Product Description

John Shannon's son J. J. is a huge fan of hip-hop artist Yousef al-Salaam, formerly Deuce F., who recently converted to Sufism, a mystical order of Islam. The popular musician also happens to be on a terrorist watch list. When al-Salaam is shot outside a Manhattan nightclub, Shannon agrees to investigate the murder as a favor to J. J. Was al-Salaam entangled in a feud with East Coast gangsta rapper T-Mo? Or was he caught on the wrong side of Islam extremism?

The NYPD has given up on the case and, after a close call with T-Mo's thugs, so has Shannon. But something--curiosity, ego, anger?--drives him to penetrate the murky mystery surrounding al-Salaam, whose search for enlightenment reminds Shannon of his own quest for personal growth.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #638532 in Books
• Published on: 2006-07-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 312 pages

From Booklist
Yousef al-Salaam, the hip-hop artist formerly known as Deuce F and a recent convert to a Sufi Islamist sect, is gunned down outside a New York City dance club. The NYPD chalks the killing off to a rapper dispute. John Shannon, former New York cop currently working as a contract investigator for the city's Office of Municipal Security, had recently interviewed the victim to determine if the rapper's recent Middle East visit was indicative of any terrorist leanings. His conclusion was that al-Salaam's religious conversion was sincere. When Shannon looks a little deeper into the killing, his inquiries evoke a violent response, suggesting that the killer may have something to hide. Author Ford, a trained psychologist and expert on African mythology, mixes solid suspense writing with thought-provoking, human takes on some of the hot-button sociopolitical issues of the day: the domestic Muslim community's almost untenable position in a post-9/11 America, and a black middle-class father's response to the bigotry and violence inherent in the music embraced by his child. Intelligent and action packed. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
"...solid suspense writing with thought-provoking, human takes on the hot-button sociopolitical issues of the day. Intelligent and action-packed." -- Booklist

"...the worlds of gangsta rap and Islamic fundamentalism collide...Earnest and well-intentioned." -- Kirkus

About the Author
Clyde W. Ford is a media-savvy author and in-demand public speaker. A native of New York City, he graduated from Wesleyan University in Connecticut, then Western States Chiropractic College. He is the author of four books: Where Healing Waters Meet: Touching Mind and Emotion Through the Body (1989, Station Hill Press); Compassionate Touch: The Body's Role in Healing and Recovery (1991, Simon & Schuster; reprinted 1999, NorthAtlantic Press); We CAN All Get Along: 50 Steps You Can Take to Help End Racism (1993, Dell); The Hero With an African Face: Mythic Wisdom of Traditional Africa (1999, Bantam). For his groundbreaking work in mythology, Jonathan Young, Founding Curator of the Joseph Campbell Library described Clyde as "picking up where Joseph Campbell left off."As a featured guest, Clyde has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show to discuss his writing and his work in human rights; on New Dimensions, the National Public Radio program hosted by Michael Toms; and on more than 150 radio and television programs across the nation. His numerous articles and interviews have appeared in professional journals, newspapers, magazines, and on the Internet.Clyde has taught a wide variety of subjects at institutions around the country and in Europe including Swahili at Columbia University, Mathematics at the State University of New York, African American History at Western Washington University, and Somatic Psychology at the Instit|t f|r Angewandte Kinesiologie in Frieburg, Germany. Clyde has traveled widely throughout sub-Saharan Africa. He currently lives in Bellingham, Washington where he maintains a private practice as a chiropractor and psychotherapist specializing in somatic psychology and the therapeutic use of myth. He enjoys his time aboard Mystic Voyager, his 30-foot trawler, writing, and cruising the waters of the Pacific Northwest and the Inside Passage.

Customer Reviews

plot/suspense/character/Suffism
This is my second Clyde Jones novel. His technical skills (psychology, mythology) enrichens his novels. This is a good tale with unexpected turns. His characters are strong and interesting-- well developed and very credible. The plot is written with Sufism as a background; so you can learn about this Muslim sect and do so with an enjoyable story.

It's a page turner that is fun and someone educational. A good read.

A Good Read
Review: Deuce's Wild, Clyde W. Ford
by M. Stan Reaves


Clyde W. Ford has crafted a sly, fast-paced, intelligent novel that combines the best of the mystery and detective genres. Most notably, Ford carves out his own territory within the broader category of urban literature, pulling off a daredevil balancing act that combines professional African-American lifestyles with Middle Eastern politics and the internecine hip-hop wars. He pulls this off smoothly and convincingly, spinning a yarn that propels you along to its multi-layered, fascinating conclusion.


Ford's "Deuce's Wild" is a rarity among contemporary urban literature. It's not mainly about romance, sex, or mysticism. Well, sort of. While the main character, John Shannon, is still in love with his ex wife and feels that old black magic about half-way through the story, romance is clearly a minor player here. And to his credit, Shannon, an investigator for a shadowy arm of the Department of Homeland Security, has the self-discipline not to try to bed every attractive woman who comes his way. Indeed, he wades through a night club filled with lovelies and comments on the bevy of body parts thrown his way like a librarian cataloging books. As for mysticism, well, it turns out to be central to the mystery that drives the plot, but not your Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings variety of spells and weirdness. Rather, the mysticism here is of the centuries-old brand practiced by the Sufi, more religion and spirituality than hokus-pokus. Ford, a psychologist and professor, manages to educate as he entertains.


Ford makes great use of New York City and its environs, situating you convincingly in locations that give the story a cinematic feeling. The story is filled with action that is fresh, convincing, and often surprising, well handled by a hero in Shannon who is sympathetic and honorably flawed.


Still, the story is not without its pitfalls. Ford refuses any but the briefest of character descriptions, giving the story a lightweight almost cartoonish feeling. It's almost impossible to care about characters with scant background and physical descriptions, leaving the reader somewhat removed from the story. We don't even find out what our main character looks like until page 72 and find out his height twenty pages later, an annoying avoidance that forced me to completely re-envision the character, something I did not appreciate doing.


Given the wealth of absorbing material that Ford cleverly inserts into the story, I was flabbergasted when he referred to Senegal and Iran as Arab countries. First, Senegal is a West African country with Africans making up more than 97% of its population. Iran's majority is Persian not Arabs, who make up less than 5% of the population. I suspect he meant to refer to these countries as Islamic, as both of them overwhelming are, but that error should have been caught by any good editor because it tended to make Ford look like he didn't know what he was talking about.


Amazingly, Shannon completely fails to foresee and prevent a murder that every reader from grade school upwards could see coming. This almost brought the story to a screeching halt for me as it made Shannon practically look like an idiot and was wholly inconsistent with the care and precision of his actions everywhere else in the story. It's an astonishing gaff that I can only attribute again to poor editing as anyone looking at the story should have demanded he rewrite that scene.


Nonetheless, "Deuce's Wild" has a convincing, compelling hero, and is filled with fascinating discourse on religion and faith, masterful transitions in a plot that never lets go, and a cleverly rendered critique of American foreign policy and governmental shenanigans as fresh as today's headlines.

Reviewed by
Stan Reeves
Mahogany Media Review