vulnerability. Add to that the author's willingness to poke into some serious questions, his ability to breathe life into the frantic lifestyle of the Big Apple's all-night party people and the music industry that makes The Accidental Hunter stand out from most of the other Shaft/Hawk pastiches that have popped up around the turn of the millenium.
Unfortunately, like several of those other books (Austin Camacho's Hannibal Jones' series comes to mind) The Accidental Hunter's narrative itself is riddled with self-conscious bursts of slang.that don't so much add authenticy as raise doubts about their authenticity. And no, it's not the slang itself that's the problem, but the clumsy and erratic way they're injected into the prose -- it feels forced, not real. as if, after writing the novel, George went back over it adding in slang to prove his own "street cred."
Still, this is supposedly the first in a new series, and George's willingness to do more than merely dish up reheated pulp fiction and actual raise some questions bodes well for future entries.
Although he's best known for his non-fiction writing about music (both Hip Hop America and The Death of Rhythm and Blues were nominated for National Book Critics Circle Awards), Nelson George is also a novelist (the kidnapped Night originally appeared in George's earlier novel Night Work) and an Emmy-winning TV producer.
By the way, Hunter's first name is actually "Dervin ". No wonder he prefers to be called "D."
NOVELS
Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.
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