Darktown

Darktown
by Thomas Mullen
Published September, 2016.

Named for a seedy neighbourhood of Atlanta, Darktown opens with the attempted arrest of a local big-wig for traffic offenses. Drunk, arrogant and entitled, the driver resists arrest. So far, it's all pretty standard police-procedural fare, right? Except that the driver is white, the police officers are black and it's 1948. As Atlanta's very first African-American police, officers Boggs and Smith aren't actually allowed to arrest a white man, so their errant driver is free to go and quick to let them know in no uncertain terms just how little he thinks of their positions of "authority".

Never judge a book by its cover and all that, but how good is this one? Suitably sinister.

This is the conflict at the core of Darktown - dedicated, educated and highly capable new recruits (many of whom are recently-decorated veterans of WW2) sign up to the force in the hopes of helping their communities, only to be treated like a bad joke. Boggs, Smith and their fellow officers aren't permitted inside Police HQ - instead, they work from the basement of a run-down YMCA. They must patrol by foot, as the police vehicles are for the use of white officers only. They cannot arrest white suspects. They are forbidden from wearing their uniforms when entering or leaving the courthouse to testify, forcing them to change in a closet. The city's attitude towards the new officers ranges from bemusement to casual racism through to outright hostility and threats of violence.
When a young black woman is found dead, discarded amongst trash in a Darktown alleyway, Boggs and Smith suspect foul play. Forbidden in no uncertain terms from asking questions, the officers begin their own undercover investigation, putting their jobs - and quite possibly their lives - at serious risk.

Darktown combines a fantastically atmospheric crime noir vibe with a confronting look at race relations, violence and injustice in a fairly horrifying (and disturbingly recent) period of world history. It's a well-written, tightly-plotted detective story and this would be enough on its own for an entertaining read. The introduction of fantastic characters in the form of Boggs and Smith adds another level to the story - admirable, sympathetic, idealistic but imperfect, Boggs and Smith provide the ideal viewpoint from which to view 1940s Georgia. These are men who risked their lives to serve their country, men willing to risk their lives again to serve their community; deserving of respect and admiration they're instead belittled, harrassed and abused. It's heartbreaking.
What really sets Darktown apart though, is the setting. Author Thomas Mullen brings to the page a living, breathing,vibrant representation of 1948 Atlanta that feels so real, it's like the city itself is another character. It's grimy and dark, hopeful and violent, energised and delapidated all at once. The racial tension and social upheaval is apparent on every page, but there's also something indefinable about the Atlanta of Darktown that helps you understand why people like Boggs and Smith might give everything they have to try and save their city.

Officers Dixon, Hooks, Jones, Lyons, McKibbens, Sanders, Strickland & Elkins in April, 1948. 

Darktown is prefaced with a dedication to the memory of the eight men on whom the fictional officers are based - Claude Dixon, Willie T. Elkins, Henry Hooks, Johnnie P. Jones, Ernest Lyons, Robert McKibbens, John Sanders and Willard Strickland. These are historical figures I had never heard of before, but they're people who played an essential role in American history and they are people we should never forget. While it's ultimately a fictional detective story, Darktown does something hugely important in telling part of these men's story and reminding a modern readership of just how much they sacrificed in the hopes of making their city a better place.
This is a great read, but it's also an important story and a timely reminder of how poorly we often treat the people who least deserve it.