Butta’ witnessed the death of her entire family when she was nine years old. It was done by a Klansman who wanted something her father had. The family was lynched old fashioned style, hanging by ropes in a barn that was then burned down. Even though everyone knew what had happened, the suspects were found not guilty. Butta’ was more than angry and grew up with nothing but revenge on her young mind. Finally the day came when she found Lingo Stein, the engineer behind her family’s demise, and she began to plan her retribution. Unfortunately, she miscalculated and botched the job. Stein, who was now extremely wealthy – all from the secret he stole from Butta’s dad – used all his influence to get Butta’ jailed for a long time. Once again, everyone knew the charges did not fit the crime, but nothing was done to rectify the situation. While Butta’ was doing her time, she never gave up on planning her revenge. Will Butta’ succeed the next time or will her anger get in her way again?

BUTTA’ AND THE TOWER OF BLING by Corey A. Burkes is a story of racism and revenge. It shows the US for what it really is in its racist behavior of the past that continues today in a dressed up form and its worship of money. The characters are reasonable and Butta’ is a likable young woman, while it is so easy to hate Lingo Stein. Some of the other characters definitely add flavor and a bit of humor to a very serious book. Unfortunately, there were tense switches and grammatical errors that interrupted the flow, but perhaps those will be ironed out in the finished copy. It is definitely a book worth reading.

Reviewed by alice Holman
of The RAWSISTAZ™ Reviewers