Camika Spencer, He Had It Coming

He Had It Coming

Camika Spencer

St. Martin's, Sep 2004, $19.95, 212 pp.

ISBN: 0312323344

Women flock to bestselling author Marcus Brooks. He takes advantages of the groupies who throw themselves at him, but has a strict rule of twelve hours. He wants them gone and out of his life by then. The only woman who can stay is his deceased mom, whose picture he takes with him when he is on the road. How strict is the rule? Just ask his just-fired agent Regis as Marcus derails his ticket to the top because he dared to criticized Marcus on his treatment of women.

In Dallas for an interview, Marcus gets into a dispute with a worker. She accuses him of assault and the police seek to arrest him. He hides, but a reading club (Raylene, Naomi, Thelma, Gwena, and Latice) meet Marcus, who is arguing with an elderly street woman over two bucks. Amazonian Thelma gets into a fight with him and kicks his butt, however, he turns dirty until the others intercede. They kidnap and chain Marcus to the pipes under Thelma's kitchen sink to teach him a lesson about women, life and love with his host being the most influential.

HE HAD IT COMING is an enjoyable character study that is actually different than Misery due to the attitudes of the players. The storyline takes the time to introduce the key sextet, enabling the audience to better understand the reading group and the author. The tale accelerates about halfway in when the women kidnap Marcus to teach him a lesson on life and becoming a love slave, but they also learn a lot about themselves. The use of profanity fits Marcus so that fans will agree that HE HAD IT COMING is a fine read.

Harriet Klausner