Wicked City

By Ace Atkins

Book Overview

From one of crime fiction's most interesting and passionate voices (Laura Lippman) comes a new noir crime classic (Mystery Ink) about one of the most notorious towns in American history. Reviewing White Shadow, the Associated Press wrote, It is as gritty as James Ellroy's L.A. Confidential, And yet, the prose is as lyrical as James Lee Burke's Crusader's Cross, With White Shadow, Atkins has found his true voice. And with Wicked City, it is even truer. In 1955, Look magazine called Phenix City, Alabama, The Wickedest City in America, but even that may have been an understatement. It was a stew of organized crime and corruption, run by a machine that dealt with complaints forcefully and with dispatch. No one dared cross them-no one even tried. And then the machine killed the wrong man. When crime-fighting attorney Albert Patterson is gunned down in a Phenix City alley in the spring of 1954, the entire town seems to pause just for a moment-and when it starts up again, there is something different about it. A small group of men meet and decide that they have had enough, but what that means and where it will take them is something they could not have foreseen. Over the course of the next several months, lives will change, people will die, and unexpected heroes will emerge-like a Randolph Scott western, one of them remarks, played out not with horses and Winchesters but with Chevys and .38s and switchblades. Peopled by an extraordinary cast of characters, both real and fictional, Wicked City is a novel of uncommon intensity-rich with atmosphere and filled with sensuality and surprise.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0399154574
• ISBN13: 9780399154577
• Release Date: April 2008
• Publisher: G. P. Putnam's Sons
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.32 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.4" x 9.1"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Wow

I really wasn't expecting too much when I listened to this on my MP3, but Ace Atkins knows how to really draw you into Wicked City and by the time you finish you know you have been in the dirtiest town in the USA. The main character reminds me of Clint Eastwood being caught up in trying to clean up the town and what a job he has. It is ride for him and you get to ride shotgun. I even bought my husband the book for Christmas and he can't put it down.

With WICKED CITY, Atkins Just Gets Better

I've been a fan of Ace Atkins since his first book, CROSSROAD BLUES. The whole idea of his series, a blues scholar/former New Orleans Saint, was inspired and the plots and evocative descriptions remain brilliant. With WHITE SHADOW and WICKED CITY, though, Atkins has shifted his muse to historical crime fiction. The former was amazing -- but Atkins really shines on WICKED CITY. It's a sensational topic about a piece of American history I didn't know even existed, and Atkins is perfectly nuanced in dealing with a stunning array of characters. An amazing book by one of the best crime writers in America.

Great Book!

An incredible mix of fact and fiction takes the reader back in time and plops you back in 1950's Phenix City! Great Read Ace!! War Eagle!