{"product_id":"darktown-9780349142074","title":"Darktown","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"+1\"\u003e\u003cb\u003e''A brilliant blending of crime, mystery, and American history. Terrific entertainment''\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eStephen King\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDarktown \u003c\/i\u003eis a relentlessly gripping, highly intelligent crime novel set in Atlanta in 1948, following the city''s first black police force investigating a brutal murder against all the odds.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e''Crime fiction that melds an intense plot with fully realized characters''\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eDaily Mail\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAtlanta, 1948. In this city, all crime is black and white.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn one side of the tracks are the rich, white neighbourhoods; on the other, Darktown, the African-American area guarded by the city''s first black police force of only eight men. These cops are kept near-powerless by the authorities: they can''t arrest white suspects; they can''t drive a squad car; they must operate out of a dingy basement.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen a poor black woman is killed in Darktown having been last seen in a car with a rich white man, no one seems to care except for Boggs and Smith, two black cops from vastly different backgrounds. Pressured from all sides, they will risk their jobs, the trust of their community and even their own lives to investigate her death.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTheir efforts bring them up against a brutal old-school cop, Dunlow, who has long run Darktown as his own turf - but Dunlow''s idealistic young partner, Rakestraw, is a young progressive who may be willing to make allies across colour lines . . .\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSoon to be a major TV series from Jamie Foxx and Sony Pictures Television.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA brilliant blending of crime, mystery, and American history. \u003cb\u003eTerrific entertainment\u003c\/b\u003e. * Stephen King *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSuperb\u003c\/b\u003e * Ken Follett *\u003cbr\u003eMullen blends the classic ingredients of det-fic noir with a well-researched and searing portrayal of pre-civil rights racial division. \u003cb\u003eMagnificent and shocking\u003c\/b\u003e * Sunday Times *\u003cbr\u003eOne 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 \u003cb\u003ewritten with a ferocious passion that'll knock the wind out of you\u003c\/b\u003e. * New York Times *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFascinating, grim and unsettling\u003c\/b\u003e, this is a story of violent and ingrained racism, political corruption, conspiracy and almost unbearable psychological pressure * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA terrific story\u003c\/b\u003e that raises issues that have not vanished. -- Marcel Berlins * The Times *\u003cbr\u003eFrom the very first page of \u003ci\u003eDarktown\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003cb\u003eI was stunned, mesmerized, and instantly a huge fan of Tom Mullen\u003c\/b\u003e. 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 Black Water Rising *\u003cbr\u003eA complicated crime fiction that melds an \u003cb\u003eintense \u003c\/b\u003eplot with fully realized characters * Daily Mail *\u003cbr\u003eA \u003cb\u003efine, unflinching\u003c\/b\u003e example of the increasingly widespread use of crime fiction to explore social issues; its plot is \u003cb\u003egripping\u003c\/b\u003e -- AD Miller * The Economist *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFine Southern storytelling meets hard-boiled crime\u003c\/b\u003e in a tale that connects an overlooked chapter of history to our own continuing struggles with race today * Charles Frazier, author of Cold Mountain *\u003cbr\u003eThis page-turner \u003cb\u003ereads like the best of James Ellroy\u003c\/b\u003e * Publishers Weekly *\u003cbr\u003eWith a \u003cb\u003emasterly \u003c\/b\u003esense of place, it shines a light on an uncomfortable period of American race relations which mirrors the struggles it still faces today, making it both \u003cb\u003eshocking \u003c\/b\u003eand deeply relevant * Express *\u003cbr\u003eMullen is skilled at bringing the past to life, both socially and visually . . . fans of well-written literary thrillers will want this \u003cb\u003eexpert \u003c\/b\u003eexample * Library Journal *\u003cbr\u003eI LOVED Darktown. It just grabbed and dragged me into such a brutal and little-known past. \u003cb\u003eAn ambitious and original tale of murder\u003c\/b\u003e where the heat and brutality rise off the page in a cruel and divided city * Dreda Say Mitchell *\u003cbr\u003eGripping . . . melds an \u003cb\u003eintense \u003c\/b\u003eplot with fully realised characters. * Associated Press *\u003cbr\u003eMullen is a \u003cb\u003ewonderful \u003c\/b\u003earchitect of intersecting plotlines and unexpected answers . . . \u003cb\u003eCompelling \u003c\/b\u003eworks 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 *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA hard-boiled masterpiece\u003c\/b\u003e . . brutal, harrowing, full of anger yet atmospheric, compelling and layered with hope. A hard as nails gem. * Weekend Sport *\u003cbr\u003eA novel that \u003cb\u003ecouldn't be timelier\u003c\/b\u003e. * O Magazine *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eExtremely evocative\u003c\/b\u003e in bringing the pre-civil rights South to life * Booklist *\u003cbr\u003eA gritty, \u003cb\u003ebeautifully written\u003c\/b\u003e police procedural doubling as a searing indictment of the racial tensions that then and now bedevil American society * Irish Independent *\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eDarktown \u003c\/i\u003eis also \u003cb\u003eimmensely successful \u003c\/b\u003eas both a thriller and a historical novel * Morning Star *\u003cbr\u003eThis socially resonant and morally complex literary thriller is \u003cb\u003ea vivid, smart, intricately plotted saga\u003c\/b\u003e exploring race, law enforcement, and the uneven scales of justice. It is a book to make you think. * Crime Review *\u003cbr\u003eSudden violence and a seeping sense of unease are leavened with glimpses of light; \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDarktown\u003c\/i\u003e feels like a state of mind as much as a place, fighting for better times to come\u003c\/b\u003e. * North and South Magazine *\u003cbr\u003eA terrific story that raises issues that have not yet vanished -- Marcel Berlins * The Times *\u003cbr\u003eThis novel successfully combines the pleasures of the best crime fiction with a story that anatomises the kind of racial tensions that plague America today -- Nick Rennison * The Sunday Times *","brand":"Little, Brown Book Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48733657727319,"sku":"9780349142074","price":8.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780349142074.jpg?v=1720001068","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/darktown-9780349142074","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}