Historical
fiction at its best. Thomas Mullen presents a very real, not-too distant past
of post-WWII where, as more of a PR event than actual progressive behavior, the
Atlanta PD recruits African-American patrolmen, but denies them any actual
authority. What happens in Darktown
is standard noir fare – a man out of his element, a complex murder mystery,
corrupt power – but Mullen’s setting is distinct and unique, not to mention
depressing in ways that pre-Civil Rights tend to be.
Mullen’s
writing style is a pleasure to read. He creates fantastically-believable, yet
flawed as all humans are, characters that are ripe and real, that both dream
and are subdued. For this setting in the
Atlanta summertime, the sun, and its heat, is just as much of a presence as are
the story’s heroes and victims. Such as officers Boggs and Smith, two of the
new Atlanta patrolmen who call Darktown their beat, who must deal with racism
and social inadequacies, not only from the scores of white policemen, but also
the community they desperately want to protect and serve. There is a fine line
in playing the role of guardian and savior, a balance Boggs and Smith must
learn, especially as they begin to look into the murder of a young
African-American woman.
Mullen
takes the reader both on a tour of 1950s Atlanta as well as into the
justifications of Darktown’s central
characters - Smith and Boggs, as well their white counterparts, Rakestraw and
Dunlow – whose inner drives, and demons, are not as simple as black and white. Murder
may always be a dark deed, but is justice always bright? Mullen, in a most
excellent story, crafts his answer.
Give Darktown a read!
As Always.
theJOE
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