Well writtrn book about the life of a cop. The author keeps your interest and the book reads smoothly. Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for the ARC of this book in return for my honest review. Receiving the book in this manner had no bearing on this review.

Fascinating biography, well written cop’s story. Reynolds grew up in Detroit and wound up being a policeman in Compton, CA. Great vocabulary and verbiage kept things interesting in this longish book. Some racist situations unfold. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

In black white and gray all over by Frederick Douglas Reynolds he gives an honest account about his life and about the history of Compton. In the beginning of the book he said that white people were not gonna like the first few chapters and I thought hmmm. Then he goes on to tell how he spray painted his only white neighbors home and Rob only the white women going grocery shopping and I thought well he probably grows from this until I kept reading. Later on in the book he blamed the government for Black people smoking crack and he also refers to strippers is Trailor trash and says the ones he hangs out with we’re much better than that. Then he goes through this diatribe about Compton and how it came financially unstable and during this name people I had no idea who they were and he would also refer to people is it just passing the name the reader should have recognition and I had no clue who he was talking about. I do have respect for this author in the fact that his stories were honest and his struggles were real and he worked any job that came his way and even traveled to different states just to work to support his family. He also was a police officer in a part of the country that most people wouldn’t even walk through much less working. I have the upmost respect for police because they run in buildings that I run out of. I just didn’t like the stereotyping and saying things that had it been a A white person saying it about African-Americans would’ve sounded racist. He also made sure to mention whether someone was light-skinned or dark skinned and so it wasn’t just the white people he focused on I just thought in this day and age that we were moving away from anything resembling racism. Having said that this book is real, rough and with the exception of the whole thing on Compton‘s financial The building is an interesting read. If you like reading stories about underdogs turning their situation around you’re going to love this book. I gave the three stars because it is worth reading. I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher for giving me this book. I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any grammar or punctuation errors as I am blind and dictate my review but all opinions are definitely my own

This was a wonderfully written memoir, covering the lived experience of the author - a Black man, working in Law enforcement in Compton through the 80s,90s and 00s.

In the light of the Black Lives Matter movement, I have engaged with several forms of media covering the institutional racism in the police force, unconscious (and very conscious) bias, the shocking disproportionate incarceration statistics - this memoir was a look from the lenses of the generation who grew up before these issues truly came to light (not that they are far from fixed in 2022).

Whether it be the slurs thrown around in the break room by their white superiors, or the reluctance to treat those they are arresting with any shred of humanity - this book illustrates the difficulties faced perfectly, and does so by somebody who is in the midst of it all.

The most fascinating section by far, one that made my ears prick up like a dog, was the section on the authors experience with Suge Knight and Death Row Records - acting as their personal bodyguard at points in their life, even going as far to shine light on the death of Tupac. The 90s American ‘gangster’ hip hop is a genre that fascinates me, and the stories that it left behind are ones I will always endeavour to read.

My only criticism of this book lays not in the content, but the delivery. It felt quite choppy at times with no real chronology.

Thank you to NetGalley for the Advance readers copy in exchange for my unbiased review.