Alphonso Johnson

Surrender Tomorrow Alphonso Johnson

This novel, Surrender Tomorrow, is about a long bus trip where people are shown who they really are. They are upwardly mobile blacks who do not always make the best decisions. One of the main characters is Francois, who has one foot in the crime world and the other in the legit one.

Francois has family that he has to impress, like his father, back home in Orlando, Florida, who look up to him. However, the mob is chasing him, and they are curious bunch with funny names like Cool Breeze from the old Blaxploitation movies from the seventies. And there is Surrender Tomorrow herself, who is a real woman, but you are never sure if she is not mobbed up.

This novel started out by being a book of short stories. Right when you think you figured out who Francois's father is and his involvement with a young woman, you get pulled right back into the caper. It is a ride of sorts that, when you read about crimes happening, one seldom guesses the characters. These are the characters, and they are a comical bunch.

It goes to show how Francois's family comes to grips with having a son who might be doing the wrong thing and traditional folkways of new immigrants migrating to America. For some people, they are willing to risk all for love, others money.