I Spoke To A Cockroach

DeAndre Jefferson

Publisher: Spines

Summary

In the cold, unforgiving confines of a Chicago prison, Malik waits for his death, alone but for a single, unassuming companion—a cockroach. Wrongfully convicted of a crime he didn’t commit, his life has been reduced to a dimly lit cell, where the walls close in and the whispers of the electric chair echo through the darkened halls. 

In his final days, Malik speaks to the cockroach, pouring out the depths of his soul, unraveling the haunting memories of his life on the streets, his shattered dreams, and the horrors of an indifferent system that condemned him before he even had a chance.

The pages of I Spoke To A Cockroach are filled with the raw, unflinching reality of Malik's existence. His story is a journey through the most harrowing corners of the human experience—his childhood in the violent streets of Chicago, the poverty that held him captive, the betrayal of those he trusted, and the racial bigotry that sealed his fate. 

Every moment is recounted with a graphic, gritty intensity that pulls the reader into his world of hopelessness, a world where survival is a daily battle and justice is a cruel illusion.

As the clock ticks down, Malik's last conversations are not with family or friends, but with the cockroach—the silent witness to his suffering, the keeper of his truth. Together, they relive his life, from the moments of fleeting love to the agonizing betrayals that shaped his path. 

I Spoke To A Cockroach is a psychologically horrific exploration of one man’s descent into darkness—a story of lost innocence, systemic injustice, and the haunting realization that even in death, some voices will never be heard. Prepare to be gripped, to be unsettled, and to confront the unsettling truth of a society that fails its own.

Available since: 10/29/2024.

Print length: 308 pages.

Contemporary Fiction

Other books that might interest you

Accidental Baby For My Brother's...

Callie Stevens

My brother's best friend should come with a warning label . . . Never give him your V card. 
 
 
 
Locke doesn't do romantic entanglements that last more than a single song. He doesn't need a girlfriend, especially a young, inexperienced one. 
 
 
 
No man that talented and good looking wants to commit to a nobody like me. When finally given the chance to roll in the sheets with him I can't pass it up. 
 
 
 
He rocks my world the same way he rocks the stage, hard and with passion. It was only supposed to be one night, but fate had other plans. 
 
 
 
I gave him my V card, but he gifted me something in return that neither of us expected. 
 
 
 
Now it's time I tell this Rockstar he's about to be a daddy . . . 
 
 
 
Contains mature themes.

Show book

Marked by the Hockey Team (Gay...

Archer Vale

24 hours in the airport. 24 hours to betray my husband. 
An avalanche blocked the roads. Our ski trip has taken a bizarre, nasty turn. 
It started on the plane. I sat in the middle of a college hockey team traveling for a photoshoot. The air was thick with their deep, vibrating voices. A musky scent flowed into my lungs… 
I did something disgusting. I hope nobody noticed. 
Now we’ve arrived, and we’re trapped at the airport. The hockey guys keep looking at me. One of them wants me to buy them dinner. 
We have to spend the night here with them. I’m all jittery. My mind is filled with strange, uncomfortable thoughts. 
I shouldn’t do this. I need to stay strong. I need to resist. 
--- 
CONTAINS EXPLICIT GAY SEXUAL CONTENT. 
For exclusive stories, visit www.ArcherVale.com.

Show book

Night Hawke

Gwyn McNamee

Two nights. No names. No expectations. A lifetime of consequences. 
Graduating from law school means finally stepping into my destined role in the Hawke empire. 
But before I head home to NOLA to settle into the family's multi-billion-dollar business, I need one night to celebrate. 
Ideally with the redhead who won’t stop eye-f-cking me from across the bar. 
I never intend it to turn into an entire weekend in bed with her. 
Yet, somehow, that’s exactly where we end up. 
There are only two rules—no names and no expectations. 
Easy to agree to at the time. 
Impossible to abide by once I realize how incredible she is. 
One night isn’t enough. 
Not even two are. 
A lifetime won’t be. 
We fell into the unexpected, and it will change everything. 
Night Hawke is the prequel to The Hawke Family Second Generation Series. Grab this steamy story about a two-night stand between a billionaire heir attorney and the mystery woman running from her life who becomes so much more. 
*Night Hawke starts the second generation of the Hawke Family but it it not necessary to read the first generation*

Show book

Enoch Soames - Incredibly...

