by Tom Wolfe
First published 1987
When a Wall Street hotshot accidentally hits a Black youth in the Bronx, the city's power brokers pounce. Prosecutors, journalists, clergy, and hustlers of all stripes circle the case, each angling to exploit it for their own gain. As the legal circus swirls, the trader, his wife, and his mistress are swept up in a maelstrom of ambition, racial tensions, and unbridled avarice that lays bare the ugly underbelly of 1980s New York. At the heart of this saga is one man's fraught struggle to cling to his privilege and self-regard as the city threatens to consume him.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, american-fiction, 20th-century, mystery, crime
Vibes: dark, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: corruption, social-commentary
Setting: New York, New York (State), États-Unis, Manhattan, Bronx, Wall Street, America, Harlem, Park Avenue
Period: 20e siècle
659 pages · Hardcover · FSG
Content warnings: racism