Night Work by Nelson George

Night Work
by Nelson George

rating 3 stars

Overview:Dark-skinned chocolate, sexy and smooth, Night earns his keep by pleasuring rich white women around New York City. But he's grown weary of this seedy, criminal life. If he could just get someone to sign him to a record deal, he'd willingly say good-bye forever to the emotionless sex that is slowly numbing his soul. Just when his dream of becoming an R&B vocalist is about to be realized, Beth Ann, a beautiful supermodel deep in debt to a dangerous drug ring, begs Night to help her move a large quantity of Ecstasy. He reluctantly agrees, but the good deed sinks him deeper into the nightlife he's been trying so desperately to escape. It also puts him on the radar of the NYPD, and when one of Night's clients is found murdered the cops are quick to add it all up against him. Now Night must fight the fallout of his past and try to forge a path back to his future, before it takes off without him.



My Opinion:

reading time: 17 days
It took a while to get through this book. It did not grab me. The pace of the book was a bit slow. The main character Night annoyed me in a way that I can't be my finger on. Perhaps the book pace and lack of excitement is due to the fact that the character was missing that in his life, since he had no real passion in his day to day life. The end of the book was it's saving grace. I look up how this book was rated on other sites and I must agree the masses. I did not dislike the book but it wont go down as a favorite either. In other words, it's a very middle of the road read.



*daring quote- page 111 when describing how blessed he felt character states " I fe lt like my back was being touched by the right hand of God and His left was massaging my dick" What can I say, that is bold!



**typo alert: page 143 7th line...see it?



Spoiler!!!Night dream is to be a famous R&B singer. But until that happens, he makes his living as a is a gigolo who serves mostly rich white women. He grew up with low self-esteem mostly due to the fact that people including his father put him down for being so dark.
When he was a child, he and his sister watched their mother die from a stroke. As a result he holds resentment towards his father for not being there when it happen and he thinks his father holds the same resentment towards him for not calling an ambulance. Now the only love they share is for Nikki Night's sister. Nikki had a tumor as a child and though they were finally able to remove it, she still suffers from aweful headaches and surgeries.
They story really gets good when he hooks up with DJ Power to drop his vocals on a rap track. Dj Power shows interest in wanting to sighn him. The track is quickly a hit. Comes in to the picture is Ivy Greenwich big time manager interested in Night as well. Along with Ivy is Beth Ann the Sports Illustrated model he fantasized about. She gave him the cold shoulder.
Night relucantly takes a job. He gets there to find and older white couple, the Perls, and a black female escort in a Billy Holiday mask. With the Miles Davis mask on he went to work on Mrs. Perl. After a few minutes he feels finger probing a place that's off limits for him and he flips on Mr. Perl. Night leaves the party.
At a video shoot Night spots a story about Mrs. Perl being found murder. Panick hits him knowing that could easily get caught up. After the shoot he goes to his female pimp Raffaella's apartment only to get cuffed by the detectives waiting for him to show up. He spends the night in jail but let go the next day.
All the while Night has been helping Beth Ann through one of his friends sell a large quantity of E pills. She gotten herself way over her head they are holding one of her friends until they get the money.
In the end Night finds out that the Mr. Perl he met was not the real Mr. Perl but a neighbor. He killed Mrs. Perl because she wanted him to get a divorce like she was going to do so that they could be together. With the help of another one of Night's friends the men who had kidnapped her friend were arrestted in a sting. Night makes a mind with his father. And the story ends with Night in the hospital awaiting news about whether or not Nikki will survive her latest medical crisis.