Riding Dirty on I-95

by Nikki Turner

Queen of hip hop fiction Nikki Turner follows her gritty, emotionally charged novel The Glamorous Life with this new tale from the hood featuring a beautiful down-on-her-luck sister who can out-hustle the best of them as she rises from the ghetto to glory.

After Mercy’s beloved dad is murdered in cold blood on her seventh birthday, her mother gives her up to foster care. But despite an unsavory upbringing, Mercy vows to make something of herself–at all costs.

Working as a concierge at a hotel notorious for its shady clientele, Mercy meets and falls hard for a notorious dealer who keeps her living large in Gucci clothes and off-the-hook apartments. Then she lands a real lucrative deal: running drugs up Interstate 95 from Miami to New York.

But Mercy doesn’t want to live the gangsta life forever. She’s got bigger dreams. She turns legit and makes her mark, yet despite a new, cleaned-up career, she can’t get the streets completely out of her blood. A sexy hustler named C-Note steals her heart. And as their relationship heats up, Mercy discovers that their pasts are hopelessly–and tragically–entwined.

Genres: Urban, Fiction, Crime, Drama, Romance, African American

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

After Nikki Turner read The Coldest Winter Ever by Sistah Souljah she was dismayed that there weren't other books like it. "I wanted to write the kinds of books I wanted to read," said the bestselling author, whose 2002 debut novel, A Hustler's Wife, would go on to sell more than a few 100,000 copies.
While Nikki Turner's first two novels were published by a small publishing house in the Midwest, in 2004 she signed a 2-book deal with One World, an imprint of Ballantine Books, which is part of The Random House Publishing Group. After publishing the first book under that deal, The Glamorous Life in 2005 as well as a short story collection edited by Nikki, Street Chronicles: Tales from da Hood, One World quickly signed Nikki up for three more Nikki Turner Original novels and negotiated a deal with her for her own book line, Nikki Turner Presents. "I want to give new authors the same kind of opportunity I was given," said Nikki. "I want to produce authors who will be household names."

(Taken from author's website)

Reviews

[ReadnliftwithShar · Rating 5 out of 5]

🔥

A classic!! I remember reading Riding Dirty on I-95 in college. Reading it again years later, it still is as good as I remember! Mercy was a hustler in every aspect of her life. She could have easily gave in to the many hurdles that life threw her way but she persevered. This book is an emotional journey, survival of the fittest, and a testament of making it out the hood. It wasn’t pretty; there was lots of backstabbing and peddling backwards to get ahead. I absolutely loved everything about this book, I will say it aged well and I totally felt like Mercy’s story could have easily been mine. 🥺

[Jessica😈 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ (2/5)

Let me start by saying I always root for urban fiction, and I was excited to dive into this one—especially seeing a dark-skinned, plus-size woman like Mercy taking center stage. Representation like that is rare and deeply appreciated.

That said… whew. Mercy was introduced as a street-smart, hustling, ride-or-die chick—but throughout the book, she came off as more gullible and green than anything. Page after page, it felt like a new person was playing her, and she just stayed blind to it all. I kept waiting for her street smarts to kick in, but they never really did.

The romance with Cleezy? Honestly, it didn’t really feel like romance at all until about 75% through the book, and then it just turned into full-on love bombing. Mercy was ready to spill all her illegal business to a man she barely knew, and it had me wondering… is this what being “street” looks like now?

To make things worse, their first time sleeping together, Cleezy literally compared the experience to his ex and admitted it didn’t measure up. I don’t know about anyone else, but that killed the vibe for me completely.

While I wouldn’t dare criticize Nikki Turner’s writing style—because her pen game is solid—the characters were hard to believe. Cleezy’s mom? Saw right through her. Greedy and trifling from the jump. And poor Paula didn’t deserve to go out like that.

I kept holding on, hoping for growth in Mercy. But instead, I got secondhand embarrassment. She was desperate for affection, fantasizing about a man she only knew over the phone, stuck in a toxic loop, and refusing to “snitch” even after being pistol-whipped and left for dead. That’s not loyalty or gangsta to me—that’s misplaced pride and survival instinct gone wrong.

What confused me even more was how confident she seemed about her body early on, only to spiral into self-deprecating talk by the end. The contradiction left me feeling let down, like the character arc had no real payoff.

