Darktown: A Novel

Written by Thomas Mullen

Narrated by Andre Holland

A Simon & Schuster audiobook. Simon & Schuster has a great book for every listener.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Sep 13, 2016
• ISBN: 9781442399495

Thomas Mullen

Thomas Mullen is the author of The Last Town on Earth, which was named Best Debut Novel of the Year by USA Today and Best Book of the Year by Chicago Tribune, and won the James Fenimore Cooper Prize for excellence in historical fiction. He lives in Atlanta with his wife and son.

Reviews for Darktown

[allen hammer · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A compelling tale made even more interesting by its basis in historical fact. The narration was excellent too .

[Martay Burton · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The book is an excellent mystery depicting African American life in the mid 1940’s and 50’s. The characters have great depth and are believable. This is a great read you will not be disappointed.

[Selina Cooper · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very good. Very realistic.

Takes place in racist Atlanta, GA in the year of 1948, and the raw racism was really hard to listen to, painful actually. But that’s truly the way it was back then.

I really admired the young African American men, honest, earnest, and good men who in this story are the first of eight to struggle and find their way through the treacherous labyrinth of the Atlanta police force. Great story telling.

I really enjoyed the narrator who has a great voice and did a fine job.

Overall, this book was excellent!

[eadieb-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

"Some books educate, some books entertain, Thomas Mullen's Darktown is the rare book that does both." Huffington PostThe Atlanta Police Department is forced to hire its first black officers, including war veterans Lucius Boggs and Tommy Smith. They 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. A 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. This book is a crime saga that explores the timely issues of race, law enforcement, and the uneven scales of justice.Darktown is an appropriate name for this novel as the story is a dark reminder of the prejudices that existed in the postwar, pre-civil rights South. I was going to give up on this book as it evoked feelings in me that were uncomfortable but I decided to stick with it and I'm glad I did. I found the author's writing to be exceptional and you can't help but be emotionally involved in the story. It was very atmospheric and you could feel that you were sampling a piece of the history. The characters are ones that you are not likely to forget as they will certainly leave an impression on your mind. I'm looking forward to reading the 2nd book in the series and I would highly recommend this book to those who like to read about historical events that leave an impression whether good or bad.

[icolford · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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.

[tsmom1219 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Reminds me a bit of Dennis Lehane's historical novels. Really excellent.

[deltaqueen50 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

There is a lot going on in Darktown by Thomas Mullen a novel that features the first black men to serve as police in Atlanta, Georgia. It is set in 1948 during the Jim Crow era so these black cops have a lot of special rules and regulations to follow. They can only work in the negro areas of town, they aren’t trusted with cars, so they must walk a beat, they aren’t allowed to enter the police station through the front door and under no circumstances can they arrest a white person. They are barely tolerated by the white police but despite this, these eight officers understand the importance of their position as a link to future integration.On the surface this is a book about crime, when a young black girl is found shot to death and left in an alley, a black cop, Lucius Boggs, along with his partner, Tommy Smith aren’t happy with the way the case is handled and start their own investigation on the side. This is totally against the rules so they must be careful not to be discovered. Meanwhile, the partnership of two white cops, Dunlow and Rakestraw is quickly deteriorating as the rookie, Rakestraw, starts seeing the corruption and prejudice that Dunlow adheres to. I found Darktown to be thoroughly engrossing and suspense filled. This will be a book that I remember for a long time. The author supplies a great story and backs it up with accurate history that details the moral complexity of the times. This book helps to paint a picture of the racial injustices that existed, many of which persist to this day and helped me to better understand recent developments that have people calling out for changes. Darktown is a compelling and thought-provoking book that I highly recommend.

