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Darktown (2016)

by Thomas Mullen

Other authors: See the other authors section.

Series: Darktown (1)

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5844840,408 (4.02)1 / 140
"Responding to orders from on high, the Atlanta Police Department is forced to hire its first black officers, including war veterans Lucius Boggs and Tommy Smith. The newly minted policemen are met with deep hostility by their white peers: they aren't allowed to arrest white suspects, drive squad cars, or set foot in the police headquarters. When a black woman who was last seen in a car driven by a white man turns up dead, Boggs and Smith suspect white cops are behind it. Their investigation sets them up against a brutal cop, Dunlow, who has long run the neighborhood as his own, and his partner, Rakestraw, a young progressive who may or may not be willing to make allies across color lines"--Amazon.com.… (more)
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 Book Discussion : Darktown by Thomas Mullen: Chat11 unread / 11Andrew-theQM, March 2018

» See also 140 mentions

English (43)  Swedish (2)  German (2)  French (1)  All languages (48)
Showing 1-5 of 43 (next | show all)
hist-fict
  vorefamily | Feb 22, 2024 |
Atlanta PD hires its first Black officers in 1948 to relieve some political pressure, but their authority means little, even on the streets of their own beat: they can’t arrest white suspects, they can’t have a squad car, and they’re not even allowed in police HQ; instead, they operate out of the basement of the local Y.
Black officers Boggs and Smith come from very different backgrounds but are navigating the frustrating limitations of their new career together as partners. When a Black woman last seen in a car with a white man in their neighborhood is found fatally beaten, it isn’t a huge priority for the white cops to investigate. Boggs soon learns that the fact that they witnessed the victim in the car of a white man has been erased from the report he wrote that night - and it isn’t long before he learns the man is a former police officer. The partners put their lives on the line to investigate the young woman’s death, pitting them against officer Dunlow, a racist old school cop who is looking for any way to pin a crime on the PD’s newest recruits. Dunlow’s young partner Rakestraw isn’t ready to make waves but he is willing to make allies across the racial divide in order to bring down a dirty cop.

Darktown is an incredibly atmospheric historical fiction / crime novel, capturing the era and racial tension in the city as well as complex character relationships brilliantly. ( )
  KyraLeseberg | Dec 2, 2022 |
This is becoming my favourite kind of book, a period mystery that brings the past to life. In this case the setting is Atlanta in the 1950s, and the book focuses on the first black officers in the Atlanta PD. The book has a duo at its centre - two young officers, one black, one white, both trying to balance their jobs, their consciences and the political realities of the world they live in. They're believably flawed and the mystery as it unfolds is satisfying and credible. All in all a really enjoyable read and a fascinating glimpse into the past. ( )
  whatmeworry | Apr 9, 2022 |
In Darktown, Thomas Mullen takes the reader back to a shameful period in America’s long history of racial inequality: the segregated Jim Crow South—specifically, post-WW2 Atlanta, Georgia. It’s 1948 and the Atlanta Police Department has been pressured into hiring their first black officers. Not surprisingly, the move has galvanized anger and resistance, and drawn pledges to “make things right” from the APD’s white contingent. One summer night, two of the new black officers, Lucius Boggs and Tommy Smith, are patrolling on foot in a segregated black community when a car being driven erratically knocks over a light pole. The driver is a middle-aged white man, his young female passenger, who appears in some distress, is black. As the driver flees the scene the woman jumps from the slow-moving car and disappears into the night. Boggs and Smith have called for some white officers to come and help with the arrest (black officers are not allowed to arrest white people—just one of many ludicrous and demeaning prohibitions placed on their actions). Lionel Dunlow and Dennis “Rake” Rakestraw arrive, and Boggs and Smith watch in disgust and disbelief as Dunlow, the senior officer, chats briefly with the driver before letting him go. But the situation soon turns grave: a few days later the same young woman turns up dead, shot at close range, the body left in a vacant lot where the black community dumps its garbage. To those who care, it’s obvious the last person she was with was the man driving the car. But since white police don’t care about a murdered black woman, solving the mystery of Lily Ellsworth’s death falls to Boggs and Smith, who are forced by the department’s racist policies to sneak around and lie about what they’re up to because if the wrong people find out, they could lose more than just their jobs. Over the next several weeks, during the sweltering summer of 1948, Boggs and Smith risk their necks in the pursuit of justice for Lily, in the process confronting corrupt cops with secrets to hide, unhelpful bureaucrats and a notorious “madam,” just to name a few. Their investigation is dangerous and labyrinthine, and the solution to the mystery exposes the moral rot of Atlanta society and reaches into the upper echelons of white power. But truth is only part of the answer, and for Boggs and Smith the justice they seek proves to be somewhat more elusive. Thomas Mullen’s narrative comes spiced with the explicit language and repulsive attitudes one would expect to encounter in Jim-Crow era Atlanta. But there is no point writing about that period if you’re not going to strive for authenticity, which Mullen has done with great success. Darktown, a complex novel but a quick read, is gripping from the first page and provides a salient lesson on the racial tensions that continue to afflict North American society. ( )
  icolford | Mar 13, 2022 |
Reminds me a bit of Dennis Lehane's historical novels. Really excellent. ( )
  tsmom1219 | Feb 24, 2022 |
Showing 1-5 of 43 (next | show all)
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Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Mullen, Thomasprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Holland, AndréNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

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Epigraph
"I must tell you, it was not easy for me to raise my right hand and say, 'I, Willard Strickland, a Negro, do solemnly swear to perform the duties of a Negro policeman.'"

--Officer Willard Strickland, Atlanta Police Department, Retired, in a 1977 speech recalling his 1948 induction as one of the city's first eight African American officers.
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For Jenny
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It was nearing midnight when one of the new lampposts on Auburn Avenue achieved the unfortunate fate of being the first to be hit by a car.
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"Responding to orders from on high, the Atlanta Police Department is forced to hire its first black officers, including war veterans Lucius Boggs and Tommy Smith. The newly minted policemen are met with deep hostility by their white peers: they aren't allowed to arrest white suspects, drive squad cars, or set foot in the police headquarters. When a black woman who was last seen in a car driven by a white man turns up dead, Boggs and Smith suspect white cops are behind it. Their investigation sets them up against a brutal cop, Dunlow, who has long run the neighborhood as his own, and his partner, Rakestraw, a young progressive who may or may not be willing to make allies across color lines"--Amazon.com.

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