A review by meredithw20
S Street Rising: Crack, Murder, and Redemption in D.C. by Rubén Castañeda

5.0

A very tight first two thirds of this book gives way to a more meandering tail end, but the dual personal and political angles kept me intrigued. I now work on the block where Mr. Castaneda used to cop crack, so IDing spots I see every day in his story was a peculiar, strange thrill. I read the book fairly briskly, but the frankensteined composition of the last 100 or so pages (it reads like a portfolio. A really GOOD portfolio, but fragmented) and the weak conclusion robs it of a star.