[lauralkeet · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

In 1948, Atlanta’s first Black police officers went on duty. A small cohort of 8, they were assigned to a “precinct” located in a nearly-derelict YMCA building. They were segregated from white officers in every possible way. Their work focused exclusively on African American neighborhoods, access to police headquarters was extremely limited, and they often lacked access to police records required for investigations. In Darktown, officers Lucius Boggs and Tommy Smith witness events which later appear to be connected to the murder of a young black woman, Lily Ellsworth. The police department is uninterested in Lily’s murder, so Boggs and Smith begin investigating on their own. At the same time, rookie officer Danny Rakestraw finds himself in an uncomfortable partnership with a veteran of the force, blatantly racist, with ties to all manner of corruption inside and outside the force. Eventually Rakestraw’s path crosses with that of Boggs and Smith, and they devise a way to collaborate on solving the case.This was a decent crime novel that also shed light on the challenges faced by Black police officers. I’ve had this on my “want to read someday” list for a very long time, and I think I might have enjoyed it more had I read it when it was published in 2016. But since that time, far too many real-world events have turned the spotlight on systemic racism in American law enforcement, which affected how I experienced the novel. While I’m glad I got around to it and satisfied my curiosity, I don’t plan to continue the series.

[nancyjcbs · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Darktown has been sitting in my kindle for quite some time. I don't remember why I bought it but I'm glad that I did. Reading it in mid-January 2021 added icing on the cake since it's set in segregated, racist Atlanta where there's the beginning of a struggle for Blacks to vote and gain rights. Georgia's Black population deserves all of the credit for an historic win in both the presidential and Senate races that ended days before I picked up this novel.A new feature of the Atlanta police department is adding a group of "colored" police officers as a political olive branch since Blacks have just earned the right to vote. But these officers only patrol Black neighborhoods and are hamstrung by rules that make doing their job nearly impossible. Corrupt white cops continue to harass Black residents and cops, accept payouts, and cover up White crime. The novel focuses on two teams of cops; one White and one Black. Both become aware of and attempt to uncover the truth behind the murder of a young Black woman. The mystery of her murder is interesting enough but the additional layer of racism and corruption set this book apart from other police procedurals.

[charrlygirl · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

4.5 stars!

Despite wearing the same uniforms as the white police force, the first black police officers in Atlanta, GA shared none of the other benefits afforded to white officers at the time. Forced to work out of the basement of the YMCA, provided with no patrol cars, not allowed to investigate anything and not even allowed to step foot in the white police station, one has to wonder why Atlanta made them police officers at all.

Darktown delved into that mystery and many more. Boggs and Smith, both black officers, one freshly back from WWII and the other the son of a preacher, commanded absolutely no respect from anyone. Not from other officers and not even from the black community, which they were tasked with protecting. It seems that the entire world resented them for one reason or another.

One night, a vehicle took down a light pole right in front of them. Upon discovering the white driver was drunk, and had a bruised young, black woman in the car, Boggs and Smith called the white police. (Since they were not allowed to arrest the man themselves, they had no other choice.) But while waiting for the white cops to arrive, the man just drove off, and there was nothing the black officers could do about it. A few days later, the young black woman turns up dead and the black officers just can't let that go.

Leaving off the plot so as not to spoil anything, I'll focus now on how this book made me feel. I'm aware of the shameful behavior that went on in my country, but this book went into specifics, and they were very difficult to read. The treatment of blacks in that area, during that time period, (1948), was deplorable. There's no other word for it. Every single aspect of their life was controlled by whites. They couldn't look a white person in the eye. They couldn't defend themselves, verbally or physically, when wrongfully accused of something. They had to ride in the back of the bus-often while the white people in the front openly disparaged them. Some of the incidents recounted here turned my stomach.

Thomas Mullen took an unflinching look at the relationship between blacks and whites. As difficult as it was to read, I imagine it must have been even more difficult to write. To avoid making the same mistakes in the future, we have to be familiar with the mistakes we've made in the past, and this book shoves those mistakes right under our noses. Do you have the strength and stamina to look them right in the face? If you do, I highly recommend Darktown.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Atria for the free advance copy of this book.*

