FICTION

Before We Were Wicked

by Eric Jerome Dickey
Dutton. Apr. 2019. 352p. ISBN 9781524744038. $27; ebk. ISBN 9781524744045. F
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Dickey's prequel to Bad Men and Wicked Women shows how and why Ken Swift became involved with Jimi Lee, a relationship leading to daughter Margaux, a character in the prior work. It's 1996, and Los Angeles enforcers Ken and Ghanaian sidekick Jake Ellis cruise to a Sunset Strip club intending to beat up a guy who owes money to their boss. The club is popping, but Ken is drawn to Jimi Lee, a sassy 18-year-old Ethiopian who believes "stupid Americans" couldn't pronounce her African name. From this point sex dominates Dickey's tale. From their initial one-night stand, lust mesmerizes the couple as Ken and Jimi Lee enthusiastically experiment with Kama Sutra positions and during breaks discuss each other's bodies and performances. The good times end when Jimi Lee becomes pregnant and learns firsthand the violence of Ken's enforcer work.
VERDICT Pages of two-person dialog can be clunky (e.g., "I'm a freshman when it comes to sex. You're a grad student"), and commentary about prejudice interrupts the plot with debates about Africans vs. African Americans, low credit scores, and the O.J. trial. Yet Dickey has fans who will appreciate Swift's backstory and especially the hot sex. [See Prepub Alert, 10/29/18.]
Reviewed by Rollie Welch, Lehigh Acres, FL , Mar 01, 2019
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