From the acclaimed author of "the most compelling new series in crime
fiction" (Michael Koryta, New York Times bestselling author) comes "a
sharply observed novel" (New York Times) that explores race, law
enforcement, and justice in mid-century Atlanta.
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 "expands the
boundaries of crime fiction, weaving in eye-opening details from our
checkered history" (Chicago Tribune).