[sensitivemuse · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is such a great powerful read. On one hand you feel like going into the book and start punching every bigot you see since they’re such awful hateful people. Yet on the other hand, you feel for Boggs and Smith. They’re trying so hard to elevate themselves and make everything a better place for the community and pretty much for their race. Yet they’re non stop met with opposition from both sides and it’s disheartening to see yet the most awful thing about all of this is, this all happened in the last century. It’s mind blowing and horrible how humans are but it’s a reality we all must know and be aware of.The plot itself was very interesting and the pace is steady. There’s plenty of characters to read about and the supporting characters gives the story plenty of substance. The emotions and tensions are dutifully felt in the book and you can only read on with the feeling of hopelessness as Boggs and Smith attempt to try and do their jobs as best as they can but they’re thwarted at every turn. It’s amazing they stick with the job, and admirable because of the amazing amount of strength and grit they display to go through all the obstacles they face while trying to do their investigation. The plot was also good at showing both sides of the story. Besides Boggs and Smith you also have Rakestraw who seems more moderate thinking than the rest of the characters, his behavior is certainly different and he tries to be understanding - however still maintaining his superiority mentality. It’s a start I suppose to eradicate this kind of behavior in a character but you can’t help but feel frustrated as this type of hatred and belief that is so deeply ingrained in everything; in society, thinking, in life. It’s horrible to see and to think this type of behavior still persists in other forms and methods.Definitely recommend this read despite the awful things some characters do in the book. It’s eye opening and gripping read. It will elicit powerful emotions but it’s accurate and detailed. No sugar coating here but the truth. Worth the read.

[sanddune_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It's 1948 and the City of Atlanta has just sworn in its first black police officers. Their operations are strictly controlled and restricted: they are there to police the black population of Atlanta only and have no jurisdiction at all over any any white people. With outright hostility from the white officers on the force, they are not even allowed to set foot in the Police Headquarters but are sidelined to the damp basement of the YMCA. Any requests for information or reports must be channelled through their white sergeant.Lucius Boggs and Tommy Smith are patrolling their beat at midnight when they come across a car which had driven into, and knocked over, a lamp-post. They have no jurisdiction against the drunken driver, who is white, so they phone for a squad car to make an arrest when the driver flees the scene. A black girl in the passenger seat of the car had seemed distressed, but had disappeared by the time that the squad car had caught up with the driver, only to reappear again, very much dead and clearly murdered, some days later. But why did the officers in squad car driven by Dunlow, one of those most opposed to the introduction of the black officers, not even give the car driver a ticket. And why is Boggs's sergeant McInnis rewriting his reports to remove all mention of the driver, identified as an ex-policeman called Underhill. The police department certainly isn't interested in discovering who really killed the young woman, so Boggs and Smith start to do a little detective work on their own...What drew me into this book was its historical setting and the depiction of the huge difficulties faced by Boggs and Smith just trying to do their job. I'm assuming that there is a reasonable degree of historical accuracy (someone more knowledgeable please correct me if there isn't), and of course I knew that the American South was segregated, but even so I found the level of segregation and racism really shocking...

[ohgranny · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It turned out to be very different from what I normally read. Personally, it bothered me because I grew up in the 60's when racial issues were constant. However, the writing is great, and I applaud the author for what I felt was very candid information from that time frame.

[brenzi_3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

After WWII, officials in Atlanta deigned to allow eight black men to become policemen (beat cops) on the force, a first for the city. Well, under certain conditions that is: they were only allowed to serve in the black areas of the city, they needed to report to a crudely set up station in the Y and were never to set foot in the actual police station which was limited to whites only, and they couldn’t actually investigate any crimes. It is under these conditions that we meet rookie policemen Lucius Boggs and Thomas White when the narrative begins.It quickly becomes apparent that there is a monumental amount of graft, corruption and outright murder going on among Atlanta’s finest and the upstanding black rookies are disturbed enough by the death of a young black woman to ignore the edicts of those in charge and look into the crime in front of them even though that poses an enormous risk to them personally.I listened to this on audio and the reader, Andre Holland, a black actor, was pitch perfect and lent a dramatic authenticity to the narrative that made it all the more enjoyable. But he had fabulous material to work with. This was an elegant police procedural that highlighted the inherent racism in the city. On the one hand I was outraged and on the other found the story itself immensely compelling and satisfying. I’m looking forward to the next book in the series. Highly recommended.

