Random Family by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc Harper Perennial $105 Journalist LeBlanc spent 11 years immersed in the lives of a Puerto Rican family in the Bronx. Her story centres on two girls, Jessica and Coco, who we first meet in their teens. Jessica is infatuated with a successful young heroin dealer, Boy George, who has a fleet of expensive cars and holds a yacht party for his friends. Coco is in love with Jessica's little brother, Cesar. They stick closer to the street, but all four are caught in a precarious dance between survival and death. LeBlanc recreates gangsta glamour, gold-drenched drug dealers, and street-corner society. Friends get murdered. The DEA and FBI investigate Boy George. Cesar becomes a fugitive. Jessica and Coco endure homelessness, pregnancy, betrayal, the heartbreaking separation of prison and poverty.
