The Daily Newarker

For those who are interested in Newark fiction, there is a new novel out set in Newark during the Riots.

The Lightning Rule: A Novel by Brett Ellen Block is out. It is set in that long hot summer of 1967 and is about a detective’s search for a serial killer who hunts men on the streets of Newark, much like “The Most Dangerous Game.”

“Block’s evocative third offering (after The Grave of God’s Daughter, 2004) is set in late 1960s Newark, New Jersey, where the real-life arrest and subsequent beating of a black cab driver launched days of deadly race riots. As the novel opens, Martin Emmett, a white detective in the city’s predominantly black Central Ward, has been relegated to desk duty for protecting the identity of a critical witness. Emmett, who abandoned his pursuit of the priesthood to become a cop, already has plenty on his plate: he’s caring for his brother, Edward, wheelchair bound and bitter after serving in the Vietnam War. The detective sees a chance for professional redemption when his sergeant quietly assigns him the case of a young black teenager found dead in a subway tunnel. The murder, it turns out, is no isolated incident, but part of a racist predator’s carefully orchestrated plan. The mystery angle here pales in comparison to Block’s vivid portrayal of a city where racial tensions have escalated from a steady simmer to a raging boil. Allison Block
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Brett Ellen Block doesn’t list her New Jersey connection in her book jacket biography, but she is originally from Summit. Her father was a Newarker of Polish extraction. Ms. Block had a book launch on November 1st at the New Jersey Historical Society.