A gritty, fast-paced tale of revenge...Tight, terse prose harkens back
to pulp fiction of the 1950s...The work is a breath of fresh air from
lengthy, trying-too-hard-to-shock street lit and is an excellent choice
for all metropolitan collections.
--Library Journal (starred review, Pick of the Month)
The urban setting is unnamed but familiar in this brief, bloody tale of
wasted lives lived short and hard.
--Publishers Weekly
Simultaneously a fast-paced crime drama and an engrossing, unsentimental
moral tale, H.N.I.C. peers into the dark heart that underpins the
codes of loyalty and friendship, betrayal and vengeance.
--Brooklyn Daily Eagle
In a genre that too often places incorrect ebonics in the mouths of
black characters and fails to cross the empathy gap to get into their
heads, Savile and Prodigy arrive at a seamless voice that is a
refreshing take on crime fiction tropes...if tone and texture are what
you're looking for in your hardcore literature...H.N.I.C. delivers the
goods.
--Okayplayer
H.N.I.C. is written by Prodigy himself and shows the extent to which
good rappers can make good storytellers.
--Brooklyn Based
Ultimately, H.N.I.C. deals on all the right levels and is completely
satisfying.
--Blackout Book Review
If you don't have this novella in your library collection already,
please be on the lookout for this 2013 release, H.N.I.C., penned by
Hip Hop artist Prodigy of the group, Mobb Deep.
--StreetLiterature.com
The strength of this novella, in addition to its straightforward prose
and rapid pacing, rests on the universal theme at its center: loyalty.
Loyalty and the bullshit our friends put us through...Like any good work
of crime, H.N.I.C. is grounded in such common experiences and, like
any good work of crime, it speaks to all of us, despite the fact that
very few of us can bypass an alarm system through some computer
trickery.
--Nerds of a Feather, Flock Together
It tells the...urban tale of deceit, greed and questioned loyalty with
just enough drama to keep you turning the pages.
--Literary Jewels
A brutal and quick read...custom-made for the big screen.
--Charles Tatum's Review Archive
Prodigy, from the legendary hip-hop group Mobb Deep, launches Akashic's
new Infamous Books imprint with a story of loyalty, vengeance, and
greed.
Pappy tries to break out of the game before the head of his crew, Black,
gets them all killed. Against his better judgment Pappy agrees to do one
last job, but only because it's the price of his freedom. He knows his
brother Black would rather see him dead than let him walk away. Yet he
still agrees to do the job because Black isn't the only one who can't be
trusted.
Further developing the stark realism and uncompromising streetwise
narratives of his lyrics, H.N.I.C. cements Prodigy's position as one
of the foremost chroniclers of contemporary urban life. Simultaneously a
fast-paced crime drama and an engrossing, unsentimental moral tale,
H.N.I.C. peers into the dark heart that underpins the codes of loyalty
and friendship, betrayal and vengeance.
With H.N.I.C., Prodigy inaugurates Infamous Books, a revolutionary
partnership that pairs the Infamous Records brand with Brooklyn-based
independent publisher Akashic Books. Infamous Books' mission is to
connect readers worldwide to crime fiction and street lit authors both
familiar and new.
