Margins
Black Godfather book cover
Black Godfather
The Black Death
K'wan
2024
First Published
4.63
Average Rating
240
Number of Pages

In this series of books, we’ll follow the life and exploits of our antihero, Grimm, as he tackles life, love, drug pushers, mafiosos, and eventually, the system itself. He’s smart, he’s handsome, he’s dangerous . . . he is the Black Godfather, and dope pushers beware. Grimm’s childhood wasn’t too much unlike any of the other kids in his dirt-poor neighborhood. Hard times and hard lives. For the most part, while his best friends Spoon and Goldie were out getting into mischief, Grimm was in the house studying or reading. Grimm had been somewhat of a child prodigy, highly skilled with computers and a photographic memory. His intellect had fast-tracked his graduation from high school, and he received his diploma at only sixteen years old. Following in the footsteps of his deceased grandfather, Grimm enlists in the army. Instead, however, he would spend seven years trapped in a Saudi prison camp, subject to torture, starvation, and, most notably, the Pitt, a deadly underground fighting circuit where he was bestowed the nickname The Black Death. By the time he was rescued, he emerged a two-hundred-and-twenty-five-pound weapon of mass destruction. Upon Grimm’s return home, he finds that his neighborhood has changed. His mother is a broken shell of her former self, and his father has graduated from drinking liquor to smoking crack. His siblings are spread out, and his family is torn apart. His best friend Spoon is now an up-and-coming hustler and pimp, and Goldie has become a prostitute. It’s up to Grimm to fix his family and community. He embarks on a one-man mission to try and push some of the low-level dealers and users out of the neighborhood. Word of what he has done starts to spread, and the community is hopeful now that there’s someone decent back around to protect those who can’t defend themselves. He’s beloved in the neighborhood, and some of the people start referring to him as the Black Godfather because of the way he’s taking care of his people. Grimm recruits his veteran buddies as backup, and in under a year, Grimm and his unit manage to do what the NYPD couldn’t in a clean up their block. Grimm now has a small army behind him that is looking to lock the city down. Gradually he finds himself becoming more like the men he’s fighting against. He starts slipping further into the darkness of the streets and his new Black Godfather status. Grimm models his team after the mafia and tells himself that they aren’t a criminal organization, but in truth, they are. He’s pushed the drugs out of his neighborhood, leading to them spreading elsewhere. This all sets the scene for a confrontation between Grimm and Spoon. The two once best friends are now bitter rivals and locked in a personal war in the streets. It’s a long and hard-fought battle, but it’s only the beginning of a greater war. What started on the streets will take Grimm on a bloody path through the American ghettos and lead him to the halls of power, where he will face his greatest enemy yet.

Avg Rating
4.63
Number of Ratings
57
5 STARS
68%
4 STARS
26%
3 STARS
5%
2 STARS
0%
1 STARS
0%
goodreads

Author

K'wan
K'wan
Author · 47 books

In 2002 K'wan hit the scene with his debut novel Gangsta, under Triple Crown Publications. It was the first novel released by the budding house and would eventually become the building block for what is now a multimillion dollar company. What started as a therapeutic release went on to become a part of urban-lit history and an Essence bestseller, as well as drawing rave reviews overseas. After penning his second novel, Road Dawgz (2003), K'wan drew the attention of St. Martins press. The literary powerhouse quickly signed K'wan to a multi-book deal, the first of which being Street Dreams (2004). In 2008 he received the Black Author of the year award from Black Press Radio for the novella Blow. Since his insertion into the publishing world K'wan has been featured in Vibe, Pages, King, Felon, Big News, The Library Journal, Entertainment Weekly, The New York Press, Clutch and most notably Time Magazine, to name a few. He was also interviewed by MTV News for a feature on Hip-Hop fiction, and a guest on Power 105s morning show as well as NPR (national public radio). In addition to being an accomplished author, K'wan is also a motivational speaker, mentor to at risk children and the C.E.O of Black Dawn, Inc. K'wan currently resides in New Jersey where he is working on his next novel. http://us.macmillan.com/author/kwan

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