Black thought back to his childhood, and it all camerushing back, as though he were still sitting in the back of the room, tryingdesperately to be accepted. He remembers how important it was to be cool, to bedown, to be smart, to be a little bit of everything and everybody excepthimself.

"Pipe Dream," by Philadelphia's new writer on the block, SolomonJones, has emerged in tremendous fashion. This emotional narrative vividlydepicts the undeniable humanity that lies beneath our exterior personas, even tothe extent of those held in the bondage to drugs.

Jones's tale begins withBlack and Leroy, two crack-heads, carrying out their everyday scheme ofattempting to swindle money for their addiction. Meanwhile, in the neighborhoodrendezvous spot for addicts, politician Johnny Podres pulls swirls of smokethrough a glass tube. Unknown to the addicts around him, highly regarded cityofficial Padres allows himself to be lorded into the house in an effort to escapethe crisis in his life, not knowing that within minutes, it will all end.

For a book you cannot put down, one whose emotions make you a character,read "Pipe Dream." It brilliantly tells the sometimes overlooked, conspiracy-drivenstory behind and within a person. Debuting with this multilayer thriller, SolomonJones is bound to be a legend of contemporary literature.