No Place 4 Tha Righteous
by Otis Pamplin / T. Robinson

Reviewed by: Joey Pinkney

In the streets of Cleveland, Joseph Calloway goes from being a raggedy buster to a celebrity hustler in a matter of months. All it took was for somebody to front him a package of green, and he quickly graduated from ounces to pounds.

Now his name in the hood is "Joe Money". Along with the new-found attention, he gets his portion of fake friends and real haters. Although he goes from rags to hood rich, he holds tight to his philosophy of "if you treat people right, they will treat you right".

Luckily, Joe has a friend like P-Wee, a man with a Ph.D in Street Economics. P-Wee has been hustling since before he reached double-digits in age, so he's hood certified. He sees the potential in Joe and lets him know why the streets are no place for the righteous.

P-Wee gives Joe the lessons, but the streets puts him to the test. Joe gets robbed at gunpoint by one of his regular customers. His girlfriend gets caught on tape being a head doctor to one of his hood's shady characters. Then he ends up getting maced and sucker punched by a guy who wants revenge for Joe buying his speakers from his cousin.

Joe must learn quickly to apply the wisdom given to him by P-Wee and make it do what it do. The hood loves no one and is only good for doing one thing: getting money. Can Joe continue to survive in the mean streets, or will the hood take him under?

What did you like best about this book?
Although it's set in Cleveland, the streets are the streets. Otis Pamplin does a great job at painting the portrait of the hood. I could visualize the clubs, the bed rooms, the alleys, the hood. Not the hood that is glamorized on the radio by your favorite rapper. Otis gives you a street-level view of what is and what isn't.

I liked the fact that the book was less about the glitz and glamour and more about the gritty reality behind the money, clothes and women. If you're from the hood, you'll recognize some of the characters and situations. If you're not, this book is a great primer if you plan on making a visit and setting up shop. I also liked the quotes at the beginning of each chapter. It gave you a feel of what's to come without giving away too much.

What did you dislike about this book?
The cover was poorly designed. It took a while to realize it was a picture of an empty street in the middle of the night with an image of burning money superimposed on top of it. Not that it had to be all bright and happy, but more time should have been put into the concept and design.

This book should not be in print in the condition of the version I read. There are so many misspelled words, bad usages of grammar and other editorial missteps. The book read like a manuscript that should have been handed to an editor instead of a printer. Even if the author read through it "one last time" he would have been able to tighten up what is truly a great story.

At one point Joe walked into P-Wee's apartment and sat down. After P-Wee thought about what he was going to tell Joe, Joe walked into P-Wee's apartment and sat down again. I had to stop reading to figure out what Joe and P-Wee had going on…

How can the author improve this book?
All the author has to do is add some more quality people to his team. He needs to invest in a good editor and a company that specializes in producing book covers for his genre. Otis Pamplin already knows how to spin a wicked tale.

He needs to stay true to the rules of the street: You can't give people that Bobby Brown when they can go to somebody else and get that George Bush.

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