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Kenyatta #2
Death List
The undisputed originator of urban lit, Donald Goines ups the ante with one of his most enduring characters, as he continues the gripping, gritty story of crime in the black ghetto that he began in Crime Partners . Now reissued for the first time in a decade with a fresh new look!
Kenyatta has it good. The gang lord’s got the ladies, the clubs, the guns, and an army of deadly brothers at the ready when he says the word. The only problem is the shady dealers who are running the drugs in Detroit. It’s time to get them out, even if means making a deal with the men in blue. Once the plan is in place, nobody’s safe, everybody’s a target, and the streets are about to flood with blood.
Kenyatta has it good. The gang lord’s got the ladies, the clubs, the guns, and an army of deadly brothers at the ready when he says the word. The only problem is the shady dealers who are running the drugs in Detroit. It’s time to get them out, even if means making a deal with the men in blue. Once the plan is in place, nobody’s safe, everybody’s a target, and the streets are about to flood with blood.
208 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1974
7 people are currently reading
659 people want to read
About the author
Donald Goines
32 books768 followersDonald Goines was born in Detroit to a relatively comfortable family - his parents owned a local dry cleaner, and he did not have problems with the law or drugs. Goines attended Catholic elementary school and was expected to go into his family's laundry business. Instead Goines enlisted in the US Air Force, and to get in he had to lie about his age. From 1952 to 1955 he served in the armed forces. During this period he got hooked on heroin. When he returned to Detroit from Japan, he was a heroin addict.
The next 15 years from 1955 Goines spent pimping, robbing, stealing, bootlegging, and running numbers, or doing time. His seven prison sentences totaled 6.5 years. While in jail in the 1960s he first attempted to write Westerns without much success - he loved cowboy movies. A few years later, serving a different sentence at a different prison, he was introduced to the work of Iceberg Slim (Robert Beck). This time Goines wrote his semi-autobiographical novel Whoreson, which appeared in 1972. It was a story about the son of a prostitute who becomes a Detroit ghetto pimp. Also Beck's first book, Pimp: The Story of My Life (1967), was autobiographical. Goines was released in 1970, after which he wrote 16 novels with Holloway House, Iceberg Slim's publisher. Hoping to get rid of surroundings - he was back on smack - he moved with his family to the Los Angeles ghetto of Watts.
All of Goines's books were paperback originals. They sold well but did not receive much critical attention. After two years, he decided to return to Detroit. Goines's death was as harsh as his novels - he and his wife were shot to death on the night of October 21, 1974. According to some sources Goines's death had something to do with a failed drugs deal. The identity of the killers remained unknown, but there were reports of "two white men". Posthumously appeared Inner City Hoodlum (1975), which Goines had finished before his death. The story, set in Los Angeles, was about smack, money, and murder.
The first film version of Goines's books, Crime Partners (2001), was directed by J. Jesses Smith. Never Die Alone (1974), about the life of a drug dealer, was filmed by Ernest R. Dickerson, starring DMX. The violent gangsta movie was labelled as "junk masquerading as art."
During his career as a writer, Goines worked to a strict timetable, writing in the morning, devoting the rest of the day to heroin. His pace was furious, sometimes he produced a book in a month. The stories were usually set in the black inner city, in Los Angeles, New York or Detroit, which then was becoming known as 'motor city'. In Black Gangster (1972) the title character builds a "liberation" movement to cover his planned criminal activities. After this work Goines started to view the social and political turmoil of the ghetto as a battlefield between races.
Under the pseudonym Al C. Clark, Goines created a serial hero, Kenyatta, who was named after the 'father of Kenya', Jomo Kenyatta. The four-book series, beginning with Crime Partners (1974), was published by Holloway House. Kenyatta is the leader of a militant organization which aims at cleaning American ghettos of drugs and prostitution. All white policemen, who patrol the black neighborhoods, also are his enemies. Cry Revenge! (1974) tells of Curtis Carson, who is tall, black, and used to giving orders. He becomes the nightmare of the Chicanos, who have crushed his brother. Death List (1974) brings together Kenyatta, the powerful ganglord, Edward Benson, an intelligent black detective, and Ryan, his chisel-faced white partner, in a war against a secret list of drug pushers. In the fourth book, Kenyatta's Last Hit (1975), the hero is killed in a shootout.
The next 15 years from 1955 Goines spent pimping, robbing, stealing, bootlegging, and running numbers, or doing time. His seven prison sentences totaled 6.5 years. While in jail in the 1960s he first attempted to write Westerns without much success - he loved cowboy movies. A few years later, serving a different sentence at a different prison, he was introduced to the work of Iceberg Slim (Robert Beck). This time Goines wrote his semi-autobiographical novel Whoreson, which appeared in 1972. It was a story about the son of a prostitute who becomes a Detroit ghetto pimp. Also Beck's first book, Pimp: The Story of My Life (1967), was autobiographical. Goines was released in 1970, after which he wrote 16 novels with Holloway House, Iceberg Slim's publisher. Hoping to get rid of surroundings - he was back on smack - he moved with his family to the Los Angeles ghetto of Watts.
