African Americans - Fiction & Literature, Gay & Lesbian Fiction, Family & Friendship - Fiction, Crimes - Fiction

No One in the World

Name: No One in the World
Author: E. Lynn Harris
ISBN: 9781439178102

by E. Lynn Harris, RM Johnson

Available on Bookshop Write a review

Books.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.

Overview

E. Lynn Harris and RM Johnson—two powerful voices of a generation—unite with an insightful and emotional project that tackles themes of family, loyalty and identity.

Cobi Winslow, a handsome, well-educated district attorney, knows nothing about the life of his estranged twin brother, Eric Reed, a career criminal raised by the foster care system. Following their parents’ death, Cobi searches for and finds his brother, hoping to regain lost years. Soon thereafter, Eric’s former prison cellmate, Blac, becomes entangled in the twins’ lives. And as the clock runs down both on Blac’s efforts to pay a deadly creditor and on Cobi’s attempts to save the family company, rash moves are executed, family and friendship bonds are tested, and life-altering sacrifices are made.

About the Author, E. Lynn Harris

E. Lynn Harris wrote twelve novels. Several of his novels made bestseller lists, including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. He died in July 2009 at the age of fifty-four.

RM Johnson is the author of nine novels, including bestsellers The Harris Family and The Million Dollar Divorce. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia. Visit him at RMnovels.com.

Biography

Jackie Collins has kept the literary romance world well stocked with claws-out, upper-crust melodramas. But until E. Lynn Harris came along, the genre lacked a little ... diversity. Harris brought diversity and then some, with his now-trademark "buppie" characters, questions about sexuality, and hopelessly (but deliciously) complicated relationships.

Written from both male and female points of view and featuring recurring characters, Harris's books can be read as a veritable soap opera. The cycle begins with Invisible Life, the story of Raymond Winston Tyler Jr. -- a character Harris has acknowledged bears many similarities to himself. Raymond grapples with his sexuality, developing a relationship with a man he meets in law school and jeopardizing one with his girlfriend. His coming-of-age continues over the next two novels in the trilogy, Just As I Am and Abide with Me, as he struggles with losses of friends to AIDS, the ending of a relationship with an actress, and the beginning of a new one with a man.

Another recurring Harris character, Basil Henderson, is the man readers love to hate. An arrogant, badass football player-turned-sports agent, Basil beds both women and men until he meets up with his female (and later, male) counterparts. His story is mainly told in Not a Day Goes By and Any Way the Wind Blows.

It's true that in the Basil Henderson books, Harris is taking a saucy cue or two from his female romance novel predecessors; but the author claims to be more heavily influenced by writers such as Maya Angelou and Terry McMillan, and it would be misleading to pigeonhole his books as purely guilty pleasures. Particularly in his earlier books, Harris brought to a mainstream readership the issues that many gay and bisexual men face, and added a new voice to the portrayal of black, upwardly mobile characters. And in books such as If This World Were Mine and the young adult novel Diaries of a Light-Skinned Colored Boy, he has addressed issues of race and self-realization.

Given his themes, it may seem surprising that the majority of Harris's readers are straight women; but it's also a testament to his ability to write about love and self-discovery with humor, not to mention a little steaminess.

Good To Know

Harris worked as a salesman for IBM, and earned a following by self-publishing Invisible Life before getting a book deal.

He was tapped to write the screenplay for an update of the 1976 movie Sparkle, to be produced by Whitney Houston's production company. But with the death of Aaliyah, who was attached to star, the project's future is uncertain.

He lived most of his adult life in Chicago, Illinois.

Reviews

There are no reviews yet. Log in to write one.

Editorials

Publishers Weekly

Cobi Winslow is a powerful attorney who, having been adopted by a wealthy family, has lived a privileged life. However, discoveries of a long-lost, incarcerated twin brother, Eric, and a distressing clause in his parents' will set in motion a series of events that will threaten everything he has known. To further complicate the story, Cobi struggles to keep his homosexuality a secret for the sake of the family business, his reputation, and that of his lover Tyler, a state senator. When Cobi reunites with his brother, they bond, but Cobi's secret life leaves him vulnerable to blackmail by Eric's former cellmate, Blac, who has ten days to pay off a drug debt or else be killed. If this sounds convoluted, that's because it is. Harris' posthumous final novel, a collaboration with RM Johnson, is a mishmash of clichés, clunky plot devices, and improbable interactions among flat and unbelievable characters. As a result, the story, which admirably attempts to address real issues—belonging, sexuality, and the age-old nature versus nurture debate—falls short. (June)

From the Publisher

"All that is good and all that troubles African-American life weaves through the . . . novel. . . . Sure to appeal to Harris fans." —-Kirkus

Kirkus Reviews

All that is good and all that troubles African-American life weaves through the late bestselling author Harris' (In My Father's House, 2010, etc.)final novel, composed in collaboration with Johnson (The Million Dollar Demise, 2009, etc.).

Cobi Winslow is a hard-charging state's attorney in Chicago, the adopted son of a wealthy manufacturer of African-American hair-care products. But Cobi's life changes dramatically after his parents are killed in a plane crash. He is left guilty and confused, having learned only days before the accident that he has a twin brother, a child not adopted because his father only wanted one son. Cobi's relationship with his father had been troubled since his father discovered Cobi in a homosexual tryst with a high-school classmate. Now in love with a local politician, Cobi remains closeted. Cobi soon learns his father's will has a condition. He will inherit millions in stock and trust-fund money only if Cobi marries before he turns 34. The stock in limbo is essential to maintain family control, as Cobi's sister, Sissy, a business whiz and interim CEO, discovers. Sissy hatches a plan to arrange a marriage for Cobi, but Cobi is focused on finding his twin and,deus ex machina, Cobi stumbles on his brother, Eric, while doing legal work at a prison where Eric is finishing a sentence. Much to Sissy's dismay, Cobi invites Eric to live with him, but that doesn't stop Sissy from adding a marriage candidate to the household, Austen Greer, a realtor in financial straits. The narrative moves quickly, but the characters and setting seem stereotypical. The Winslows move in a prosperous, influential and educated African-American social milieu. There's much mention of skin tone, brand names and trendy restaurants. Conversely, Eric, and his prison friend, Blac, the catalyst for the story's conclusion, are poorly educated, involved with drugs or products of a failed system. Chapters are short, many presented in the first-person from Cobi's point of view, and there's a conclusion with a surprising twist, albeit one that leaves a plot point adrift.

Sure to appeal to Harris fans.