Set in 1969, an old African American church deacon kills a drug dealer on his own turf. Riveting story involving the deacon, the dealer, the witnesses, and others that are living in the neighborhood or become/are involved.

I love this book. Within a few pages I settled in with the characters on the benches at the flagpole, gossiping and absorbing the community history and watching as a shocking event unfolds. I was reminded of the first season of The Wire where there was humor to leaven the trials and burdens and even the bad guys were somehow likable. The narrative is straightforward, the dialogue musical . McBride conveys his care and sympathy with his characters without letting them off the hook.

It is September of 1969 and the world is changing at a rapid pace. A man has just walked on the moon, Woodstock has rewritten music history, and the New York Mets are about to win the World Series. But for the residents of Cause Houses, a housing project near the abandoned docks of Brooklyn, the changes are of a much more threatening nature. The amount of drugs in their midst, with the attendant participation of organized crime, has recently exploded, replacing the more petty forms of graft and corruption the neighborhood has tolerated for decades. So, when an elderly drunk known to all as Sportcoat shoots a young drug dealer who he used to coach in baseball and teach in Sunday School, it sets in motion a dizzying array of actions and events, the repercussions of which permanently transform the lives of those living around Cause and the Five Ends Baptist church.

In <i>Deacon King Kong</i>, James McBride weaves this amazing story with all the humor, wisdom, and panache that anyone who has read his equally engaging <i>The Good Lord Bird</i> would expect. Taking off from Sportcoat’s singular act of defiance—which he was too drunk on King Kong, his homebrewed libation of choice, to even remember—the author expands rapidly to describe the many likely and unlikely ties that bind together the people belonging to this multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-religion, and multi-generational community. And, to be sure, this tale is nothing if not a celebration of community, taking both the blessings and the warts in the balance. The people of Cause Houses cannot survive without each other—although they certainly would like to try from time to time—and McBride brings out the essential humanity of the collective lives they lead and the secrets they keep for one another.

I really liked this book, which was a moving and satisfying reading experience from beginning to end. With Sportcoat (aka Deacon King Kong, for his two most prominent passions), the author has created an unforgettable protagonist for the ages. In fact, McBride does a wonderful job fleshing out <i>all</i> of the many, many characters—Hot Sausage, Sister Gee, The Elephant, Deems, Hettie, and Officer Potts, to name but a very few—that populate this sprawling patchwork of a story. This is a novel that is frequently funny, sometimes grim, occasionally thoughtful and philosophical, but never dull. Above all else, it is a deeply compassionate look at a group of people who never lose faith in themselves or each other, despite facing some very long odds. I can recommend this book without the slightest hesitation.

This book starts with a BANG (literally). It draws you in and doesn't let you go until the end. I didn't expect to laugh out loud so much with a book that starts with a shooting, but it was oddly funny as well. Pick this one up!

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is the first time I have read a book by James McBride so I went into it with no idea what to expect and it took a lot of pages to decide that I wanted to stick with it. The first few chapters introduced characters who seemed more caricatures than people you might meet in real life and this bothered me so much that I convinced myself that I was not going to like this book. And then something slowly (and I mean slowly) started to happen and that is that i wanted to know more about each of the characters. Characters that I was holding at a distance suddenly started to grow on me.. It wasn't until about 2/3 of the way in that the pages really started turning. It was an experience to read this story and those early caricatures have now turned into memorable characters that I won't soon forget.

James McBride's new novel, Deacon King Kong is a phenomenal story of a community and the webs that connect the people within the neighborhood of New York City's Causeway Housing Project to the world at large. I was torn while reading this book - on one hand, I wanted to read late into the night and see where these people were going; on the other, I wanted to linger and spend my days hanging around the flag pole plaza for as long as possible.

The story begins in 1969, in the community of the Cause Houses, where an old drunk named Sportcoat shoots a young baseball phenom called Deems, who has turned from sports to the easy money of drug dealing. The shooting sets off reverberations for the main characters, which ripple out through the community, the church, and into the wider world.

At base, it's a plot most of us have heard before - poverty, lack of opportunity, and the promise of easy money leading to drug dealing, crime and competing factions, and ending in violence and far- reaching consequences for all. But McBride's genius here is in his web-spinning, the way he illuminates the tenuous, hidden strands connecting his characters to each other, whether they live in the Cause Houses or on the nearby streets outside. His characters, from Sportcoat himself to Sister Gee and The Elephant, are so vividly drawn that I know I'll be thinking about them for a long time to come. These people are not caricatures. They are full-fledged beings with particular histories and motivations that make the reader laugh with them and grow anxious about what the future holds for them. McBride has endowed them with a depth of humanity that's truly touching, whether that connection stems from delight or sorrow. A story with heart and love and wit, Deacon King Kong celebrates what it is to be in and of community, our lives touching others, and theirs touching us.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Few authors create characters quite like James McBride. From Sportcoat and Hot Sausage, to Detective Potts (so named because he couldn't say 'potatoes' as a child) and the Elephant, McBride brings his characters to life in such a way that I feel like I could meet these folks on the street. Deacon King Kong is a story about a community, and how they work together and help each other in all ways, small and large. I enjoyed this so much, and I hope the title doesn't make potential readers pass this over, because they would be missing out on a rollicking good read.

