Michael Grant Jaffe captures the chaos of the protagonist's sudden downturn in his personal life, dealing with an ex-wife who makes his life miserable, and trying to keep his children happy in the midst of it all. He finds release for his frustrations through the violence of his bookie job as he tries to make sense of what happened to his life and hold onto his morality.

When Blackness Was a Virtue is Michael Grant Jaffe's fourth novel. He's also the author of Whirlwind, Skateaway, and Dance Real Slow, which was adapted into the Twentieth Century Fox Film A Cool, Dry Place.