Staff Book Reviews
Andrea reviews Casting the First Stone by Kimberla Lawson Roby (Kensington, 2000)
Curtis Black is one despicable man. He has decided he wants to leave his wife of over a decade so he can be with his young, also-married girlfriend. Curtis and his girlfriend, Adrienne, have to sneak around since they both are married AND Curtis works with Adrienne’s husband, Thomas. It doesn’t matter that Tanya, Curtis’ wife, supported him and worked full-time while he was in graduate school. She is also the mother of his daughter, Alicia, who is undoubtedly the light of his life.
To make matters even worse, Curtis feels smothered by Adrienne whenever she talks about divorcing Thomas so she can marry Curtis. To deflect this claustrophobia, Curtis starts sleeping with another woman, and I mean “woman” loosely, because Charlotte is only 17 years old! Charlotte gets pregnant and her father tells Curtis he will have him thrown in jail for statutory rape charges.
But the proverbial icing on the cake is this: Curtis Black is a PASTOR! Now you see what I mean about his being despicable? Casting the First Stone is the first book of 12 in the Reverend Curtis Black series. These are all great stories with lots of drama and tension but readers need to read them in chronological order to get the full effect. Readers will be disgusted and amazed by Curtis Black’s attitude- especially knowing he is a PREACHER!
Andrea Bledsoe King, Cordova Library