Up To No Good [Kindle Edition]

Before you start reading this book, get your Dramamine, Scopolamine, Promethazine, Cyclizine, and Dimenhydrinate. In case you're wondering...those are medications for motion sickness! Carl Weber weaves together a story with more twists and turns than the Spaghetti Junction in Atlanta, GA. James Black is.... a mess! This guy has more women than an all girl Catholic school shower! I love his no nonsense approach to his women... **you're here for one reason and one reason only, to please me**. If you choose to be with him after that... well... don't come crying to daddy. His son, Darnel, was trying to be a good boy and be faithful to one woman and he was. However, was the one woman faithful to him? How far would you go if someone betrayed you? What would you do to get back at them? Well... our boy Darnel takes his heartbreak HARD and you won't believe WHERE he takes it. Darnel's sister, Jamie, has a life but still finds time to meddle in her dad's, her brother's, and eventually her man's. This sister becomes so paranoid you'll swear you'll hear 'The Twilight Zone' music playing when you read the chapters dedicated to her.

Mr. Weber takes the strengths and weaknesses of these characters and intertwines them in one heck of a good story! There is so much drama and goings on here that any of the main three characters could have a story themselves. One minute you're a fly on the wall in the bedroom of James Black watching him put the moves on one of his thousand women, and the next you're wondering if Darnel needs a special white jacket. One minute you're spinning around inside Jamie's head wondering about her man, and the next you're wondering how many demons Keisha really does have. And this is just the tip of all the crazy turns you'll take in this book.

This book also makes you wonder how far you would go to help out blood. The ending will have you shaking your head like, "what. in. the. world."? I like that Mr. Weber put some questions for discussions at the end; however this book is so good you won't need them. This is a no-brainer for book clubs and a (pardon the cliché) a must read for fans new and old.

I have enjoyed nearly every other book by Carl Weber & expected this one to be a good one, too, but was I mistaken. Up To No Good was a bit too predictable & redundant. It got to the point where I heavily sighed with every chapter that started with Darnel because I was tired of the repeated actions. I mean, goodness, is there a man that freaking lovestruck that he acts a total wuss? I've never met one & so it made this quite unbelievable and plain boring. I thought the book would have been good because the beginning instantly catches you up into some drama without hesitation so it's like being on a fast moving train that suddenly stops dead in it's tracks. And Darnel wasn't the only one, Jamie started getting on my nerves & the whole issue with James was predictable, too.

I'm usually the 1st to get a Carl Weber book as soon as it's released but this one I waited on. Once I read it then I was so disappointed that I even bothered at all. The only other book of his that I'm debating on which I disliked more is The First Lady. Save yourself. Maybe wait for the next one...

Once again Carl Weber gives readers an entertaining tale in Up to No Good, which is about a family that is not quite what they appear to be. This story unfolds from the three main characters point-of-view, James, Darnell, and Jamie. James Black is a successful man who gives his children, Darnell and Jamie, unconditional love, however, he is unable to commit to one woman, but he understands this about himself. Darnell, who wanted more than anything for his father to marry and commit to his mother, vows that he will not be like his father and is happy that he has found the woman of his dreams that he can be faithful to. Jamie, who was abandoned by her mother, is daddy's darling and puts the fear of God in all her father's girlfriends, believes that she knows all of the tricks that a man can play as she has learned from the best. But, while all of the characters believe they have life figured out they are all in for a couple of curve balls.

The story moves along at a fast pace as we learn how each of the characters handle the unexpected in their lives and how it affects their relationship with each other. Issues of truth and trust, along with fidelity and devotion, affect all of the characters and some of their actions will surprise you. Readers will enjoy the unexpected events which will keep them turning the pages, though, at times the characters will be a little predictable once you understand the situation.

I recommend this book to fans of Carl Weber and readers looking for an entertaining read.

Reviewed by Beverly
APOOO BookClub
March 3, 2009