[decaturmamaof2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved it - made me angry and sad

[laytonwoman3rd · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Dark, indeed. This is a police procedural quite unlike any others you may have read. The protagonists are Tom Smith and Lucius Boggs, two of the first black cops on Atlanta's municipal police force. It's 1950, and neither their white colleagues nor the black community they are policing are happy about their existence. They wear the uniform and badge, and carry guns, but don't have cars, and must call for white back-up if they arrest anyone. They are forbidden to enter police headquarters, working out of the drippy dim basement of a YMCA in a poor black neighborhood. They are subject to humiliation, harassment, and false charges. They watch white cops taking pay-offs from brothels and forcing confessions from suspects to close cases regardless of facts. They witness white-on-black brutality occur routinely without consequence. They are not allowed to investigate anything. But when a black girl from the country ends up shot to death and tossed on a garbage dump shortly after Officers Smith and Boggs saw her running away from a white man's car, these men decide to risk their careers and their lives, breaking the rules to find out how she got there. Often a very uncomfortable read, but impossible to leave alone.

[teckelvik · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is set in Atlanta shortly after WWII, among the very first black police officers in the city. The historical background is well done, and the different segments of black society, the different responses to white racism, and the pervasiveness of that racism were very clear. There is a lot of violence and brutality in the book, and no character is truly heroic.The mystery is well-put together, and well-described. One evening, two black police officers see a car driven by a white man slam into a street light. As they talk to him, they see that he has a black woman with him. When she is found dead, their efforts to investigate are hampered by racism, indifference, and police corruption.

[smik_3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The creation of Atlanta's first black police force in 1947 comes about as a result of a promise the Mayor made to the African-American population in return for their votes in the mayoral elections. It is certainly not welcomed by the white police force who on the whole are determined that it will fail. The black population is not sure that it wants the black police force either. Some of the members of the new police force were soldiers during World War II, while others never left the USA. Throughout the novel they are constantly assessing whether they have made the right decision in becoming a policeman. The role is very challenging, the are meant mainly to just patrol the streets. If they need to arrest anyone they have to call a white patrol car or wagon to transport the person being arrested.The background is held together by a story that links both white and black officers - that of a black girl who recently came to Atlanta from the country for work, and is then found dead. Two black officers had seen her alive and in the company of a middle-aged white man. Although they are not supposed to investigate crimes they try to find out who killed the girl, but each step they take seems to make things worse for her family.Very interesting, with an authentic historical feel.

[carol420 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

tI really don't know quiet what to say about this book. If it had not been the book that was being discussed on one of my sites,,,I have my doubts that I would have finished it after reading the first five or six chapters. The plot was good...the writing was well done... the subject was interesting... however the story was dark left me with a feeling of hopelessness. Actually... I guess if the book could inspire that feeling in a reader then you would have to say that it was a success. I will have to say that it picked up toward the middle but the atmosphere never changed. I was slightly disappointed in the ending as I felt that it ended rather abruptly and left the reader feeling nothing had been accomplished. Same old stuff...just a different day.

[norinrad10 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a chilling book. Set in 1948 Atlanta and using the hiring of the first 8 African-American police officers as a back drop, Thomas Mullen manages to create the rare thriller that educates as well as entertains. In some ways this is a hard book to read. Mullen confronts us with the behavior of our not so long deceased relatives.The 8 black police officers were not allowed to arrest white people. They worked out of a separate precinct. They were denied entry into the city morgue. Violence against blacks was considered acceptable. One particularly disturbing scene involves the Atlanta officers going to a small town just 40 minutes outside of Atlanta to in pursuit of the conclusion of the mystery. A trip there was no guarantee they would return from alive.We like to try and convince ourselves that lynchings and all the really horrendous elements of racism transpired centuries ago. We like to act as if our family members were somehow immune from prevalent beliefs and attitudes. The truth is that the events in this book took place 70 years ago and the attitudes were so wide spread that it's highly unlikely our relatives weren't complicit. The mystery laid out in this tale is a fairly routine one. Poor girl who's murder is brought on by her involvement with those above her station. But as the layers are peeled away, we are given a deeper look at life in the 50's in the south at the same time as the protagonists search for the killer. This is a book that will stay with you long after you put it down.

