Reviews
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Jersey Girl (Close to the Bone Pub., U.K. 2025)
Verdict: "A tense, atmospheric read with a memorable antiheroine and a vivid sense of place. Four stars for its unflinching realism, compelling voice, and narrative daring."
Robert White’s Jersey Girl is a gritty, globe-spanning noir that plunges readers into the morally murky worlds of corporate exploitation, mercenary culture, and survivalist instinct. The novel opens in the sweltering tension of the Nigerian bush, where Raina Burke—formerly Candace from Newark’s Ironbound—is running a data farm tasked with filtering humanity’s worst digital content. The job is soul-poisoning for the local workers, and the setting teems with both political corruption and very physical danger. White immediately establishes a visceral sense of place, blending sharp observation with unflinching detail.
Raina is a fascinating protagonist—intelligent, disciplined, and ruthless, with a self-fashioned identity she wields like armor. Her backstory, from a lower-middle-class Jersey girl with a gift for mimicry to a high-ranking fixer in a Silicon Valley tech empire, is told with enough grit and specificity to feel authentic. She’s not a heroine in the traditional sense; she’s pragmatic to the point of coldness, willing to use or discard people as circumstances demand. Yet, White allows glimpses of a complex interior—her self-identification with the Yoruban goddess Oyá, her need for control, and her barely veiled contempt for the men around her—that keep the reader hooked.
The supporting cast—mercenaries O’Brien and Beyersdorf—are more than stock sidekicks. They are volatile, unpredictable forces in Raina’s orbit. O’Brien’s reckless swagger and Beyersdorf’s silent menace create a constant low-level threat, even within her own camp. The dynamic between the three, alternating between mutual dependence and simmering distrust, drives much of the book’s tension. White writes these relationships with a sharp ear for dialogue and an eye for telling gesture.
The novel shifts settings multiple times, moving from the humid menace of Nigeria to the chill of Canada’s Pelee Island, then on to an RV trek across the U.S., each locale sketched with precision. These shifts keep the pacing lively, though they occasionally feel abrupt, as if the narrative’s engine is running faster than the reader can fully absorb one setting before being thrust into the next.
One of White’s strengths is his willingness to confront uncomfortable truths. He doesn’t sanitize corporate complicity in global exploitation, the psychological toll of moderating online horror, or the corruption that greases the gears of both African and Western systems. His prose is unsentimental, often laced with gallows humor, and his characters—whether Nigerian villagers, Silicon Valley executives, or small-town U.S. state troopers—are drawn with a mixture of cynicism and insight.
In Jersey Girl, Robert White delivers a hard-edged, morally ambiguous thriller that blends international intrigue with deeply personal stakes. It’s not a story of redemption so much as a study of survival—and the compromises that come with it. The result is a gripping, layered novel that lingers in the mind, populated by characters you’re not sure you like but can’t stop following.
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--Thriller Magazine, Aug. 26, 2025
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Full-Tilt Boogie
Verdict: "A Riveting Crime Thriller Unfolding in the Heartland"
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Full-Tilt Boogie by Robb T. White takes readers on a gripping ride through the gritty streets of Youngstown, Ohio, in a crime thriller that unfolds with relentless intensity. Special Agent Jade Hui, newly assigned to the field office, finds herself thrust into a maelstrom of crime and danger that threatens to engulf the entire city.
The narrative kicks off with a sense of urgency as Hui discovers her predecessor’s lackluster record, leaving her to piece together the puzzle of impending chaos in Youngstown. A tip from an Aryan Brotherhood convict sets the stage for a high-stakes operation involving a new designer drug from Europe, poised to hit the Midwest streets, with Youngstown as its epicenter.
White skillfully weaves a complex narrative, combining elements of drug trafficking, organized crime, and a mysterious figure known as “the emissary.” The stakes are high, and the tension rises as Hui delves deeper into the criminal underworld, uncovering a web of corruption and deceit.
The author’s portrayal of Youngstown as a city on the brink of chaos is vivid and atmospheric. The streets come alive with a sense of danger, and the narrative is punctuated with gritty details that immerse readers in the unfolding crime spree. White captures the essence of the city, making it a character in its own right—a place where danger lurks around every corner.
Jade Hui emerges as a compelling protagonist, navigating the treacherous terrain with determination and resilience. As she confronts a cast of disturbing characters, including a dubious former Hollywood filmmaker and his menacing thugs, the suspense builds to a crescendo. The stakes escalate, and Hui must face adversaries far deadlier than anything she encountered in her previous posting.
Full-Tilt Boogie is a masterfully crafted crime thriller that keeps readers on the edge of their seats. Robb T. White’s writing is sharp, with a noir sensibility that enhances the dark and gritty atmosphere of the narrative. The plot unfolds with precision, delivering twists and turns that maintain a high level of suspense throughout.
In conclusion, Full-Tilt Boogie is a riveting crime novel that combines a compelling storyline with well-drawn characters and a vividly depicted setting.b T. White proves himself as a skilled storyteller in the crime fiction genre, providing readers with an immersive and thrilling experience from start to finish. This novel is a must-read for fans of intense, atmospheric crime thrillers.
--Jeyran Main, March 20, 2024
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