Known as M.D. by his associates, as Bam Bam Daniels on the cage fighting circuit, and as Doc by his little sister Gemma, McCutcheon Daniels is a 17-year-old cage fighter who fought his way into being the best. A map of scars across his flesh tell the tale of a violent life lived, clawing his way out of the ghetto of Detroit, determined not to follow in his father’s footsteps. His father, Damien “Demon” Daniels, “washed out of pro boxing and then fell into an abyss of crime, drugs, gangs, and whores” (5); now he’s in Jentles Penitentiary, nicknamed DT—Devil’s Toilet—for its reputation as one of the most violent and inhumane prisons in the United States.
While others could count photography, music, poetry, painting, or graphic design as their gifts, it is M.D.’s gift to destroy people. Bu he longs for a different life, one where he can help people, heal and protect them—“make them feel safe and secure in a way that he never was” (46). Being a warrior and living by a code of honor, strength, humility, and respect is his church.
Now M.D. works as Agent ZERO XI, performing covert missions for the U.S. government to keep the world a safer place. With his handler, Colonel Reginald Stanzer, M.D. serves justice, living by the principle that he will not stand idly by while the strong prey on the weak. If a mission is not honorable, M.D. refuses to take it on. His number one rule: no killing. Although M.D. is an expert in the art of hurt, he refuses to take another person’s life.
But everyone has a weakness, and M.D.’s is love; he loves his little sister and he loves his girlfriend Kaitlyn Cummings. The heart wants what the heart wants and rarely cares when the mind lodges complaint or caution, so when their safety is threatened by one of Detroit’s most vicious gangs, M.D. makes a deal with the devil and finds himself in the Devil’s Toilet. Here, he discovers that DT prisoners function like Ivy League engineers—able to fashion anything into a shiv. He also sees cruelty from another angle and realizes he has become a pawn in a cruel game, one in which the guards are complicit and the warden, Major Krewls is especially twisted.
In this violent world, M.D. is completely alone, without anyone to trust–even Stanzer seems to have abandoned him. Whether he will survive the cruelty with his honor and his soul restored remain for the reader to discover. The plot takes some interesting turns and features several nail-biting and gruesome moments on its way to a surprising conclusion.
Noble Warrior by Alan Lawrence Sitomer teaches readers about demonstrating perseverance, honor, brains, bravery, and goodness. It also teaches fear’s power. Nothing more than energy, fear ultimately boils down to choice; it can either propel or devastate a person depending on how that person chooses to channel it. Finally, in defining what it means to be noble, Sitomer reveals that sometimes good people have to do bad things.
- Posted by Donna