[veeshee-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A fantastic novel, and my only regret is not having read it sooner! It was a compelling book that accurately portrays the tension between the white and black communities in Atlanta. While the novel uses the murder to further the plot, the story delves deep into the racist culture during this time period. I absolutely loved the writing style employed here; I could feel every emotion described in the book. This is a dark, gripping novel that leaves no stone unturned as it follows the secret investigation of Boggs and Smith. I've read many mysteries and thrillers, many crime fiction stories, but this one was a whole new experience. Beautifully written and thought-provoking, I look forward to reading more by this author. This is a novel you don't want to miss out on.

[sarahebear · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An excellent (fictional but I suspect that it's pretty close to the truth) account of the experiences of the first police officers of colour in Atlanta 1948. Aside from the theme of overt racism, the story concerns the murder of a young African-American girl, corruptions in the police force and political intrigue. Great characters and story telling. One for fans of hard-boiled crime and social history. I'm looking forward to reading the next in the series.

[arubabookwoman · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This unusual crime novel is set in Atlanta in the late 1940's. The city, in response to pressure from returning black war veterans, has just hired its first black police officers. The eight black officers are not given the usual responsibilities and privileges of police officers. They are given their own headquarters in the basement of the YMCA in "Darktown," the black area of Atlanta. They cannot even enter the official police headquarters without a special invitation and an escort. They patrol only in Darktown, and cannot make arrests without calling in a white officer.The book follows new officers Lucius Boggs, conservative, college-educated son of a minister-colleague of Martin Luther King Sr., and Thomas Smith, more hot-headed and impatient than Boggs, and a WW II veteran. When a young black woman last seen by Boggs and Smith in the company of a drunken white man turns up dead, they discover that the white police are not treating the case seriously and appear to be uninterested in pursuing the perpetrator. Boggs and Smith begin investigating on their own, and stir up a hornet's nest of police corruption and racial animosity. This is an excellent and well-plotted police procedural, but it is so much more, as it explores the historical and cultural issues of race relations in the context of the Jim Crow laws of our oh so recent past.4 stars

[dabofdarkness · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Set in post-WWII 1940s Atlanta, the police department has hired it’s first Black police officers. Tensions are high within the Atlanta PD but also across political lines throughout the city. A young Black woman is found dead and few seem willing to follow up on it.This was an excellent read, drawing together a murder mystery, racial intolerance, the progressive movement to integrate the police department, and the upcoming generation. The author did a great job of portraying the politics of the day while also giving us a gripping mystery. The main characters, Black officer Lucius Boggs and young Denny Rakestraw, show us the various view points about integration throughout the story.I most fascinated by the Black officers. They have limited authority within the police department. They aren’t allowed to drive the squad cars and the can’t enter the front door of the police station. Yet they have one of the toughest beats as well. There’s an unwritten division with the police department where the Black officers are expected to police Darktown (the area of Atlanta that is primarily populated by Blacks) and the White officers will police the rest of the city. This sets up a dynamic that is rich for missteps, over-reaching, and bigotry.Meanwhile, Boggs and his partner Tommy Smith fly under the radar (mostly) to investigate the death of the young Black woman Lily Ellsworth. Since she was last seen in a car in the company of a White man, they have to be very careful about how they investigate.Young Rakestraw is partnered with an older cop, Lionel Dunlow. Now Dunlow is an open and active racist and many of his usual ways of doing business strike Rakestraw as unfair at the best of times and downright criminal at the worst of times. I wanted to root for Rakestraw, hoping he would find a way to push back on Dunlow’s brutal ways. However, pushing back on Dunlow means pushing back on a good chunk of the PD. So Rakestraw has to pick his battles.The mystery itself was excellent. There’s a twist near the end that neatly tied everything together and once revealed so many little hints clicked into place. I was engrossed in this book and thoroughly pleased with the ending. I greatly hope for more stories about Boggs and Rakestraw. My one quibble is that I would like to see more female characters and not just as murder victims or romantic interests.I received a free copy of this book.The Narration: Andre Holland did a fantastic job. He was just excellent at the nuanced local accents. He was also great with all the emotions the various characters go through in this book.

