Willie Bledsoe, only in his twenties, is totally burned out. After
leaving behind a snug berth at Tuskegee Institute to join the Student
Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in Detroit to try to change the world,
Willie quickly grows disenchanted and returns home to Alabama to try to
come to grips about his time in the cultural whirlwind. But the surprise
return of his Vietnam veteran brother in the spring of 1967 gives him a
chance to drive a load of stolen guns back up to the Motor City, which
would give him enough money to jump-start his dream of moving to New
York. There, on the opening day of the 1968 baseball season--postponed
two days in deference to the funeral of Martin Luther King, Jr.--Willie
learns some terrifying news: the Detroit police are still investigating
the last unsolved murder from the bloody, apocalyptic race riot of the
previous summer, and a Detroit cop named Frank Doyle will not rest until
the case is solved. And Willie is his prime suspect. Bill Morris' rich
and thrilling new novel sets Doyle's hunt against the tumultuous history
of one of America's most fascinating cities, as Doyle and Willie
struggle with disillusionment, revenge, and forgiveness--and the
realization that justice is rarely attainable, and rarely just.
