not to be understood as "excessive [...] because we are still living it today". Troutt also proclaims that the book "walk[s] a fine line between art that reminds us of horrors past and art that trades on them with pieces too unfinished to play with," and he concludes that, "Mullen is a wonderful architect of intersecting plotlines and unexpected answers [...] an author who cares about history and how it is being lived by his characters." The Library Journal also reviewed the work, writing that "some readers may brace against the routine use of epithets, but fans of well-written literary thrillers will want this expert example". A major theme found in Darktown is police corruption, but Mullen also brings up other historical topics like the evolution of the Dixiecrats and "the war between moonshiners and legitimate distributors". Kirkus Reviews is more critical of the themes in Darktown, stating that while the book had a great subject, it tells a "larger story of postwar America in which some veterans came back victorious only to find they were fighting another kind of fascism on the homefront." Kirkus Reviews suggests the book's "characters exist as signifiers of ideas rather than people" and that "a great historical subject deserves better than this by-the-numbers rendition". Awards Los Angeles Times Book Prize (nominated) Audie Awards 2017 Finalist for Fiction (nominated) References Further reading Calder, Jeff. "Racism, Corruption Simmer in Atlanta-Based 'Darktown.'" Atlanta Journal Constitution. 1, Sept. 2016. https://www.ajc.com/entertainment/books--literature/racism-corruption-simmer-atlanta-based-darktown/BwyDgUmHoTOydqXK8VbtUI/. The Civil Rights Act of 1964: A Long Struggle for Freedom World War II and Post War (1940-1949). Library of Congress. N.p., n.d Web. https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/civil-rights-act/world-war-ii-and-post-war.html. "The Civil Rights Movement And The Second Reconstruction, 1945-1968 | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives." The Civil Rights Movement And The Second Reconstruction, 1945–1968 | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives, https://history.house.gov/Exhibitions-and-Publications/BAIC/Historical-Essays/Keeping-the-Faith/Civil-Rights-Movement/. Mullen, Thomas. "Black in Blue: Atlanta's First African American Police Officers Were Vanguards of the Civil Rights Movement." Atlanta Magazine. 21, Sept. 2016. https://www.atlantamagazine.com/great-reads/black-blue-atlantas-first-african-american-police-officers-vanguards-civil-rights-movement/. Pomerantz, Gary M. Where Peachtree Meets Sweet Auburn: The Saga of Two Families and the Making of Atlanta. New York: Lisa Drew/Scribner, 1996. Print. Reece, Chuck. "8 Questions for Thomas Mullen." The Bitter Southerner, https://bittersoutherner.com/8-questions-for-thomas-mullen#.XTD0-C2ZM_V. Stasio, Marilyn. The Latest and Best in Crime Fiction. The New York Times. 16, Sept. 2016.https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/18/books/review/darktown-thomas-mullen-crime-fiction.html. 2016 American novels Novels set in the historical United States African-American history in Atlanta Fiction set in 1948 Novels set in