[edgoldberg · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Darktown by Thomas Mullen is listed as a mystery and although there is a mystery in it, the book is more about race relations in Atlanta in the 1940s. It takes place shortly after the end of WW II. As an experiment, the mayor of Atlanta has recruited eight Black cops to patrol primarily the Black neighborhoods. Although they wear uniforms and carry guns, their authority is quite limited. They can’t arrest white people. They can’t carry on an investigation. There are more ‘can’ts’ than ‘cans’.Enter Lucius Boggs and Tommy Smith, Black beat officers. One night walking their beat, they see a car driven by a white man strike a lamppost, causing it to tilt. There is a Black woman in the car as well. The driver continues on. Boggs and Smith call for white back up which arrives in the form of veteran Officer Dunlow and rookie Office Rakestraw. After a pursuing the driver and brief discussion, the driver is free to go. Boggs, Smith and Rakestraw are aghast that the driver was not given a ticket.When his female passenger winds up dead the next day, intuition points to the driver of the car. However, no one seems inclined to pursue this line of inquiry. Boggs and Smith decide to investigate on their off hours. Rakestraw also starts a little investigation of his own.The meat of Darktown is the hatred of the white officers of their Black coworkers, the hatred of whites against Blacks in general. The idea that the new recruits should be driven from the force, that they are not ‘real cops’ at all is evident from their separate office in the basement of the Black YMCA to their limited authority.Darktown is some ways reminds me of Cop Town by Karin Slaughter which coincidentally enough takes place in Atlanta but in the 1970s and deals with the hiring of the first female police officers. While the hatred shown in Cop Town isn’t has bad as that shown in Darktown, the animosity was evident. I also find the similarity in titles interesting.So, to sum up..if you’re a mystery fan and interested in a little history on the side, both Darktown and Cop Town are worth a read.

[msf59 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

“now they were expected to walk with a heavy step and newfound power through their neighborhoods. In every other part of the city, however, they were still expected to vanish, or worse.” “There were plenty of white folks like that, happy to define themselves as not-quite-as-bad-as-some, conveniently surrounding themselves with awful people in contrast to whom they looked good.” Boggs and Smith are two patrolman walking their beat, in Darktown, a black neighborhood, in Altanta. It is 1948. They are part of an eight member police force, made up of black officers. They can carry guns but can not drive a vehicle. Their authority is limited and they are ridiculed by the “white” officers.They begin to investigate the disappearance of a young black woman, last seen, in a car with a white man and this takes the officers down, a dark and twisty path, locking horns with corrupt cops and politicians, looking for any reason to dismantle and shame this all-black force. A very dangerous game.This is a slow-burner and the tension mounts, in a quiet, deceiving way. It reminded me of the great film Chinatown, set in the deep south, but with more shadows than bright sunshine.Mullen takes each of his novels in unique directions, sometimes with mixed results, but he definitely scored a big run with this timely novel.

[tottman_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Darktown is an interesting look back on a troubling time in America. Set in post WWII Atlanta, it focuses on two of the eight rookie black cops who were hired. While on patrol, they stumble onto a drunk middle aged white man in a car with a young black woman. The man turns out to be former Atlanta PD and the woman turns up murdered a couple of days later. What follows is both a mystery and an historical commentary on a particularly difficult time.The mystery holds few surprises. The police department is more interested in finding someone to accuse of the murder than solving it. The young black cops, Boggs and Smith, pursue it even though they lack the authority to conduct investigations. They are eventually assisted by a young white officer, Rakestraw, who is partnered with a racist cop, Dunlow. Rakestraw is interested in justice, but he is not exactly a crusader for racial equality.While the mystery is fairly standard, the historical look at Atlanta is a little more interesting. The progress made in even hiring black officers is clouded by political motives and racism that is both deeply entrenched and institutionalized. The actions described in the book are horrific both to read, or in the case of the audiobook, listen to. The story may have been a little more successful with characters that were a little more sympathetic or less stereotypical. Nevertheless, the pressure that was in place both within and outside of the black community on the success of the experiment of hiring black officers kept the stakes high. Even the day to day obstacles both to doing their jobs and living their lives was illuminating.The mystery is eventually solved, and justice of a sort is dispensed. What was lacking, was any sort of indication of what a path forward might be. A deeply racist south was portrayed, but there was no real sign that there was a way for anything to really change. The hiring of black officers in and of itself was portrayed more as a political expediency than as a step towards progress.The audiobook was narrated by Andre Holland who did an outstanding job with the characters. Holland made you feel like you were in 1948 Atlanta and effectively conveyed the frustration, anger and weariness of the characters. The pace was steady and the mood tense. I was fortunate to receive an advance copy of this audiobook.