I’d recommend this to someone who enjoys classic “tales from the hood” storytelling and isn’t too bothered by characters making emotionally frustrating choices. But for me, it was a tough read with too many red flags. I’ll still support Nikki Turner and check out more of her work—but Riding Dirty on I-95 just wasn’t it for me.

[Tammy Benton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel about Mercy Jules the hard on her luck women who went tragedy and pain. Mercy father was killed when she was 7 years old. Her mother abandoned her and turn her over to Foster care. She was abuse,raped,used lied to,drama,disloyalty. Her journey was being more then her upbringing she want more for herself and her niece Deonie who she took care of while her sister was serving time. She ended up hustling drugs up I-95 from Virginia to Florida to makes ends meet her with her notorious boyfriend Raheem he chose the money over Mercy. Later she found out Raheem was snitching for the Fed's he was using her to get information Hyena his supplier. Ms. Pat was the one who believed in her when no one was listening and help her to be a better woman. Her dream was to be a writer and make movies. Unfortunately she got played by her sister Tallya who took advantage her taking her money embezzling in a secret account. She later meet C-note (aka) known as Cleezy he got hit in the head by a bouncer at a night club a while ago this was Cleezy first killed. Mercy was a always attractive to Cleezy he changed and he was her back-bone she was looking for love in all the wrong places when she wasn't looking for she found with him. Mercy and Cleezy was soulmates they both went thru the pain ,betrayal,obstables ,death,Lies.

[Phoenix Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

This wasn't one of Nikki Turner's best books. Which kind of surprised me because I loved her other novels. Riding Dirty almost felt like she had a deadline to meet and rushed it. The things that Mercy did really didn't coincide with the character that Nikki had built her up to be. As a street smart hood saavy chick Mercy(in my opinion) wouldn't have done alot of things she did even if it was for love. I never skip pages in her books but found myself skipping ahead trying to get back to the interesting parts. The reason I bought the book was based off of Nikki's name alone. The beginning started off pretty good with the drama of her losing her dad on her birthday but towards the middle it tapered off and never picked back up. I will read Nikki Turner again but I wouldn't recommend this book.

[Sha · Rating 5 out of 5]

THIS WAS ANOTHER LOVE STORY THAT I READ TWICE. MERCY AND CLEEZY WHAT CAN BE SAID ABOUT THEM EXCEPT WHEN THEY GOT TOGETHER HIS LOVE FOR HER WAS BREATH TAKING. FOR THOSE THAT THINK THUGS DONT KNOW HOW TO REALLY LOVE AND TAKE CARE OF THEIR WOMAN NEED TO READ THIS. NIKKI NADE ME WANT TO GO FIND CLEEZY. LOL

[Mya · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED this book so much. Her life is about being down and pulling yourself back up to overcome anything. PLEASE READ this book. You want regret it.

[NaQuia Monk]

This book will always remain a classic! I’ll never forget her and those canned veggies😂😂😂😂😂

[Eugene Brazier · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is definitely a beginner reader book. The book was not flood with unnecessary details. It flows very well. i think the book cover a long period of time because there was too many sub stories that was not truly develop or ended

[sharonda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book . I love how the main characters live can together in the end I so proud of Marcy I felt where she was coming from we all wanna do better in live and sometimes you gotta do some not good thing to to survive in this world I happy she believed in her self and got her life together

[okiki washington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book

Need a part two I love this book I have read it more than once for me wanting more and more

[Sha · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books! In my top 50 of books

[Nakia Hutchinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Favorite book from this author

[Lisa Sammons · Rating 4 out of 5]

THIS BOOK WAS A RIDE! From start to finish, I could barely put it down and kept texting friends "oh my god you're not going to believe what's happening!" because every page was some thrilling new occurrence. I will read just about anything & I tend to stick to "heavier" fare than this, but sometimes I just feel like reading a quick page turner that I can get through with in a couple of hours...this definitely fit the bill.

[1Sharde Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Realistic, drug activity, and suspenseful is what I would base this book upon. I read this book last year and it was not only a book that many people would say is wrong and dirty, but it also has a moral or as you would say lesson to it. The reality of this book was the best, everyday situations that some people face to day was all through it. The thing that really added a twist to it was the drug activity, which made it more interesting. And the suspense in this book had my eyes glued to it and not wanting to turn away.

