Lightning Men (Darktown) - Hardcover

Mullen, Thomas

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1501138790 ISBN 13: 9781501138799

Publisher: 37 Ink, 2017

Synopsis

"Writes with a ferocious passion that'll knock the wind out of you." --The New York Times, on Darktown

"Reads like the best of James Ellroy." --Publishers Weekly (starred review), on Darktown

"Mullen is a wonderful architect of intersecting plotlines and unexpected answers." --The Washington Post, on Darktown

From the acclaimed author of The Last Town on Earth comes the gripping follow-up to Darktown, a "combustible procedural that will knock the wind out of you" (The New York Times).

Officer Denny Rakestraw and "Negro Officers" Lucius Boggs and Tommy Smith have their hands full in an overcrowded and rapidly changing Atlanta. It's 1950 and racial tensions are simmering as black families, including Smith's sister, begin moving into formerly all-white neighborhoods. When Rake's brother-in-law launches a scheme to rally the Ku Klux Klan to "save" their neighborhood, his efforts spiral out of control, forcing Rake to choose between loyalty to family or the law.

Across town, Boggs and Smith try to shut down the supply of white lightning and drugs into their territory, finding themselves up against more powerful foes than they'd expected. Battling corrupt cops and ex-cons, Nazi brown shirts and rogue Klansmen, the officers are drawn closer to the fires that threaten to consume the city once again.

With echoes of Walter Mosley and Dennis Lehane, Mullen demonstrates in Lightning Men why he's celebrated for writing crime fiction "with a nimble sense of history...quick on its feet and vividly drawn" (Dallas Morning News).

About this title

Review:

From the very first page of Darktown, I was stunned, mesmerized, and instantly a huge fan of Tom Mullen. Beyond the history and the thrilling mystery, the book's soul lies in the burgeoning partnership (and dare I say friendship) at the center of the book. It's a reminder of the ties that cut across race in America. There is nothing I love more in a book than hope.--Attica Locke "author of Pleasantville "

Fine Southern storytelling meets hard-boiledcrime in a tale that connects an overlooked chapter of history to our owncontinuing struggles with race today.--Charles Frazier "author of Cold Mountain "

PRAISE FOR DARKTOWN BY THOMAS MULLEN:

"A brilliant blending of crime, mystery, and American history (Atlanta, just after WWII). Terrific entertainment."--Stephen King

"LIGHTNING MEN proves the promise: Thomas Mullen is writing the most compelling new series in crime fiction. This is an extraordinarily talented writer working at the top of his game -- each character, plot thread, scene, and sentence is a carefully crafted gem. LIGHTNING MEN and DARKTOWN are must-read novels."--Michael Koryta, New York Times bestselling author

"Mullen again brilliantly combines a suspenseful plot with a searing look at a racist [1950s] South."--Publishers Weekly, starred review

"It deserves a place on every suspense reader's list."--Library Journal, Starred Review

"Mullen effectively uses the police procedural format to shine a light on the daily indignities and violence blacks suffered in the pre-civil rights South, while delivering a plot that never lets up on suspense."--Booklist, Starred Review

"A multilayered thriller . . . an epic of mid-20th century American transformation."--Kirkus Reviews

"One incendiary image ignites the next in this highly combustible procedural, set in the city's rigidly segregated black neighborhoods during the pre-civil-rights era and written with a ferocious passion that'll knock the wind out of you."--New York Times Book Review

"Mullen is a wonderful architect of intersecting plotlines and unexpected answers. But you also want justice, which you know neither Mullen nor our own time can provide...Compelling works of fiction such as Mullen's walk a fine line between art that reminds us of horrors past and art that trades on them with pieces too unfinished to play with."--Washington Post

Book Description:

Lightning Men follows the multi-award-nominated, highly acclaimed crime debut Darktown into a city on the brink of huge and violent change - and full of secrets.

About this edition

• Publisher: 37 Ink
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1501138790
• ISBN 13: 9781501138799
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 374