Swift

by Darrell Shaffer Jr.

Javon Swift is stuck in a bloody feud for the family business. His uncle Grady has married his mother before his father's body could go cold. Tiffany is a police officer claiming that his father was a confidential informant, and wants him to follow the leader. His best friends are trying to build their own drug empire. It doesn't help that he's fallen in love and has a crooked police officer trying to extort him for his father's hidden stash of money.All this is going on while Javon is quickly losing track of who he is. He wants out of the drug game, but the only career path in front of him is that of a snitch, a role he doesn't want to play. If he's out, he's going to lose his friends, and he has nowhere to turn. To survive it all, he'll need to go places he's never gone before, and do things he didn't think he was capable of. The question is how far he can go, before he stops recognizing himself?

126 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 31, 2020

About the author

Darrell Shaffer Jr hasn't won any awards for his writing and no one has ever called him the next R.L. Stine. Despite that, he continues to write at an unreasonable rate. He can probably add up all the change in your pocket very fast but probably can't tell you the difference between horror and thriller.

He's written multiple novels across different genres. His first book sold a whopping zero copies and was pulled from the internet in a fit of rage. Since then he's found his groove writing about superheroes, vampires and crime. Through weekly web serials Exsanguinate and Intercosmic he's begun to carve out a niche for himself. Some authors decorate pages with elegant words, Darrell does not. His writing style is more akin to smashing the page with a sledge hammer which is why he's hosted more podcasts than he's published books. In spite of his flaws, Darrell is both persistent and consistent about wanting to be a better author. That is why he continues to release new material weekly, sometimes even daily. He's never stated he would be among the best authors, but he would be among the most prolific. You can't write as much as he does without eventually getting good at it.

Reviews

[Mc Chanster · Rating 4 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed this short read. My copy was just over 90 pages and I was honestly surprised at how much action was packed into it. I really liked Javon Swift, and it was great to see how his character developed in such a short time. I appreciated that he had some solid support in his friends, and that despite the challenges he had to face, Javon does his best to remain true to himself, even if he needed a nudge or two from those around him.

Overall, this was a pretty good read. It moved quickly with some memorable characters and well-developed conflicts. My only complaint is that it needs a bit of editing when it comes to grammar / missing words / typos. A few is fine, but I found myself getting annoyed when it became a regular thing. Just needs some proofreading.

Thank you Voracious Readers and Darrell Shaffer Jr. for my copy!

[Kirsten · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first VRO book. After reading the first paragraph I almost stopped reading. Actually I did stop briefly to find out a bit more about the author and the book on Amazon. What I read there convinced me to keep on reading. I started to enjoy the book more as it went along and grew to love Javon. I loved the dream sequence at the end and had this book been true Hollywood it would have ended there. But the author didn’t take the easy way out and crafted a great finish. So why not 4* or higher? Had this not been a VRO book, I would have stopped reading after the first paragraph. My recommendation, read this book. Read more by this author.

[Margaret · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this book from VRO and this is my voluntary honest review.
So! What can I say about this book without giving spoilers?
If you like books about family feuds, crime families, and drug dealers, this is the book for you! I had a major problem with the ugly (curse) words. They spoiled the book for me.
It is fast paced, and action packed.

[Metagion · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't think this book was bad; what kept pulling me out of the story was the spelling errors, missing words (my mind filled them in. Weird habit but that's what you get when you read a lot) and the "shoot from the hip" style of writing. Short: about 144 pages, so you can read it quickly but it's one of those "this could be almost stereotypical" sort of books. All in all, not bad. Enjoy!

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Almost stopped reading after the first chapter, but decided to keep going. Certainly got better as the book went along and I found myself wanting to see what happened in the end - and that was worth waiting for!

[Amanda Armstrong · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure how I feel about the book. Felt like a racial/drug battle between a family. Wish that would have been in the description before I decided to read it. Lot of foul language. Received a complimentary copy of the book from the author via Voracious Readers Only.

[Myra McCulloch · Rating 3 out of 5]

A free book from Voracious Readers thank you

I thought this book may have been a dud the way it started however, despite the last 2 chapters being the wrong way around, it did pick up and was an alright read.

[Notthatjc · Rating 2 out of 5]

***ARC***
I felt what the author was going for but all the characters felt badly scripted, as if someone watched the Wire, tried to write a short story, but had no references so just muscled through. What was the point of even including chapter 23?

[Tasha · Rating 2 out of 5]

I very nearly didn’t finish reading due to the multiple typos/spelling errors/grammatical mistakes throughout the book. The story itself was decent but it was bordering on painful to read.