All of Goines's books were paperback originals. They sold well but did not receive much critical attention. After two years, he decided to return to Detroit. Goines's death was as harsh as his novels - he and his wife were shot to death on the night of October 21, 1974. According to some sources Goines's death had something to do with a failed drugs deal. The identity of the killers remained unknown, but there were reports of "two white men". Posthumously appeared Inner City Hoodlum (1975), which Goines had finished before his death. The story, set in Los Angeles, was about smack, money, and murder.
The first film version of Goines's books, Crime Partners (2001), was directed by J. Jesses Smith. Never Die Alone (1974), about the life of a drug dealer, was filmed by Ernest R. Dickerson, starring DMX. The violent gangsta movie was labelled as "junk masquerading as art."
During his career as a writer, Goines worked to a strict timetable, writing in the morning, devoting the rest of the day to heroin. His pace was furious, sometimes he produced a book in a month. The stories were usually set in the black inner city, in Los Angeles, New York or Detroit, which then was becoming known as 'motor city'. In Black Gangster (1972) the title character builds a "liberation" movement to cover his planned criminal activities. After this work Goines started to view the social and political turmoil of the ghetto as a battlefield between races.
Under the pseudonym Al C. Clark, Goines created a serial hero, Kenyatta, who was named after the 'father of Kenya', Jomo Kenyatta. The four-book series, beginning with Crime Partners (1974), was published by Holloway House. Kenyatta is the leader of a militant organization which aims at cleaning American ghettos of drugs and prostitution. All white policemen, who patrol the black neighborhoods, also are his enemies. Cry Revenge! (1974) tells of Curtis Carson, who is tall, black, and used to giving orders. He becomes the nightmare of the Chicanos, who have crushed his brother. Death List (1974) brings together Kenyatta, the powerful ganglord, Edward Benson, an intelligent black detective, and Ryan, his chisel-faced white partner, in a war against a secret list of drug pushers. In the fourth book, Kenyatta's Last Hit (1975), the hero is killed in a shootout.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
July 20, 2009
i read this book in a day and thought it sucked until i realized, "hey! i read this book in a day!"
February 4, 2023
Donald Goines is an amazing story teller that has strung together an epic tale of a militant man who wants to clean up his neighborhood of the evil's of drugs and racist police that abuse their power. This installment of the Kenyatta saga has more action and intrigue and leaves you at a cliff hanger that begs for you to pick up the next title to see where it leads. Kenyatta's heart is in the right place, but are his actions the right ones? In this world of drugs, police brutality and violence perhaps they are, but somethings can be taken too far. Until the next installment good luck Ken!!
January 19, 2013
I really enjoyed this book, Donald Goines has never let me down. However after finishing the book realized I started on the second book in the series, smh (note to self) check to make sure the book I'm reading isn't one far down the series line if so start from book one. On to Crime Partners which means I might have to read this one again before I read the third book
September 2, 2017
Sharp, blunt crime fiction, the second in this series that pretty much defined hard-edged racially-focused stories when it was first published. It's a short, quick read that delivers one knock to the head after another as Detroit inner-city crime figures kill each other left and right while the cops figure out what's going on -- but always too late. The ending is certainly unexpected, and one of the most interesting things is wondering who the sympathetic characters are supposed to be, since everyone's pretty flawed in one way or another.
March 8, 2018
Death List is the continuing story (book # 2 of 4) about Kenyatta, the leader of a black militant organization who is ridding the ghetto of racist cops and drug dealers 'Kenyatta style' I wasn't impressed with Kenyatta in book one and I like him even less in book two.
In order to kill the arms dealer that sold Kenyatta the list of the city's drug dealers to knock off, Kenyatta has brought in a psychopath named the Creeper who creeps and kills intended targets, as well as innocent people INCLUDING a mother and her small children and while Kenyatta is secretly remorseful that happened; his overall reaction and follow-up about it was minimal for me so Kenyatta is also a creep himself. Kenyatta seems to be all over the place, where is the balance with this man? he is trying to rid the ghettos of assholes and poison, and on the other hand, he is also responsible for the killing of innocent black people....WTF?
This was another fast pace, engaging read complete with intrigue, sex, violence, revenge, drug use, power struggling, lying, stealing, back-stabbing jive. Kenyatta is brazen and bent on completing his mission, evidently, at any price. I find my nerves to be worked with many of the characters, yet I would love to see them in action. Overall, I am still enjoying the ride.
