Part of Alex Cross, book 15
First published 2009
Alex Cross tells his children a family story by writing it as a novel. The tale centers on Ben Corbett, a Washington D.C. lawyer who takes on difficult cases in the early 1900s. President Roosevelt sends Ben back to his hometown of Eudora, Mississippi to investigate reports that the Ku Klux Klan has returned. Ben partners with Abraham Cross, Alex's great uncle, and Abraham's granddaughter Moody to uncover what really happens in their seemingly peaceful Southern town. They discover that lynchings occur regularly and black residents live in terror. Ben commits to ending this violence, but learning who actually leads the terror campaign may destroy him emotionally. Cross presents this story of his ancestor's courage as both family history and a meditation on fighting injustice.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, african-american-historical-fiction
Vibes: emotional, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, fish-out-of-water
Setting: Eudora, Mississippi, Washington D.C.
Period: Early 1900s
380 pages · Hardcover · Little, Brown and Company
Content warnings: racism, violence