REVIEW: At times, this story took my breath away. Keith Thomas Walker, as many of you may already know, is a skillful storyteller. His stories, set in the fictional town of Overbrook Meadows, Texas, have entertained his reading audience for a long time. We are back in Overbrook Meadows in this story, and a horrific tragedy has occurred that is ripped from today’s headlines, and The Great Replacement Theory. A twenty-two year old white man left his home town of Plano, Texas and traveled fifty miles to the Black neighborhood in Overbrook Meadows. This man, coward, killer, walked into Walmart where he knew he would “find a lot of black people”, opened fire with his AR-15 rifle and Glock 19, and killed eighteen innocent Black people and wounded fifteen. Among those killed was the 82-year-old grandmother of Zahra, the 23-year-old heroine of this story. Little did Zahra know that her grandmother’s death was going to change her life more than she could ever imagine.
The days following the massacre at that Texas Walmart, changed the course of Zahra’s life. She met a young man who went by the name of Demon. Now, that alone is a red flag to some, but to Zahra it was a green light. During the course of meeting Demon (birth name David) and becoming more acquainted with him and what he was about, Zahra becomes Cleo. I’ll allow you to discover all that that name connotes when you read the story. They establish a friendship, a trust, and a relationship that morphs into mutual attraction. The driving force behind Demon is his mission in life. You will discover exactly what that mission is. He is not alone. There are others who contribute greatly to the “cause” by forming a united network. Whether you agree with Demon and his cohorts is a personal matter. One thing for sure is that they are all about taking action and not just making speeches. The storyline is concise, and the action is tense and bold, to the point of being heroic.
The side characters are mainly composed of family. For Zahra, her birth family plays a role that we, as Black people, are all too familiar with when it comes to death in the family. Demon’s family is composed of the men and women who work with him in accomplishing the mission. I don’t think an HFN or HEA are quite the appropriate terms for our couple and their future life. However, we get a sense that they are indeed a couple who belong together. I love the titles heading each chapter. They speak to the chapters’ contents.
TAKE ONE OF MINE is a blockbuster of a story. It checks the current “hashtags” and “thoughts and prayers” that have become a part of our landscape. I highly recommend this book for every person who has shed a tear, participated in a protest, or watched with deep sadness and unbelief at the TV screen when a Black person is killed by a racist. One thing for sure, Keith Thomas Walker certainly leaves his calling card with this story. You’ll get that when you read the book.
13th November 2022 | romcol@caribsurf.com
The days following the massacre at that Texas Walmart, changed the course of Zahra’s life. She met a young man who went by the name of Demon. Now, that alone is a red flag to some, but to Zahra it was a green light. During the course of meeting Demon (birth name David) and becoming more acquainted with him and what he was about, Zahra becomes Cleo. I’ll allow you to discover all that that name connotes when you read the story. They establish a friendship, a trust, and a relationship that morphs into mutual attraction. The driving force behind Demon is his mission in life. You will discover exactly what that mission is. He is not alone. There are others who contribute greatly to the “cause” by forming a united network. Whether you agree with Demon and his cohorts is a personal matter. One thing for sure is that they are all about taking action and not just making speeches. The storyline is concise, and the action is tense and bold, to the point of being heroic.
The side characters are mainly composed of family. For Zahra, her birth family plays a role that we, as Black people, are all too familiar with when it comes to death in the family. Demon’s family is composed of the men and women who work with him in accomplishing the mission. I don’t think an HFN or HEA are quite the appropriate terms for our couple and their future life. However, we get a sense that they are indeed a couple who belong together. I love the titles heading each chapter. They speak to the chapters’ contents.
TAKE ONE OF MINE is a blockbuster of a story. It checks the current “hashtags” and “thoughts and prayers” that have become a part of our landscape. I highly recommend this book for every person who has shed a tear, participated in a protest, or watched with deep sadness and unbelief at the TV screen when a Black person is killed by a racist. One thing for sure, Keith Thomas Walker certainly leaves his calling card with this story. You’ll get that when you read the book.
13th November 2022 | romcol@caribsurf.com
Award of Excellence