Epic mystery set around 1969, featuring a bit too many characters for me to keep track of comfortably, although I do appreciate the wide range of their colors: Irish, Italians, and the mostly Southern-born Christian black community in and around the Cause House projects of New York City.

I loved reading James McBride's memoir The Color of Water a million years ago, his candid nature and his admiration of his mother, his low-key humor, it was all beautiful and so well-written that reading it was effortless. I actually didn't realize Deacon King Kong is written by the same James McBride until I saw it classified as such on GoodReads.

So funny and witty. James McBride doesn't disappoint with this story and cast of kooky characters. Hysterical. These characters will stick with me for a long time.

Deacon King Kong is a wild ride of a book, particularly given that almost all its action takes place within a single city block. It's 1969 and things are changing at the Causeway Housing Projects in Brooklyn. There are the old-timers who meet beside the flag pole every morning for coffee and gossip, then there are drug dealer Deem Clemons and his "associates" and customers, who move into that same space around lunch time. The book opens with perpetually drunk Sportcoat, one of the old timers who coached the baseball team back when the projects had baseball, shooting off Clemons' ear. Afterwards, Sportcoat has no idea why he did this—in fact, he doesn't remember doing it at all.

From this one action, the story expands outward, still in the same location, but pulling in an increasingly varied group of characters: old-timers from the South, Haiti, and Puerto Rico; the younger, drug-involved crowd; some of the few Italians who still live in this neighborhood where they once were the majority; and higher-level dealers and gangsters. James McBride deftly balances drama and comedy. Sportcoat's action resonates upwards and the stakes are high, but we are nonetheless entertained by the foibles of the different characters, laughing with (and at) them as the drama plays out.

Deacon King Kong is one of those books that begins well and becomes increasingly engaging as one moves through it, becoming a real can't-put-it-down tale. McBride has written a powerful work that at first seems small in scale, but that actually has a vast, and humane, perspective. Keep your eyes out for this title, which will be released in early March, 2020.

I received a free electronic review copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. The Opinions are my own.

James McBride does not disappoint with lyrical language and fast paced movement from page one. The overlapping stories and perspectives give a colorful portrait of a community in the 1960s—starting with a violent act by a community vagabond, Sportcoat.

In a housing project in 1969 New York, everyone knows Deacon Sportcoat as a drunk but fairly reliable old man who would never hurt a fly. But one day, Sportcoat marches up to a teenage drug dealer and shoots him, surprising everyone, including himself. The story that unfolds is told through an engaging and unexpected web of community, vice, and strange connections.

This book is a bit of a slow burn; I spent a good chunk of it wondering exactly where it was taking me. It's hard to describe this book, but it's absolutely worth the journey. The vibrant community is full of characters that jump off the page. Suggested food pairing: some nice, expensive, Italian cheese.

Thank you, James McBride for “Deacon King Kong”. What a wonderful read!

Where to start? The story is centered around a public housing project in Brooklyn. Most action takes place in 1969. Public Housing was originally built for those dealing with the lack of affordable housing post World War 2 and Korea. This created a multi-cultural environment of poor, working class Europeans, displaced Jews and some Hispanics. This was the time when many of the original tenants began moving out to Queens, Staten Island, Long Island, New Jersey and other NYC suburbs. In their place, African Americans who were part of the Great Migration from Southern US poverty were moving north. They moved into the abandoned Public Housing. The New York City Housing Authority, New York State and the newly created US Department of Housing and Urban Development decided that they did not need to prioritize maintenance of Public Housing. Thus began the of “The Projects” to the sorry state of violence and despair that we know so well.

The people that were thrown together into this environment did the best they could to scratch out a day-to-day existence. They shared what little they had. They helped where they could. They congregated around places of communion and worship, even if it was just a flagpole or the walls of a hoped-to-be church. They had children and, as always, hoped that their children would have the talent or fortune to break the cycle of poverty.

Poverty stricken people are always prey to illegal activity. They have an, at best, uneasy relationship with law enforcement and the courts. They are prone to long prison sentences that further erode their emerging families. In addition to the usual temptations of alcohol, gambling, smuggling, and sex trafficking, the late 60’s added the evil of heroin. As ever it is the matriarchy that tries to hold it all together.

James McBride knows all this to the bone and crafts a story that is part historical fiction, part mystery/crime novel, part magical realism. There are lots of characters all with attributes that unfold in layers revealing much more than meets the eye. Sad, but wonderful in every way. And maybe above all enormously funny throughout with people reveling their wit and profound understanding of life throughout.

