 |
Ray is a bouncer for a hip hop bar called "The Shock Box" at the novel's opening. He is part security guard, organizer, and enforcer, mainly of the "no crack" policy of the club, because the drug's addictive effects cause users to engage in burglary and other crimes to feed their habit. Ray enforces this rule, but unknowingly targets a customer who has powerful connections with a gang that holds sway over Ray's boss. His "no strings" affair with manager Viv ends eventually, and Ray meets and falls in love with one Leyna, who helps him out emotionally and eventually romantically, Leyna moves to South America while Ray continues with his security/bouncer activities, finding that narcotics and the gangs behind them are also using the clubs he works at for power plays and turf wars. After a fierce gun battle, Ray begins to reconsider whether to take the next step in his life.
The plot of Johnson's novel is filled with rapid changes in the New York club scene from the viewpoint of a bouncer. The style of prose is simple and descriptive, often capturing the flavor of the streets through its slang and edgy dialogue. The theme is one of navigating the moral ambiguity in the club space, where sex and drugs are only moderately controlled, but firmly so, with the rules extending from management to clientele through the bouncers. Characters are drawn with a deft ease through dialogue style, physical action, and the dynamic relationships between the various power brokers at work in this nighttime kingdom of clubs, money, drugs, and alcohol. A coming-of-age story in some respects, this is a valuable record of the bygone era of New York.