Take a photo of a barcode or cover
My sincere thanks to the author, Thomas Mullen, Edelweiss, and Atria/Simon & Schuster for providing this e-galley to read and review. Darktown isto be published September 13, 2016.
The Hook - This superior review by my friend Trish captured my attention. I knew I had to read Darktown
Trish’s Review
The Line - Per the request of the publisher, Atria Books, I will not quote a line until Darktown is published. Instead I will mention a few references to black veterans returning from World War II. Not only were they not given a welcoming homecoming, they did not receive an iota of the respect that white soldiers took for granted. You can better understand where one character, Tommy Smith is coming from when it is revealed that his father never knew him. When his father returned from the first world war to his pretty wife and son and marched in a Veterans Parade proudly wearing the uniform in which he served our country, he was beaten to a pulp and hung from a tree by white men who felt he was acting uppity Negro.
The Sinker - Thomas Mullen’s Darktown is a fictional relating of the first black policemen hired in Atlanta, GA. Two of these, war veterans Lucius Boggs, a preacher’s son and Tommy Smith are those that we follow in their new roles. Their white counterparts meet them with extreme hostility. In one review these white officers are called their peers. Peers? They cannot arrest white suspects, drive squad cars, or set foot in the police headquarters. Boggs and Smith make a traffic stop when a white man hits a lamppost on their watch. A white man is driving with a black female passenger, an odd mix in this colored community. The encounter does not go well. Later they see the woman thrown out of the vehicle and rather than picking her up they pursue the white driver.
Why, you ask, would they take this job? Boggs is somewhat of a romantic not seeing the whole picture even into the few months he has been an officer. He quickly finds out that he will be arresting the people he resides with, for marital dispute, gambling, drinking and other societal problems. It seems a no-win situation. So why continue what Boggs calls “the sham of being a Negro officer”? He explains it as needing purpose.
When the black woman turns up dead, Boggs and Smith set out to find her killer, but are thwarted at every turn. This unapproved detectiving find them pushing the envelope with their superior as well becoming a thorn in the side of a veteran white, racist cop, Dunlow and his rookie partner, Rakestraw.
When I need a professional review my go-to source is Kirkus. I find their praise and criticism is balanced. However, I do not always agree with them. In the review of Darktown Kirkus states:
”The trouble is that the characters exist as signifiers of ideas rather than people. It's a given that the racist cop will have a drooping belly, and so on. And because the characters lack the specificity that would give the reader a stake in them, the various indignities and atrocities read as both unpleasant and familiar things to endure on the way to a foregone conclusion.
A great historical subject deserves better than this by-the-numbers rendition.
“
There is no question in my mind that the primary characters, both black and white were developed by Mullen and were not stick figures. I was definitely a stakeholder. I did not see the forgone conclusion that Kirkus did, and I honestly don’t understand their reference to ”by-the-numbers rendition”.
Darktown is contextually based on fact though the characters are fictional. The treatment of the black officers, use of racial slurs, the brutal racism exhibited, are tough to read but seem accurate to this era of history. Each of the four main characters tells their story and maintains their own voice.
Darktown is moody in tone and depicts Atlanta in all its grittiness. Rakestraw, “Rake”, describes the other side of his love for the South beautifully in a passage that I’ll add when the book is published.
Darktown is a page-turner, violent and raw and is one of my favorite reads of 2016.
There is a possibility that the story of this period of Atlanta’s Police Department will be continued. As much as I enjoyed Darktown I’m not certain if I need more.
The Hook - This superior review by my friend Trish captured my attention. I knew I had to read Darktown
Trish’s Review
The Line - Per the request of the publisher, Atria Books, I will not quote a line until Darktown is published. Instead I will mention a few references to black veterans returning from World War II. Not only were they not given a welcoming homecoming, they did not receive an iota of the respect that white soldiers took for granted. You can better understand where one character, Tommy Smith is coming from when it is revealed that his father never knew him. When his father returned from the first world war to his pretty wife and son and marched in a Veterans Parade proudly wearing the uniform in which he served our country, he was beaten to a pulp and hung from a tree by white men who felt he was acting uppity Negro.
The Sinker - Thomas Mullen’s Darktown is a fictional relating of the first black policemen hired in Atlanta, GA. Two of these, war veterans Lucius Boggs, a preacher’s son and Tommy Smith are those that we follow in their new roles. Their white counterparts meet them with extreme hostility. In one review these white officers are called their peers. Peers? They cannot arrest white suspects, drive squad cars, or set foot in the police headquarters. Boggs and Smith make a traffic stop when a white man hits a lamppost on their watch. A white man is driving with a black female passenger, an odd mix in this colored community. The encounter does not go well. Later they see the woman thrown out of the vehicle and rather than picking her up they pursue the white driver.
Why, you ask, would they take this job? Boggs is somewhat of a romantic not seeing the whole picture even into the few months he has been an officer. He quickly finds out that he will be arresting the people he resides with, for marital dispute, gambling, drinking and other societal problems. It seems a no-win situation. So why continue what Boggs calls “the sham of being a Negro officer”? He explains it as needing purpose.
When the black woman turns up dead, Boggs and Smith set out to find her killer, but are thwarted at every turn. This unapproved detectiving find them pushing the envelope with their superior as well becoming a thorn in the side of a veteran white, racist cop, Dunlow and his rookie partner, Rakestraw.
When I need a professional review my go-to source is Kirkus. I find their praise and criticism is balanced. However, I do not always agree with them. In the review of Darktown Kirkus states:
”The trouble is that the characters exist as signifiers of ideas rather than people. It's a given that the racist cop will have a drooping belly, and so on. And because the characters lack the specificity that would give the reader a stake in them, the various indignities and atrocities read as both unpleasant and familiar things to endure on the way to a foregone conclusion.
A great historical subject deserves better than this by-the-numbers rendition.
“
There is no question in my mind that the primary characters, both black and white were developed by Mullen and were not stick figures. I was definitely a stakeholder. I did not see the forgone conclusion that Kirkus did, and I honestly don’t understand their reference to ”by-the-numbers rendition”.
Darktown is contextually based on fact though the characters are fictional. The treatment of the black officers, use of racial slurs, the brutal racism exhibited, are tough to read but seem accurate to this era of history. Each of the four main characters tells their story and maintains their own voice.
Darktown is moody in tone and depicts Atlanta in all its grittiness. Rakestraw, “Rake”, describes the other side of his love for the South beautifully in a passage that I’ll add when the book is published.
Darktown is a page-turner, violent and raw and is one of my favorite reads of 2016.
There is a possibility that the story of this period of Atlanta’s Police Department will be continued. As much as I enjoyed Darktown I’m not certain if I need more.