Jason Reynolds moved to Brooklyn, New York when he first started his writing career. This heavily influenced his writing style. He mainly writes about black culture in cities. Long Way Down is about Will, a kid who wants to avenge his brother's death by killing the guy who killed his brother. In certain neighborhoods, shootings happen a lot. In New York City, this happens sometimes.. Jason Reynolds does a very good job at explaining this, especially if you do not know a lot about this type of thing.