On July 16th 2011, all Hell suddenly breaks across
the five boroughs. In Queens, a gang leader
finds himself on the run from the cops. In
Brooklyn, a young woman narrowly escapes being taken down in a drug bust. In the South Bronx, a young man flees the
scene of a dogfight after engaging in a shootout. In Staten Island, a successful hustler
narrowly escapes being murdered in his own home, only to find himself in a much
worse predicament soon after. In the Bronx,
a hooker breaks free of her brutal pimp while carrying his personal fortune in
tow. Finally, things go horribly wrong
when an armed robber in Yonkers turns what was supposed to be a routine job
into a bloodbath.
All five of these fugitives cross paths on a bus bound for
Atlanta. Shortly after making each other’s
acquaintance, they enter into a new business venture together. They plan to take Atlanta by storm, but their
every step is shadowed by their violent pasts.
Can they evade the cops long enough to find a better tomorrow?
Below the Radar is
the second novel from “true fiction” author Frank C. Matthews. Like its predecessor, the wildly popular Respect the Jux, it purports to be based
on a true story. Also like Respect the Jux, it deals with a large
cast of characters and switches locales halfway through. It mostly stays true to the tropes of “urban
fiction,” while managing to take a few unexpected turns along the way.
As has been documented, Matthews was largely inspired by the
works of Iceberg Slim and Donald Goines.
The influence of the latter is evident throughout Below the Radar, as Matthews exhibits Goines penchant for juggling
multiple locations and characters with ease.
The first few chapters of the book play almost like the third act of a Star Wars film in how they rapidly
transition from one tense situation to the next. Matthews does a good job of quickly establishing
his settings and characters before jumping headlong into the action.
Matthews is very descriptive when it comes to Below the Radar’s two main ingredients:
Sex and violence. That tendency is to
the books benefit. Such elements are required in a story like
this, and in great abundance. The sexual
encounters throughout the book play more like erotic fiction than something you’d
expect from a crime novel. This too, is
a trope Matthews has borrowed from Goines.
The shootouts are perhaps even more detailed, to the point that they
bear direct comparison to the kinds of action sequences traditionally found in
a Peckinpah film. Things seem to take
place in slow motion as Matthews documents the exact path taken by each and
every bullet fired.
Also evident throughout Below
the Radar is Matthews’s considerable pop culture IQ. The different plot lines and characters
converge in a similar manner to the Tony Scott/Quentin Tarantino collaboration True Romance. Surprisingly, the plot also bears vague
similarities to the Shaw Brothers cult classic The Five Venoms. At one
point, a character even references the film directly.
Unfortunately, Below
the Radar does suffer from a few substantial flaws. Grammatical errors pop up early, and increase
exponentially as the story presses on. Also,
use of a bookmark is absolutely essential as the pages are not numbered. Had these problems been rectified before the
books release, it would’ve made for a more polished and professional
presentation.
Though Below the Radar
treads very familiar ground, it makes for a compelling read nonetheless. It’s
far from flawless, but it’s also a hard book to put down. Like many
pulp novels, it offers no more than what its coverart and plot description
promise. It moves fast and takes no
prisoners. Matthews body of work is only two books deep, but even at this early
stage it seems as though he is keeping pace with his mentors.
My name is Frank C. Mathews AKA Gar’ya Goba. I am living the stolen legacy of OG YELLO who is the real author of “Respect The Jux” and all the books that I publish including “Below The Radar (Duck Down)” and the upcoming “Living American Dream”. While he was incarcerated he sent his manuscripts to me for safe keepings. I saw the worth in them so I decided I was going to SNAKE him and JUX him for his legacy. I needed somewhere to hide my heroin money and book publishing was now it. I’, really interested in seeing how far I can take this before a lawsuit is filed against me and all my business partners. At least that’s the excuse I gave OG YELLO so go out and buy those books.
ReplyDeleteDam homie, that's low. How you gonna Jux that man's legacy and so shamelessly pretend to be who you are not.
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