Fantastic book about racial divide in the US, with themes that echo with modern events all too chillingly.

Darktown was really gripping. The mixture of crime against a backdrop of racial tension in 1940s America, it was both intriguing and depressing - keen to understand what had happened to Lily Ellsworth, but depressing to think that the depiction of the treatment of black Americans is probably accurate. Quite sobering. It was an impressive read, and I'd certainly look for the author's next novel.

Hoping to get to this one soon and post a review to my blog at http://thebookreviewcafe.com

Placed in a very dark time in the lives of African Americans, the systematic oppression of African Americans makes for such grim reading. Boggs and Smith are well developed, giving two different and nuanced perspectives into the African American community. It all felt so well researched that you learned a lot but also empathetically presented. Mullen doesn't shy aware from nuance, the dark twisted threads of nuances, and yet manages to end on an almost optimistic point.

This is one of those excellent crime novels that manages to be so much more, at once a whodunit and police procedural but also in this case an intelligent, if often brutal, evocation of pre-civil rights America in the Jim Crow south. Based on an actual initiative (and a photo of the men concerned can be found on the NPR website) the story takes place in Atlanta in 1948 where the city’s first black police officers have been appointed, 8 men of various backgrounds united by their desire to do good. Restricted to policing Darktown, the city’s African-American district, they might have guns and uniforms but they have very little actual power and face enormous prejudice from their white colleagues. The authorities don’t want them, don’t like them, don’t trust them. They face an almost impossible task but when a young black woman is murdered and the white officers aren't interested Officers Boggs and Smith determine to do something about it, at great risk to their careers and even lives. It’s such a powerful book, raw, grim and deeply disturbing. The white population come out of it very badly. Corruption is endemic amongst both police and politicians. Black lives really don’t matter. With an acute sense of time and place, atmospheric and with sustained tension throughout, I found this a compelling and absorbing novel which I not only enjoyed but from which I learnt a lot about this benighted period in America’s history.

Darktown by Thomas Mullen is a gripping book. A combination of the social history of black Americans in post-war pre-civil rights USA, and crime story, it tells the story of the first black policemen in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1948 and the physical, emotional and moral challenges they faced. Page after page, and they turned quickly, I was astonished by what happened and the knowledge that similar events really took place. It is a commentary on racial divides in the USA that the summer (2016) this novel about white police brutality was published, white policemen are still shooting and mistreating black citizens.
Politics aside, I read so quickly because the story of Officer Lucius Boggs and the case of the murdered Jane Doe grabbed me and made me resent the moments I wasn’t with them on the page. Twined together are the stories of Boggs and Police Officer Denny Rakestraw; one black cop, one white cop, both dissatisfied with the rules they must police and with the way black people, cops and citizens, are denigrated, both disturbed that the dead Jane Doe has been ignored. Boggs and Rake investigate alone and off-duty, risking suspension plus hatred and injury at the hands of fellow policemen. When they find themselves looking for the same witnesses, they find it difficult to trust. This is a time of corrupt cops and officials, when black people do not expect to have their rights upheld and Mullen shows the suspicion and mistrust of black citizens for the new police officers.
Darktown is a both a depressing story and one which offers a hint of hope. A hint, mind. It is a book which stays with you. It is being filmed for television starring Jamie Foxx.
One of the best books I’ve read this year.
Read more of my book reviews at http://www.sandradanby.com/book-reviews-a-z/

Pacy, heated and dripping with the tension of 1940s summer in Atlanta. I flew through this book like any good crime novel, but at the same time was desperate to slow down and take in every moment. Managing to give such an overwhelming sense of futility whilst being on the cusp of a more hopeful era, this was a huge eye opener of a book into the lives of black and white communities living in the southern states. Something tells me some of the themes and incidents may still be relevant today - can't recommend this enough especially after the political events of 2016!