A Rock and a Hard Place

Barrett Raines #1

by Darryl Wimberley

Detective Barrett Raines, the sole Black officer on a small northwest-Florida police force, investigates the murder of popular bar owner Ramona, his beloved mentor, and must face the possibility that his ne'er-do-well brother may be involved

260 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 1999

About the author

Darryl Wimberley is a native Floridian. After high school, he entered the Air Force Academy in Colorado, graduating with a B.S. in International Affairs. While still on active duty, he attended St. Mary's University in San Antonio, Texas, and received an M.A. in English literature. He then earned a doctorate of philosophy from the Radio-Television-Film department at the University of Texas at Austin. Wimberley lives in Austin, Texas.

Series:
* Detective Barrett Raines

Reviews

[Maddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been a long, hard struggle to be accepted into the white southern community of Deacon Beach, Florida. Ever since he was a child, Barrett "Bear" Raines was the model child, doing well in school, succeeding at whatever he put his hand to. As a black, that still wasn't enough to win him the police detective job within the local department without the help of a popular and persuasive white woman named Ramona Walker. Bear has married a wonderful woman named Laura Anne who has the same aspirations as he does; and they've worked hard to build a strong future together.

There is only one blemish in their life, other than the fact that they both work too hard and don't have enough time together. That blemish is Barrett's brother, Delton, who is everything that Bear is not. Things came easier for him as they grew up because he was an excellent athlete and a contributing member of the football team. On every other count, Delton is a loser and always in trouble-drugs, fights, whores. Delton represents an image of the black man that is everything that Barrett is trying to expunge.

The problem that Delton's got for himself now is that he is the prime suspect in the brutal murder and rape of Ramona. There's physical evidence that indicates that Delton is guilty. Deacon Beach is a small community and only has 2 police detectives, Barrett and a young, inexperienced guy named Taylor. Barrett is determined to handle the case, although others are concerned since his brother is involved. Bear decides right away that he has to step back emotionally and ignore the fact that the victim was a friend he loved and the possible perpetrator the brother that he hates.

Surprisingly enough, it begins to look like Delton did not murder Ramona. He provides some evidence that she may have been involved in a gun running scheme and is convincing enough to be allowed to post bail with one caveat, that being that he must be under the custodial care of his brother. The brothers work through some of the issues that have haunted them since childhood. These are truly some halcyon days in their relationship. And Delton is amazingly placid, very unlike the hellraiser that he's been portrayed to be thus far. Delton agrees to go undercover to expose the members of the gun running ring. Wimberley really turns up the suspense knob, and the reader is deep in the action as brutality and violence explode. Just as in the days of their childhood, Delton walks off the field the conquering hero while Barrett quietly brings things to a resolution with no acclaim.

The conclusion of this book is a mind boggling, butt kicking, unexpected and perfectly fitting end to the tale. At times Wimberley got a little heavy handed with the racism theme and somewhat overly melodramatic, but he never took the easy way out, never fell victim to the clichés of the genre. He brought to light some ugly racial attitudes that most authors don't want to face, and he did it well. He portrayed a complex, emotionally disturbed relationship with honesty. This is a very powerful first book by a very talented author.

[Byron Washington · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book I've read by Darryl Wimberley, and I was pleasantly surprised. While there were a few things that could've been better I won"t nitpick.

The tale was tightly woven, coupled with interesting characters, making this a book well worth reading. Hopefully there'll be a little more character development in the next book in the series. Doing this would only enhance an already interesting protagonist as well as his Florida home.

Buy it, read it!!!👍🏾🔥👍🏾🔥👍🏾🔥👍🏾🔥👍🏾🔥

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the plot in this story. It is complicated and emotionally draining. The author's
writing style bothered me. At times he used very short sentences--two or three word sentences strung together At times it was very hard to figure put what was going on.

[Darshit Patel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing is good, the characters are great, but it falters massively in the storyline. If you're looking for a page turner, you'll be disappointed.

[Joan · Rating 1 out of 5]

The first few chapters were filled with lots of bad language and sleazy characters with names I couldn't keep straight. I didn't want to keep struggling thru it when I was not enjoying it at all. Might be a good story, but all the bad language really turned me off.

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: Raines is a small-town detective. He's also black. When a friend is murdered, his brother is suspect #1.