Saw Chester Himes’ name and had to get this book. The Real Cool Killers is a great novel about a rich white guy who gets killed in Harlem. The killing seems random and racially motivated, but as time goes on it was very much on purpose and for reasons much deeper, more personal than that.

Really this is probably one of the best books I’ve read in a while. It’s not just the progression and mysteriousness of the story but it’s also the people, the on the ground sound, the true to life feelings. Like you meet one group of people who are adults doing their BS. Then you meet a group of teenagers doing their BS. Then you realize that the white guy who got killed was actually doing something shady and terrible with the young girls in the teenage group. Plus, one of the girl’s parents is one of the cops. It’s just like everyone is tangled up with each other and it’s so messy and you see how much goes on in the background and no one knows until you start poking around.

-Rachel Wagner

Click here to see the books I have by Chester Himes at Ten Dollar Books. He’s one of my favorites.

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My blogs:
–  Girtalk
–  Read or Die
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My books: 
– Jacob’s Hip: Poems
– FEM: New Millennium Beauty & Fashion
– Abandonment Issues: Alive in New Jersey
– Back Like I Never Left: Dating as a Single Mother

My bookstore: Ten Dollar Books
Instagram: @tendollarbooks
Twitter: @tendollarbooks
FB: @tendollarbooks

My grassroots literacy program: Not School
Instagram: @notschoolliteracyprogram
Twitter: @notschool_