Never let your life stand in the way of your success. Never feel that where you live or the hand life dealt you would hamper your success. Meet Zipporah “Z” Soldano, a young, tenacious, bright young lady who gets caught in the middle of a difficult situation that could have cost her more than just her life. Approached by a gang who had anything but good intensions, she is rescued and saved by Romero, a student in community college, studying criminal law, and from then on, things seem to appear to change for the better. But, will they?
From the author of Hostage of Lies and The Ebony Tree comes a brand new novel, LA Blues, where hope and survival are paramount and one young woman will learn many hard lessons in life before realizing you can be anything you want and much more if you grab for success and never let others bring you down. Once again, author Maxine Thompson, pens a novel so profound, poignant and significant that reviewers and authors will be talking about this novel for a very long time.
As Zipporah succeeds in becoming a cop, she learns the true meaning of partnership and respect. But, a domestic violence incident would change her world as she goes to the scene not fully aware of what she is doing and the end result is tragic. Her partner goes down, the children that are involved cannot be placed as the end result. Hard on herself and blaming herself for her partner’s death, she turns to alcohol as her solace. But, how far can she go as an officer if her senses are dulled and her mind is not clear? What will happen to all that she attained and will she turn to her foster mother once again for help or will she like so many others give up on herself? The scene plays out and the end result is tragic as our leading lady, Z, loses more than just a friend. What happens to the children should never happen to any. Placing them in the system is where you don’t want kids to wind up.
But, things got even worse as she winds up in the hospital, the review board terminates her and she ends up doing the one thing that got her in trouble to start with: Drinking herself into oblivion until she literally sank to the bottom of the ocean and now it is time to rise above, stand tall and get it together? But, will she finally see past the liquor bottle and look into the mirror and see who and what she really is and that is not what she is looking at now?
Sometimes you have to sink below sea level in order to rise about the ocean waves. As Z enters rehab and faces her own demons, she meets Haviland, a former movie star, and their friendship begins but in a guarded way. Haviland needs and wanted Z to find her birth mother and understand why her adopted mother bad mouthed her and why her adopted father said she was cut out of the will. With Z’s help, things changed, she finds her real mother, inherits quite a bit but does not get the will revoked, but there is still much more. As Z gets becomes a Private Investigator, Shirley takes her in and she tries to once again to save Shirley and Daddy Chill from a divorce. Friends resurface and old wounds come alive as Z tries to patch up her life, deal with her friend’s marriage, stay sober and find her own place in this world.
Tragedy hits and one young NBA hopeful pays the price. Racial tensions rise. Fear is instilled in many kids. Walking the streets and going to school proves dangerous. The pieces of her family seem to be falling apart. Z needs to find her inner strength to fight against her own personal demons and keep the bottle out of reach. Joining AA was a start and listening to the words of the Pastor during the funeral services telling those present to fight back and take control of their community and not be victims. As the words of the Pastor fills the church another voice is heard loud and clear that of Dr. Maxine Thompson who shares a special poem with the congregation and the words I would like to share with her readers:
“To acts of senseless violence and rage?
When will we learn to love and not hate
To cherish and not exterminate
Let’s wake up before it’s too late
And we lose our entire future Black race.”
Then Z reconnects with her birth mother, locates Mayhem, her older brother, and the pieces seem to fall into place. But, who can she trust as someone is following her and wants her out of the way? But why? Hooking up with Romero and allowing herself to open up leads to other fears and doubts at the end. Remembering her past in order to move ahead with the present, Z needs to come full circle with the truth about her father’s death ad the memories flood back and she remembers the event that changes everything and caused her family to fall apart. What really happened when a man named Strange was beating her mother? How did this man and her father wind up dead? Who was really to blame and who covered up the crime?
Remembering the safety deposit key her partner gave her before he was killed, she locates the bank and what she finds would rock the inner core of her family, the police department and other officials too. What are they trying to hide? Just how far does this corruption go? Who would be the next victim when the information on the CD he left her is revealed?
As the pieces of the puzzle begin to fall into place and the death tolls still rising, can she stop this before another member of her family is killed? Mexicans pitted against Latinos and Blacks. Racial strife instigated just to keep everyone off track. Corruption everywhere: Whom can she trust? What about Romero? What is his real agenda?
An ending jam packed with the unexpected, twists and definitely loose ends that will keep you on edge until the very end and knowing that the story has more to go and that Z’s work has just begun. Once again author Maxine Thompson hands the reader a plot so filled with real life characters, true to life situations faced by kids dealing with Crips, Bloods, gang violence, racial tensions, street wars, child and spousal abuse and much more. One family that just wants to rise above and not be beaten down but stand tall and unite to find a better way. Z’s faith was drawn from her foster mother, Shirley, and her love for her family never giving up on them.
Meet Z, Shirley, the unpredictable Chica, Haviland, Romero, and the rest of her family as you hear their voices, listen to their words, and follow their stories in this outstanding novel. One woman named Shirley who impacted so many lives. Will they stay above the waves in the ocean? Will Z come out on top or will those following her silence her once and for all? LA Blues: read the novel, take the journey along with Z as she tells you her story.
This book gets FIVE WHITE BALLOONS: Dedicated to those who have lost children in these senseless wars: Mothers for Murdered Children.” Let’s stop the Pain!