Seventeen-year-old gang member Maverick faces many challenges living in an inner-city black community run by the gangs, including that he has impregnated two girls, and his best friend/cousin is murdered sitting in front of Maverick’s house. Maverick struggles to figure out how to be a father and what that means while he tries to exact revenge for his cousin’s murder and find a way to give up the “thug” life. This raw novel is suitable for literature circles exploring critical race theory and black history and deals with gang life, violence, guns, murder, drug dealing and addiction, and revenge. Social considerations noted; contains swearing, violence, and explicit sex.