title: Lightning Men: A Novel (The Darktown Series)
author:  Thomas Mullen 
description: "LIGHTNING MEN proves the promise: Thomas Mullen is writing the most compelling new series in crime fiction. This is an extraordinarily talented writer working at the top of his game -- each character, plot thread, scene, and sentence is a carefully crafted gem. LIGHTNING MEN and DARKTOWN are must-read novels." (Michael Koryta, New York Times bestselling author)<br /><br />Mullen again brilliantly combines a suspenseful plot with a searing look at a racist [1950s] South. (<i>Publishers Weekly, starred review</i>)<br /><br />It deserves a place on every suspense readers list. (<i>Library Journal, Starred Review</i>)<br /><br />"Mullen effectively uses the police procedural format to shine a light on the daily indignities and violence blacks suffered in the precivil rights South, while delivering a plot that never lets up on suspense." (<i>Booklist, Starred Review</i>)<br /><br />A multilayered thriller . . . an epic of mid-20th century American transformation. (<i>Kirkus Reviews</i>)<br /><br /><b>PRAISE FOR <i>DARKTOWN</i> BY THOMAS MULLEN:</b><br /> <br /> "A brilliant blending of crime, mystery, and American history (Atlanta, just after WWII). Terrific entertainment." (Stephen King)<br /><br />"One incendiary image ignites the next in this highly combustible procedural, set in the citys rigidly segregated black neighborhoods during the pre-civil-rights era and written with a ferocious passion thatll knock the wind out of you." (<i>New York Times Book Review</i>)<br /><br />"Mullen is a wonderful architect of intersecting plotlines and unexpected answers. But you also want justice, which you know neither Mullen nor our own time can provide...Compelling works of fiction such as Mullens walk a fine line between art that reminds us of horrors past and art that trades on them with pieces too unfinished to play with." (<i>Washington Post</i>)<br /><br />As his previous historical novels have proven, Mullen is skilled at bringing the past to life, both socially and visually fans of well-written literary thrillers will want this expert example. (<i>Library Journal</i>)<br /><br />From the very first page of Darktown, I was stunned, mesmerized, and instantly a huge fan of Tom Mullen. Beyond the history and the thrilling mystery, the books soul lies in the burgeoning partnership (and dare I say friendship) at the center of the book. Its a reminder of the ties that cut across race in America. There is nothing I love more in a book than hope. (Attica Locke <i>author of Pleasantville</i>)
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  ALSO BY THOMAS MULLEN
  
  
  The Last Town on Earth
  
  
  The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers
  
  
  The Revisionists
  
  
  Darktown
  
  
  Lightning Men
  
  
  LITTLE, BROWN
  
  
  First published in Great Britain in 2020 by Little, Brown
  
  
  Copyright © Thomas Mullen 2020
  
  
  The moral right of the author has been asserted.
  
  
  All characters and events in this publication, other than those clearly in the
  public domain, are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or
  dead, is purely coincidental.
  
  
  All rights reserved.  
  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
  or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in
  writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding
  or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar
  condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
  
  
  A CIP catalogue record for this book  
  is available from the British Library.
  
  
  ISBN 978-0-