Thank you Riverhead and NetGalley for the eArc.

Loved this novel. The writing is fabulous and the plot fun and twisty. But, the thing that makes this book sing is the amazing characters. I couldn’t put it down.

This story is full of beautifully developed characters each with their own arc that blend to create Deacon King Kong the latest novel from James McBride.

Set in 60s New York in the Cause housing project that boarders the harbor and Five Ends Church, a drunk, elderly neighborhood man by the name of Sportcoat shakes things up when he shoots Deems, the neighborhood dealer, in broad daylight. What follows is the why and WTF?!? As the story unfolds and explores the elaborate backgrounds of the many characters in and around the neighborhood, you begin to see how each effects the other.

I laughed out loud a great deal as this reminded me of the neighborhood I grew up in. I felt like I was watching a mashup episode of Amen, 227, The Sopranos & Good Times. My favorite characters changed with each plot twist which kept me entertained until the very end.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

James McBride is showing his love here for the black church, though some may find his treatment as lacking in love, as the Five Ends Baptist Church in the Cause House projects in Brooklyn, NY is the center of this novel of love and intrigue.

Deacon Sportcoat is derisively referred to as Deacon King Kong after the homemade hooch made by his friend, Rufus. Obviously being a frequent imbiber of the liquor had earned him this moniker. Sportcoat was never fond of the name, but that never stopped him from overindulging.

With characters such as Hot Sausage, Sister Gee, Sister Bum Bum, Pudgy Fingers, and others, the zaniness of the goings-on is endearing to readers. The church is not perfect and neither is their favorite deacon, Sportcoat.

"The fact is, unbeknownst to the residents of the Cause, the death of Cuffy Jasper Lambkin—which was Sportcoat’s real name—had been predicted long before he arrived at the Cause Houses. When he was slapped to life back in Possum Point, South Carolina, seventy-one years before, the midwife who delivered him watched in horror as a bird flew through an open window and fluttered over the baby’s head, then flew out again, a bad sign. She announced, “He’s gonna be an idiot,” handed him to his mother, and vanished, moving to Washington, DC, where she married a plumber and never delivered another baby again." Sportcoat cleaned the church two days per week but had other jobs around the Cause houses. When Sportcoat shoots the local drug dealer, everyone fears for Sportcoat's life.

He remains unfazed. Sportcoat feels like he has established enough of a rapport with Deems Clemons (the local drug dealer) that should give him some latitude. How will this play out? There is a mini side plot going on in the novel, and though it adds some mystery I didn't think it was entirely necessary and serves as a minor irritant. McBride’s prose is keen and snappy keeping the action humming and doesn't allow the irritant to become a full out distraction. The way McBride allows this to unfold is gorgeous, heartening in its denouement. This was thoroughly enjoyable and sure to be an early 2020 favorite. Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Random House for providing an advanced DRC. Book drops March 3, 2020.

Now THIS is a story: astonishing, moving, brutal, and lovely. Please read it.

Any other words I could offer would be insufficient.

Brooklyn 1969. A housing project with a view of the Statue of Liberty. Heroin is beginning its invasive inroads into the population. That's the setup. Populated with the most colorful, diverse cast imaginable, award winner James McBride has accomplished the difficult feat of making each character come alive, every set up believable and relatable. As their stories are revealed and intertwine, the rascals and heroes of these mean streets are presented with such heart and beauty, I was sorry when it wrapped up. The writer who came to mind most clearly during the reading was Jimmy Breslin, who shares his insider's love of New York, his journalistic background, his talent for dialogue and beautifully wrought farce. Which is not to omit the larger implications behind the humor. Well done.

James McBride writes with intensity and vivid characterization in a book that speaks to important issues while managing to delight with language. I would recommend this well-written novel to readers who enjoy contemporary fiction and thoughtful literary work.

Deacon King Kong is a crime novel centering around life in the projects in the 1960's New York City. What makes this novel such a standout achievement is not so much the action or plot so much as the writing which tells a whole life story in one paragraph If not in each sentence. Often the characters are revealed in poetic street raps about how they earned their nicknames and what's going on. McBride is an author I'd never heard of before, but one worth checking out.

Look, the lead character in this novel is an old codger who works here and there as a handyman and part time church deacon. His nickname is sport coat and he's on a lifelong drunken binge on hooch his friend cooks up and affectionately calls King Kong. Sport coat is haunted by his dead wife's ghost who one night followed the lights off the pier. Sport coat doesn't always remember what's going on. He hangs out mornings by the flagpole where the old folks gather, which is claimed in the afternoons by the local drug dealer. One day he walks up to Deems and plugs him a good one.

Other characters include an Italian mobster who runs deliveries out of a container in a storage yard and whose father had a soft spot for the church by the projects.

All these multi-faceted characters are brought to life by this story. No one’s a superhero, a star, a gunslinger in the old west.