Max Beerbohm

Sir Henry Maximilian "Max" Beerbohm was born on 24th August 1872 in Kensington, London.
Beerbohm was educated at Charterhouse School and Merton College, Oxford and by now was already writing and drawing to a professional standard.
By 1894, having developed his personality as a dandy and humorist, and a rising star in English letters, he left Oxford without a degree but began to publish, initially in the Yellow Book.
Having been interviewed by George Bernard Shaw in 1898 he him as drama critic for the Saturday Review, on whose staff he remained until 1910.
In 1904 Beerbohm met the American actress Florence Kahn. In 1910 after marrying they moved to Rapallo in Italy, partly as an escape from social demands and the expense of London. Here they remained for the rest of their lives except for the duration of World War I and World War II, when they returned to Britain, and occasional trips to England to take part in exhibitions of his drawings.
From 1935 onwards, he was an occasional but popular radio broadcaster for the BBC. His wit expressed in his caricatures and his letters with a carefully blended humour—a gentle admonishing of the excesses of the day—whilst remaining firmly tongue in cheek.
Beerbohm's best-known works include A Christmas Garland (1912), a parody of literary styles, Seven Men (1919), which includes "Enoch Soames", the tale of a poet who makes a deal with the Devil to find out how posterity will remember him, and Zuleika Dobson (1911), a satire of undergraduate life at Oxford. This was his only novel, but was nonetheless very successful.
Beerbohm's career as a professional caricaturist began when he was twenty: in 1892 The Strand Magazine published thirty-six of his drawings of 'Club Types'. Their publication dealt, Beerbohm said, "a great, an almost mortal blow to my modesty".
He remembered: "The most perfect caricature is that which, on a small surface, with the simplest means, most accurately exaggerates, to the highest point, the peculiarities of a human being, at his most characteristic moment, in the most beautiful manner."
His Rapallo caricatures were mostly of late Victorian and Edwardian political, literary and theatrical personalities. The court of Edward VII had a special place as a subject for affectionate ridicule. Many of Beerbohm's later caricatures were of himself.
Beerbohm was knighted by George VI in 1939; it was thought that this mark of esteem had been delayed by his mockery in 1911 of the king's parents, about whom he had written a satiric verse, "Ballade Tragique a Double Refrain".
Max Beerbohn died on 20th May 1956 at the Villa Chiara, a private hospital in Rapallo, Italy. He was 83. He was cremated in Genoa and his ashes interred at St. Paul's Cathedral on 29th June 1956.

Show book

Babar the King

Jean de Brunhoff

This audiobook about Babar and his family follows the elephants as they build a magnificent city: Celesteville. Life is peaceful and contented, everyone has a job to do, and celebrations are frequent. But one fateful day a snake bites the Old Lady and Babar fears that he may lose his oldest friend.

Show book

Seeking Patience - Heartwarming...

Josie Riviera

Do you love British inspirational Regency romance? Seeking Patience is a faith-filled, clean, sweet, and wholesome story. Fall in love with heartwarming romance filled with delightful characters, Romany Gypsies, faith in God, and the promise of a second chance.
From USA Today bestselling author Josie Riviera comes the third heart-warming novel in the Romany Gypsy Seeking Series.
Do people prove their worth by strength, or by character?
From USA Today bestselling author Josie Riviera comes the third heart-warming novel in the Romany Gypsy Seeking Series. Half-Romany, half-English lord, he lives a perilous Gypsy life … until a sweet English rose saves his life, and perhaps his soul. Widowed by a cruel husband, she's given up all hope of love. Brought together in peril, they dare to reach for a brighter future together. Luca Boldor, Romany leader, lives a nomad’s life in Regency England with his Gypsy caravan. Believing his noble father abandoned him at birth, he refuses to acknowledge his English blood, or live a settled life.
But when a vicious attack by a rival leaves him bleeding on an English lady's doorstep, he has no choice but to accept her help. Her gentle faith stirs his heart in a way he has long denied. Lady Patience Blakwell, widowed countess, lives in near poverty. Her husband's heir uses threats to keep her from demanding her rightful inheritance. With a few faithful servants, she exists quietly in the country, only her faith keeping her strong … until the day a bold, handsome Gypsy collapses in her hall. He's unlike any man she's ever known, and she'll confront any subterfuge to keep him safe. But when a secret from Lady Patience's past emerges, Luca must face his own past, or lose her and all hope of love.
Will this strong man humble himself to open his heart for his lady?

Show book