by Jahmal Mayfield
SYNOPSIS
In the vein of Get Out and Razorblade Tears, a feast of noir fiction and probing social commentary that asks us to consider what would happen if reparations were finally charged and exacted.
Nate Evers, a young black political activist, struggles with rage as his people are still being killed in the streets 62 years after Emmett Till. When his little cousin is murdered, Nate shuns the graffiti murals, candlelight vigils, and Twitter hashtags that are commonplace after these senseless deaths. Instead, he leads 3 grief-stricken friends on a mission of retribution, kidnapping the descendants of long-ago perpetrators of hate crimes, confronting the targets with their racist lineages, and forcing them to pay reparations to a community fund. For 3 of the group members, the results mean justice; for Nate – pure revenge.
Not all targets go quietly into the night, though, and Nate and his friends' world spirals out of control when they confront the wrong man. Now the leader of a white supremacist group is hot on their tail as is a jaded lawman with some disturbingly racist views of his own.
As the 4 vigilantes fight to thwart their ruthless pursuers, they’re forced to accept an age-old truth: "Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves."
Smoke Kings is a powerful and propulsive novel with a diverse and unforgettable cast of characters. Like Steph Cha’s Your House Will Pay it explores decades of racial tensions through a fictional landscape where the line between justice and revenge is blurred.
REVIEW
Back in December I read The Reformatory by Tananarive Due and it jumped right into my top 4 reads of 2023. This was a horror story, but the basis of the book was about segregation in the 1950s Deep South. Shortly after, I heard the author discussing the book on a podcast and she recommended a documentary called 13th looking at racial inequality in the prison system in America. Melville House then offered to send me a copy of Smoke Kings which is a revenge thriller about a young man struggling to deal with senseless hate crimes and racist violence. I have to say that the combination of these three together was a real eye-opener. Despite all of the time that has passed between the settings of the two stories, the characters are facing the same bias and the same brutality from the police - a system which is meant to protect people shown to be actively putting them at harm, and the conclusions of both stories will haunt me for a considerable time.
This story follows Nate Evers who, in a 'Falling Down' style scenario, decides that enough is enough and takes matters into his own hands after his young cousin with a promising future was killed. The four vigilantes track down relatives of those known to have taken part in hate crimes and forces them to pay for what had been done in the past. I was worried that Smoke Kings would be too heavy going but it was beautifully written, totally engaging and actually a really entertaining read despite the darkness of the topics covered.
Smoke Kings is incredibly powerful, the story is harrowing, intense and relevant and it brings many issues into question. I found myself trying to work out what exactly the line would be between justice and revenge and to be honest, after reading this book, I'm surprised that this kind of situation doesn't happen more often. A fantastic debut.
Thanks to Melville House Publishing @melvillehouse for the opportunity to read and review.
Fiction: Mystery / Thriller / Political
Publisher: Melville House Publishing
ISBN: 978-1685891114
Pages: 400pp