Detective Salvatore Messina, known on the street as "Black Sallie Blue Eyes," is investigating the murder of a man outside of an exclusive New York City nightclub. The victim’s cousin, an Albanian immigrant called Vooko, who was working as a bouncer at the club, is run down by an SUV on the same night and badly injured.  Vooko checks himself out of the hospital and goes looking for the killer.

The story takes a twisted path through the world of hip-hop sound and some of the people who make the music. One such group known as "Proof Positive" is fronted by a character called Scholar, an ex-con with a prison-yard chip on his shoulder. The group is not much more civilized.  When a record producer suggests that their songs need a little more work, they respond in jailhouse fashion by carving him up with knives to teach him a little respect.

Another character enters the scene. Kal Kessler is a rich white kid who has an entitlement complex and a serious drug habit. It seems that some foreign doorman at a swanky nightclub wouldn’t allow Kal to move to the front of the line and he felt humiliated.  Kal turns to his drug connection, a street thug, to help get revenge.

It’s up to Black Sallie Blue Eyes to make sense of all this while trying to fend off the political pressure that big money can buy.

This debut novel by author Marc Blatte is a study in similarities and contrasts.  All of the players want the same thing: the good life.  Kal Kessler was born into it, Vooko discovered it when he came to America, and Scholar watched it pass him by; thumbing its nose at him.

Kal Kessler has never lived anything but the good life and sees it as his personal right.  Vooko looks at the beautiful things that money can buy and dreams of finding a way to earn it.  Scholar has no intention of earning anything; if you’ve got the muscle and the boldness, you just take what you want.

This book was one of those fast reads. The action keeps you awake and the plot keeps you interested.  At times it looks like noir and at others it’s almost urban lit.  Whatever it is, it’s a great start to a promising career for Marc Blatte.