From one to three I would make the reality of this book number three. Basically there is there girl named Mercy that had a very close relationship with her father. It just so happened that her father was murdered on her seventh birthday when she was waiting for him to come home and give her, her birthday gift. The reason why he was killed was because of a gambling problem he had. He always gambled and ended up getting killed because of it. When she went to her father’s funeral some men came in and shot up her father’s body and then burned it. Mercy found out why he died after this incident and decided that she would devote her life to the fact that she work hard for herself and not be around gangsters and hustlers. But it didn’t work she found a hustler and ended up falling in love with him. He gave her clothes and the whole nine yards. While this was happening she was trying to figure out how she should get herself out of this situation. The reason why was because she was transporting drugs in her body back in forth from pace to place. That is how realistic this book is. We get ourselves into situations and don’t know how to get out and then at the end we wonder how we got in it. But it worked out for her because the book actually ended happy.

The next best thing that I would say this book has is the drug activity. As I said before Mercy had to go a lot of places carrying drugs inside her body. The man that she met was a hustler and had her doing that. He didn’t take drugs and neither did she but they transported them. The fact that this book included the use of drugs made it more interesting and wanting to see what the next thing would happen. It showed me how people can mess up their life due to it and other things that may happen.

The last reason why I like this book was the suspense. This book had me in it all the time till I was done reading it. It had me feeling like I was actually the character. The fact that she almost got caught carrying drugs made me almost jump out of my seat. The fact that she almost died at the end and she talked to her father in that death dream made me cry. And the fact that her and the used to be hustler now became husband and wife and stopped carrying drugs made me happy. Al of my emotions basically came out in this book.

In conclusion I would like to say this book was the best. It was realistic, drug related, and suspenseful. I would recommend this book to anyone, because as I said before it has a moral to it. Also I like the fact that this book does not end said because many of these books usually end sad, but this was happy. I think there should be more books in the world like this. It was the best.

[Mrs Tupac · Rating 5 out of 5]

!!!JUST GIVE THIS B00K A CHANCE AND YOU WILL LIKE IT AS MUCH AS I DID!!! <333 OH wow this book made me sad in the beginning and had me shaking my head , I really did not want to finish the book because I did not think I could bare anymore sadness & plus the bad reviews it got on here. . . But since I am a huge (Nikki Turner & Keisha Ervin fan I had to finish) Mercy was a strong woman. sHE HAD TOO MANY USERS AROUND HER I AM GLAD SHE REALIZED THAT BEFORE IT WAS TOO LATE MERCY HAS SUCH A GOOD HEART. . . I LIKE THAT SHE WAS NOT PERFECT BUT SHE STILL accepted her flaws (well in the beginning at least) Clezzy or C-dollah whatever the hell his name is . . . Was not my cup of tea his I really hated his character. . . In my eyes he was not a real man especially if he always had to use a fucking gun - he was soft and was able to live off the street cred of his brother !!! at times I could not believe what I was reading this book goes to show you - when the piece holding the family together is no longer there then things will go to shit & that is the sad reality : - ( . . . I hated everyone in the book besides Mercy she seemed not to have any real friends & even her happy ending was kind of twisted : - ( . . . The ending of the book had me wondering will there be a part II if so I'm going to read. . . It's crazy how all the people who did her wrong came back at her #SMH Mercy better than me because If I was in her shoes I damn sure would have spit in a lot of folks faces . . . This book was off the hook POOR PAULA : ( I wish things could have turned out different for her . . . I feel everyone got what they deserved besides Paula & Mercy . . . THERE'S NOT A GOOD MEMBER IN HER FUCKING FAMILY AND THAT'S TRULY SAD I WISH SHE COULD HAVE WENT TO VISIT THE UNCLE WHO HAD TAKEN CARE OF HER WHEN SHE WAS A CHILD . . . This book put me in the mind of Sista Soulja's cult classic "The Coldest Winter Ever"

[Mrs Tupac · Rating 5 out of 5]