[judiex · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

In 1948, the Atlanta, Georgia, police department was forced to hire its first Negro policeman. (NOTE: The term “black” to describe member of the race was considered an insult. “Colored” was the preferred word.) The mayor, a moderate on the race issue, had promised the colored community leaders that he would hire colored cops only if they registered enough voters to make an impact in the municipal elections. They were successful. Through fiction, DARKTOWN tells the story of what life was like for those first eight officers, some of whom were more educated than the white policemen on the force as they step beyond their boundaries to try to solve a murder. It is also a well-written story of the search for a murderer.Those first hires were ill-treated by many of the white officers because of racism and unpopular with many of the Negro residents because they were arresting them. Colored policemen were not allowed to investigate, have squad cars, wear their uniforms off duty, go into white neighborhoods or into the Police Department. They are assigned office space in the basement of the YMCA in the colored area. Their job was to enforce peace and arrest those observed to have broken the law. “Trying to introduce the concept of law and order to a people who had never been given reason to trust it, and who therefore found justice in blood feuds–they were so much more honorable and interesting and, well, bloody–was a terribly long and frustrating process.” One serious crime was reckless eyeballing: official charge of making eye contact with a white woman.Restricted to working in the colored neighborhoods of the city, one of the teams, Boggs and Smith, saw an attractive, light-skinned colored woman in a car being driven by a white man. The woman had a bruise on her face. The men stopped the car and attempted to question the driver. He took off, so they passed the information to a pair of white policemen, Dunlow and Rakestraw. Dunlow, has been with the department for many years and has a reputation for being corrupt and brutal, especially against colored people. Rakestraw, doesn’t like what he sees happening, but goes along without complaint. They did not follow through and a couple days later the woman’s body was found in a dump. Against regulations, Boggs decided to investigate on his own, with Smith’s assistance. Against the odds and facing obstruction by both white law enforcement personnel and members of the colored community, they were able to gather a lot of information. Meanwhile, the department declared a colored man the murderer. While most murders of colored people were never investigated, frequently police and detectives decided to claim a colored person was the murderer in cases with both colored and white victims, often without gathering evidence. Eventually, even Boggs and Smith are accused of being perpetrators of crimes in an attempt to get them off the force.DARKTOWN is a very well-told police mystery as well as historical resource. In one area, for example, author Thomas Mullen’s words show the confusion after the unexpected firing of a gun: “He hopped into the air, both in shock and from fear that he’d maybe blown off his foot. He hadn’t, luckily, and the shock of the gunshot had finally been enough to persuade Freddie to let go. Dunlow landed with one of his feet on Freddie, or maybe that came later, but anyway at some point Dunlow stomped the little bastard while attempting to boy one-handed with Triple James.”One remnant of the racism of the time, still visible in many parts of the country, are the way a road changed name when continued from a black neighborhood to a white one.Interesting universal observation of people: “The framed photographs of the reverent posing with people who seemed to think they were important.Analysis: Excellent as both a police story and historical picture of racism in changing times.

