A novel by Carmen Noboa-Espinal
Déjà Vu Publications 2007

“Jenny Rivera is a vulnerable yet tough character. She's protective of her family and loyal to her friends. Seeing a loved one's life being eaten away by drugs; but then knowing that selling those same drugs is the reason food was on the table was tough for this young girl....” –“Locksie” review, Amazon.com, April 14, 2008

“To read Uptown Menace is to stumble into the Upper Manhattan of 25 years ago, bursting with intense life – noise, children, heat, rats, gushing hydrants, loud music, tenements, midnight cookouts on the sidewalks, the Projects, Child Protective Services, cuchifritos, gangs, drugs, romance, crack houses, big extended families... a community with a shared sense of hardship and struggle and an everpresent undercurrent of danger, and no time for dreaming.

“Carmen Noboa-Espinal is a major new voice, and I believe this is more than a remarkable work of urban fiction, it's a new way to write. And I like it a LOT.” –F. da Cruz review, Amazon.com, July 10, 2008