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Reviewed: Apr 30, 2008

'85 by Danny Simmons, Illustrated by Floyd Hughes
Atria, February 2008
96 Pages, Paperback, $14.95
ISBN: 0743297814
Genre: Fiction

RAW Rating: 3.5 (out of 5)

'85 has a comic book look, with an urban fiction feel.  The perpetrator is a struggling junkie known simply as Crow. To support his habit he steals several of his friend, Danny's paintings.  His intent is to sell them, split the earnings with Danny, and take care of his own needs.  Crow makes his connection and is starting to move the art, but he is exposed to a slightly different world and gets caught up in more than he can handle.   An art dealer assumes Crow is the artist, and wants to buy the psychedelic drawings, but he also wants to market Crow's rough, primitive image. Crow feels a moment of guilt, but not enough to end the ruse.  He looses focus on his original plans and finds himself waist-deep in a world of sex, drugs and cold-blooded deals.  When Danny discovers the paintings are missing Crow knows there friendship is doomed.
 
Author, Danny Simmons and Illustrator, Floyd Hughes have combined their eclectic artistries and capitalized on the seductive sex and drugs scene in New York, in the 1980s.  '85 is filled with graphic and evocative black-and-white imagery and authentic street-smart dialogue.  I did not get a full grip on the moral of the story, but the story still captures a time and place when street culture and the arts scene came together in a strange way.  The theme of '85 brings to life an eerie side of art and urban life.

Reviewed by aNN Brown, RAWSISTAZ.com
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aNN is a Computer Systems Analyst who resides in Newport News, VA. She is an avid and eclectic reader and enjoys sharing her views on authors and books.

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