!!!JUST GIVE THIS B00K A CHANCE AND YOU WILL LIKE IT AS MUCH AS I DID!!! <333 OH wow this book made me sad in the beginning and had me shaking my head , I really did not want to finish the book because I did not think I could bare anymore sadness & plus the bad reviews it got on here. . . But since I am a huge (Nikki Turner & Keisha Ervin fan I had to finish) Mercy was a strong woman. sHE HAD TOO MANY USERS AROUND HER I AM GLAD SHE REALIZED THAT BEFORE IT WAS TOO LATE MERCY HAS SUCH A GOOD HEART. . . I LIKE THAT SHE WAS NOT PERFECT BUT SHE STILL accepted her flaws (well in the beginning at least) Clezzy or C-dollah whatever the hell his name is . . . Was not my cup of tea I really hated his character. . . In my eyes he was not a real man especially if he always had to use a fucking gun - he was soft and was able to live off the street cred of his brother !!! at times I could not believe what I was reading this book goes to show you - when the piece holding the family together is no longer there then things will go to shit & that is the sad reality : - ( . . . I hated everyone in the book besides Mercy she seemed not to have any real friends & even her happy ending was kind of twisted : - ( . . . The ending of the book had me wondering will there be a part II if so I'm going to read. . . It's crazy how all the people who did her wrong came back at her #SMH Mercy better than me because If I was in her shoes I damn sure would have spit in a lot of folks faces . . . This book was off the hook POOR PAULA : ( I wish things could have turned out different for her . . . I feel everyone got what they deserved besides Paula & Mercy . . . THERE'S NOT A GOOD MEMBER IN HER FUCKING FAMILY AND THAT'S TRULY SAD I WISH SHE COULD HAVE WENT TO VISIT THE UNCLE WHO HAD TAKEN CARE OF HER WHEN SHE WAS A CHILD . . . This book put me in the mind of Sista Soulja's cult classic "The Coldest Winter Ever"

[Yolanda Knight- Palmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow this was a wonderful read. Who said you can’t make a comeback.

[Tim Haslett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once again, Nikki Turner comes correct with this searing tale of love and its lies. Mercy's life is rough. After her dad is murdered and her mother turns her over to foster care, she does what she must to survive. If that means hooking up with an infamous dealer and running drugs up and down I-95, so be it. One thing's for sure, Turner never portrays her as a dealer's "ho" or "b****".

And that's because she isn't. She's a street smart, savvy, intelligent, complex black woman who has her secrets, her desires, her dreams and ambitions. She is her *own* woman, not just some anonymous ghetto "ho", as black women are so often portrayed and represented on Fox News, to name just one example.

Mercy holds on to her dignity and self-worth, even when she ends up with a rival dealer and all hell breaks loose. She is a real life woman, with real problems and Nikki Turner has the skills to render her that way.

Mercy gets by with the wits she was taught in the hard life. And she does more than just get by, she triumphs.

Sure, this is great escapist fiction, a pretty quick and exciting read: sex, violence, drugs, etc. But it is more than that. It is also about a black woman who lives life on her own terms.

Mercy is not some so-called welfare queen, ho, b****, or golddigger, or Peaches, or Miss Black America, or Miss Ebony First, or some other racist and sexist stereotype of a black woman.

Please read this story about a black woman who is out there trying to stay together and make it out on the grind.

thanks for reading all this stuff!

[Geralda8f · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about a girl who named is Tania and her father who is her insperation was killed the day of her 7th birthday by a natouris drug dealer by the name of c-note. the day of his funeral 4 man wearing all black show up to pay there respects when they walk up to the casket one man pulls out a gun and shoots at her fathers life less body then they drag his coffin in the street and ste it on fire and ever sence that day her mother started using durgs which lead to taina and her sisters having to go to a foster home when she is 17 years old she then leaves and is able to get a job at a hotel and she has dreams of becoming a writer so through out her life she is going to school and so on one day she meets a man who she tought was the man of her dreams they go throught thick and thin and the day she is due to have her baby she and her now husband are on there way back home from newyork when he is telling her about his father the natouris durgdeelar c-note when she finds out that the love of her life is the son of the man who killed her father then showed up to his funeral and burned his body in fornt of her eyes, well during all of this oin the way to the hostipal his car gets caught in a cross fire and she gets struck in the stomach finds out what happens will she stay with her husband and will she survive after being shot??????