In order to kill the arms dealer that sold Kenyatta the list of the city's drug dealers to knock off, Kenyatta has brought in a psychopath named the Creeper who creeps and kills intended targets, as well as innocent people INCLUDING a mother and her small children and while Kenyatta is secretly remorseful that happened; his overall reaction and follow-up about it was minimal for me so Kenyatta is also a creep himself. Kenyatta seems to be all over the place, where is the balance with this man? he is trying to rid the ghettos of assholes and poison, and on the other hand, he is also responsible for the killing of innocent black people....WTF?
This was another fast pace, engaging read complete with intrigue, sex, violence, revenge, drug use, power struggling, lying, stealing, back-stabbing jive. Kenyatta is brazen and bent on completing his mission, evidently, at any price. I find my nerves to be worked with many of the characters, yet I would love to see them in action. Overall, I am still enjoying the ride.
January 14, 2019
The book "DEATH LIST" by DONALD GOINES is about two detectives, Ryan and Benson. On a duck between two gang rivals, Kingfisher and Kenyatta; Back and forth goes on between them correlating with drugs, weapons, and money. Until finally an opportunity opens up for the detectives when a dope smuggler, Angelo, gets caught up with law enforcement and soon spills all information about the rival gangs. leading to a crazy shootout in which no one is guaranteed an easy way out, including the detectives. "Everything good in life comes with a price", said detective Ryan...Knowing the information about the gangs is one thing, neutralizing them is another.
This book's astonishing giving an insight of life in the ghettos and the struggle of everyday life. Love the incredible action and thriller that keeps the reader wanting more. Very straightforward and one-dimensional, astonished and amazed of how even the worst things in life can be made into a masterpiece. Highly recommend this book because it shows the dark side of everyday life. No other book can show a compelling true piece of work in the suburbs of Detroit. Those who cherish urban fiction will truly love and acknowledge this wonderful piece of work.
This book's astonishing giving an insight of life in the ghettos and the struggle of everyday life. Love the incredible action and thriller that keeps the reader wanting more. Very straightforward and one-dimensional, astonished and amazed of how even the worst things in life can be made into a masterpiece. Highly recommend this book because it shows the dark side of everyday life. No other book can show a compelling true piece of work in the suburbs of Detroit. Those who cherish urban fiction will truly love and acknowledge this wonderful piece of work.
March 8, 2018
Overall an enjoyable read. For people who like Goines you get all that you want with character development and strong story 'beats' and in this case slight variations on the forumula that are a welcome break from the norm.
The 'high court' of me finds Mr. Goines not guilty of racism, but guilty of the lesser offence of oblivious and willful ignorance regarding races not-his-own and first degree stereotyping. The sentence is that I will be right back in line to read 'Cry Revenge' in a couple of months.
The 'high court' of me finds Mr. Goines not guilty of racism, but guilty of the lesser offence of oblivious and willful ignorance regarding races not-his-own and first degree stereotyping. The sentence is that I will be right back in line to read 'Cry Revenge' in a couple of months.
January 29, 2023
Not one of Goines' strongest, but not terrible. Has all the Donald Goines books traits, but he doesn't do it as well here, feels like he's just speeding through a checklist of stuff to cover instead of doing it as well as he normally does.
June 5, 2023
Donald Goines might have been a weird dude...
September 22, 2023
I got bored and confused
September 28, 2011
I love Donald Goines, but Death List is most assuredly not his best work. This book picks up where Crime Partners left off. Kenyatta is leading his gang of murderers/black seperatists against Detroit's white drug lords and the intolerant white police officers of the Detroit PD.
The problem with Death List is that there just isn't much of a plot. Most of Goines' books portray real life events while this book is more fantasy/wishful thinking. It just comes across as something of a pipedream rather than his usual gritty portrayal of life in the ghetto/hood. Disappointing as this book was I will continue the Kenyatta saga.
The problem with Death List is that there just isn't much of a plot. Most of Goines' books portray real life events while this book is more fantasy/wishful thinking. It just comes across as something of a pipedream rather than his usual gritty portrayal of life in the ghetto/hood. Disappointing as this book was I will continue the Kenyatta saga.
July 31, 2011
i read this in 3 hours
May 26, 2013
I don't think it was his best work for sure and i couldn't finish it. It was very slow and seemed to be aimlessly telling a story that seemed to be going nowhere.
February 17, 2014
Good setting of the novel. Captivating.
January 2, 2015
4.5 stars
January 19, 2017
My first reading of Donald Goines and enjoyed the story. I'll have to find the first Kenyatta novel and then try to continue the series.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews