GREAT BLACK HOPE

Coincidently, narrator Justice Smith evokes the sensibility and behavior of a man named Smith. He performs this debut novel thoughtfully and keeps the lid on some wild moments of debauchery in New York's demimonde of partying and self-indulgence. The plot concerns the tribulations of an entitled Stanford graduate--his father was a college president and his mother, a surgeon. The self-described Black queer man's life becomes upended when he's arrested for cocaine possession at a party in the Hamptons. A subplot revolves around the death of his female roommate from an overdose. Franklin writes descriptively, and the protagonist's family backstory vividly portrays the history and culture of successful Black Atlanta. A.D.M. © AudioFile 2025, Portland, Maine [Published: JULY 2025]