[unkletom_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

When I first read a description of Darktown, a novel based on the experiences of the first black officers on the Atlanta Police Department, I assumed that it would be similar to Chester Himes’ Coffin Ed Johnson and Gravedigger Jones series, the only other books I’ve read about black police officers in the mid-twentieth century. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Darktown has neither the randy humor of A Rage in Harlem nor the charming volatility of Mouse in Walter Mosley’s Devil in a Blue Dress. What it does have is the dark realism of Ellroy's L.A. Confidential, the plot twists of Polanski’s Chinatown, and the stark portrayal of racism seen in Twelve Years a Slave. The story focuses on Lucius Boggs and Tommy Smith, WWII veterans and two of the eight men sworn in as the first African American police officers sworn in Atlanta. Author Thomas Mullen did an excellent job of describing the humiliation conditions that these dedicated men had to work under. They could not arrest white people or work in white neighborhoods. They could not have squad cars. The only shift they could be assigned was from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.. They were not allowed to enter the police station but were assigned dingy office space in the basement of the colored YMCA. Even the oath that they were administered served to remind them that they were second class citizens. “I, _____, a Negro, do solemnly swear to perform the duties of a Negro policeman…”What amazes me is that, on top of these humiliations, these men had to endure the lack of support from the majority of the white officers they served with. I can’t imagine what it would feel like to be a police officer who went out every night to fight crime, knowing that if they got into trouble, they would likely not get any backup. The fact that they still persisted, knowing that there was a very real possibility that the bullet that could end their lives might come from another officer’s gun is inconceivable to me. I have tremendous respect for these men. I also could not avoid making connections between the events described in Darktown and the shooting of black men by police officers that have been reported too frequently in the news of late. I believe that the vast majority of police officers today are dedicated professionals but the behavior of the small minority that have their actions recorded on video makes me wonder if we as a people still have a way to go to put the Jim Crow era behind us. Wasn’t it William Faulkner who said, “The past is never dead. It's not even past.”

[ridgewaygirl · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I finished Darktown by Thomas Mullen over a week ago and at the time thought it was a well-written, well researched and well-plotted novel. But it's been growing on me since I read it; I keep thinking about one of the characters and how Mullen did a masterful job in writing about him. Set in 1948, when the first eight African American police officers donned uniforms and began patrolling the black neighborhoods of Atlanta, Darktown is, on its surface, an excellently plotted crime novel that is full of details about Atlanta, Georgia at a specific point in time. Boggs, the son of a prominent minister and Smith, who spent WWII in a tank, are patrolling the African American district of Sweet Auburn on foot when they see a car crash into a streetlight. The car is being driven by a belligerent white man who knows that Boggs and Smith have no authority over anyone white and there is a young black woman in the passenger seat. When the car drives off, they see the man punch the woman and see her flee the car. In following the man and finding a call box to summon white officers they lose sight of the woman. When she is later found murdered, the two officers work to solve the crime, despite ample obstruction from their white peers. Meanwhile, Dunlow and Rakestraw speak with the man in the car. Dunlow is one of the few white officers who will set foot in black neighborhoods, but he does so more to administer beatings and shakedowns than to do any actual police work. One of the reasons the African American community fought for having African American officers was to stop this behavior from the white cops, and Dunlow is not having it. Sweet Auburn, known as Darktown to white officers, is his personal fiefdom. Rakestraw is his rookie partner, a man wary of risking his job or his safety to take any action, but who is deeply uneasy with the actions and attitudes of Dunlow and his fellow officers. Rakestraw also recognizes the dead woman and begins investigating the crime on his own, keeping his activities secret from his partner. The murder plot and it's dual investigations, is gripping and well-plotted and at the most basic level, this is an excellent historical thriller. But the strength of this book lies in how well researched it is. [Darktown] is full of details of what it was like to live in that time and place, described vividly. And his characterizations are marvelous. Boggs is a member of the elite, a college-educated man whose family is prominent in both the social life of their community and its political life. Smith comes from a much more hard-scrabble background and the two men work well together, both being fully aware of the risks to their lives they are taking. They aren't even allowed into the police headquarters, their own headquarters being the basement of a YMCA, where a janitor's cupboard had to be turned into a bathroom for their white supervisor. Rakestraw is the character who is the most interesting. While Boggs plays a more prominent role, and is the most understandable character for the reader, Rakestraw's ambivalence and slow conviction that he has to take action or be complicit in the corruption and racism of the police force is wonderfully depicted. Rakestraw isn't someone the reader can admire and while his views are progressive for that time and place, they certainly would not be regarded as progressive today. Rakestraw isn't a modern man sent back in time, but one firmly rooted in his era. My personal pet peeve with many historical novels is that the heroes are all really just modern people dressed up in old timey clothes. Mullen doesn't do this. His characters are firmly of their time. Thomas Mullen is one of my favorite authors and with Darktown he has cemented his place in my literary heart.