Thanks to HMH for the ARC!

4.5 stars

Wow. This book was one wild ride from start to finish! The back cover copy says this book is for fans of the films Sorry to Bother You (which I loved) and Wolf of Wall Street (which I hated), so I didn't quite know what to expect. But I really enjoyed it!

BLACK BUCK follows Darren Vender, a 22-year-old Starbucks barista who, one morning at work, convinces a random white guy to buy a completely different drink than his usual. That random white guy turns out to be the CEO of a tech startup in the same building as the Starbucks, and Darren's unique sales technique eventually lands him a job there.

After a pretty brutal hazing week and a crash course in sales techniques, Darren, now called Buck by his new coworkers, is ready to take the sales world by storm. But in doing so, Buck starts alienating himself from his friends and family in Bed-Stuy. After a tragedy at home, Buck realizes he wants to do something different and starts training and recruiting other POC in the sales techniques that got him where he is. But doing so requires alienating the very people who got him where he is, causing some serious problems.

This book is fast-paced and entertaining, throwing the reader into the high-intensity world of NYC startups, right alongside Darren. The book is presented as a memoir, with Darren narrating (and providing sales advice and techniques to the reader) and letting people in on his tumultuous journey.

I also really enjoyed the journey that Darren went on. He started out as a Starbucks barista, pretty content where he was in life, to becoming a high-powered salesman who always wanted more. It was interesting to see how he changed throughout the course of the book, and not always for the better.

I definitely recommend this book! It's really well-written with fully developed characters and a crazy plot that twists and turns all over the place