[Lesa Divine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book finally Cleezy and Mercy ends up together after so much they both been though. Mercy pulled herself together and did what she had to do to take care of herself. I love how Mercy got movies out there even though there are some money hungry people out there that think they can step on your toes she still kept on moving ahead. Cleezy was the one I think needed a big change and after him and Paula got together I thought that was going to happen but, that didn't happened like I thought. I kind of figure that Cleezy dad and Mercy dad knew each other from way back but, never thought it was like that. C-Note became Cleezy he became a bullet no one couldn't stop after so many times he got stepped on I guess he needed to prove himself to the thug world that he can't be stepped on anymore. Jus' was a low downer mainly a big snitch I see what Cook'em-up put Jus's balls in his month. Tallya deserved what she got she needed that for real. Being money hungry don't get you know where.

Mercy did her thang and showed off her stuff on the red carpet. Showed that she can make it even from life or death.

Liked the book was hoping to see more to Cleezy and Mercy relationship as it grows after the baby. But, give Nikki Turner a A plus.

[Antonia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Riding Dirty On I-95 by Nikki Turner is a good book. One reason is because the characters in this book seem so real and the characters come to life. They have to face everyday problems that a lot of people face. This book looks like it is a true story. The main character is Mercy, on her seventh birthday her father was killed. A little while after his death her mother became a prostitute and left all of her seven children in danger. Mercy was forced to separate from her brothers and sisters, moving from one foster home to the next. The last home she was in, she was raped by her foster-mother’s boyfriend. She tried to kill him and then was sent to a crazy home.
When she was 18 she was allowed to move out on her own. She thought that life couldn’t get any worse. But she was wrong! When she moved out on her own she faced even more problems, with her long lost sister, her niece, and her new boyfriend-soon to be husband

[Della kimble · Rating 3 out of 5]

this is the story of a beautiful down on her luck lady who has the ability to out hustle the best of them, and comes up from the ghetto to glory. Mercy is given up to foster care by her mother after her father is murdered in cold blood on her seventh birthday. with out reguards to her up bringing she decides to make something of herself no matter the cost. while working at a high scale hotel mercy meets a notorious dealer who she falls hard for. he keeps her living in the best, apartments and keeps her in the fresh gucci clothing. shte then lands a real nice deal, running drugs from miami to new york up i-95. mercy doesn't want to do this her whole life just long enough for her to get set financially.she has bigger dreams than that. although she has gone clean she can't get the streets out of her blood completely. she meets a hustler and as their relationship grows she realizes how close their past is.

[Dejanae · Rating 5 out of 5]

the book has just started getting intresting. mercy wants to be released from the system and she pleeds to the judge that she will get on her feet soon and get a job to support herself on her own.She proceeds to apply for a job at the hotel and when she does, she has the worst boss ever. her name is "farrah". mercy made a deal with this one dude that she liked named " chocalate smooth" and he asked her can he pay her just for a few hours to take care of business on the room!.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book proves that you can't judge a book by its cover. I was reluctant to read it but I am glad I did. It wasn't like anything I had expected. If I am not able to put the book down from the first page then its a good read. Now this us a Nikki Turner book. Mercy lived up to her motto "real bitches do real things ".

[Ezraela-Baht]

I have yet to finish this book, i started reading it and put it down by the 3rd chapter, only because so many other great reads landed in my lap, some of which i have been waiting for for over 2weeks...smh.

[Tasha · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book left so many un answered questions...there were some things in the book that should have been left out so irrelevant like the hotel burglary, what was the purpose of that..and whatever happened to the ex and many more un answered questions.

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really really enjoyed this book like i literaly did not want it to end i cried when it did because i fell in love with this amazing book.
imagine being only a young kid and having yur parents killed n

[Brittany Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great summer read!

I have read a couple books by Nikki Turner, but this one is by far my favorite. This book was full of twists and turns that kept you wanting more! Definitely glad I read it!

[Evan Hanson · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a very good book full of colorful words and detail. It also wasn't boring as a lot happened in the duration as well as the last chapter of the book. There is some bad language used in the book but it adds affect to the genre, I believe.

[Cathie Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Riding

Great book, i actually was re-reading this book for the 3rd time. Classic Nikki Turner this book is about dreams and never giving up on them no matter the falls and bruises, get up and try again