White Shadow
-
- $11.99
Publisher Description
From "a singular voice in fiction" (USA Today) comes a remarkable new novel about one of the most infamous murders in Florida history.
Tampa, Florida, 1955: a city pulsing with Sicilian and Cuban gangsters, smoky clubs, cigar factories, light and voices and rum. The bludgeoning death of mob boss Charlie Wall sends shock waves rippling through the communities, sets cops and reporters and associates, known and unknown, scrambling to discover the truth. And the truth is that there are many more surprises to come.
As the trail winds through rich neighborhoods and poor, enmeshing the innocent and corrupt alike, all the way down to the streets of pre-revolutionary Havana, an extraordinary story of revenge, honor and greed begins to emerge. But that is only the beginning. For Charlie Wall had his secrets, and he guarded them well. And those secrets will have repercussions.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Reminiscent of James Ellroy'sL.A. Confidential , Atkins's fictionalized account of the unsolved murder of real-life Tampa crime boss Charlie Wall in 1955 admirably recreates a time and a place, but too much detail makes the narrative less compelling than it could have been. Wall, a famous bootlegger whose nickname gives the book its title, is an old man when he's murdered, and the plot turns on the quest to find the killer, taking detective Ed Dodge and a local reporter on a journey from Tampa's Latin Quarter to prerevolutionary Havana (Castro makes an appearance). Atkins (Dirty South ), who unearthed the story in connection with a reporting assignment for theTampa Tribune , puts his extensive research to good dramatic use. But the book gets muddled by an immense cast of characters and derailed by the author's penchant for an overly lyrical style (the Latin Quarter "was all a symphony of Latin jazz and sinners and bright-eyed boys who shined your shoes for ten cents"). Still, blurbs from Carl Hiaasen and other top names, plus crossover from true-crime fans, should help ensure healthy sales.
