Reviewed on Richard & Judy on Wednesday 27 May 2009.

A complex and rewarding political thriller. Spanning 1952 – 1974 the novel has a brilliant perspective on being a black American during these tumultuous years.  The life of Eddie, a self centered up and coming black author, is changed forever with the disappearance of his politically active sister. Layer upon layer of intrigue surround this and its links to a mysterious group called the twenty.  Not a novel you can dip in an out of but perfect to be savoured at length on holiday.

Synopsis

In the summer of 1952, twenty prominent men gather at a secret meeting in Martha’s Vineyard, and devise a plot to manipulate the President of the United States. Soon after, rising literary star Eddie Wesley leaves a party to celebrate the engagement between two members of the black aristocracy and discovers the body of one of those men. The murdered man had an unusual gold cross gripped between his hands and Eddie is determined to find out why he was killed and what the cross signifies. But then Eddie’s beloved sister Junie becomes entangled in an underground movement known as Jewel Agony and vanishes; is her disappearance connected to the conspiracy to control the President of the United States?

Reviews

'A brilliant literary thriller, packed with insight, intelligence and ideas…Eye-opening and absorbing: I really couldn’t put it down' Literary Review

'Carter employs conspiratorial and paranoid plotting to highlight the reality of American political division …skilled at injecting pace and tension…a historical thriller that efficiently delivers both thrills and history, especially in the still under-developed chronicles of black America Mark Lawson' Guardian
 
'Crisp and enthralling…an ambitious novel…that covers the social, political and cultural changes in post-war America from the point of view of the black elite' Daily Telegraph
 
'Insights into a realm little known in the UK' The Times

About the Author

Stephen L. Carter is the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law at Yale University, where he has taught since 1982. He is the author of the bestselling novel The Emperor of Ocean Park and seven works of non-fiction. He and his family live near New Haven, Connecticut. More books by this author Author 'Like for Like' recommendation