“We need the books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, like being banished into forests far from everyone, like a suicide. A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us.” — Franz Kafka —
Fred Reynolds, as you’ll learn in his book, is the son of poor sharecroppers from rural Virginia. He associated with the Errol Flynn gang in Detroit, was himself a criminal, a victim of racism, a Marine Corps infantryman, and then, when he ran through his savings…homeless. Not homeless, doing drugs, and begging on the streets. But homeless, working two jobs, and sleeping in cars and all-night movie theaters, unable to earn enough to house, clothe, and feed his growing family.
For thirty-two years he served as a cop and detective in Compton, CA—a.k.a. “The Hub City,” because of its central location with boundaries defined by the 105, 110, 710, and 405 freeways.