Synopses & Reviews
Corruption, race, justice, and honor collide in this riveting thriller set against the backdrop of the infamous Newark Riots of 1967
They say lightning never strikes the same spot twice. But Detective Martin Emmett is about to prove the exception to the rule. It is the summer of 1967 and Newark, New Jersey, is in the grip of a heat wave that is bringing the city's simmering racial tension to a boiling point. Banished to desk duty, his career on the line, the young detective is offered a chance at professional redemption if he can quickly and quietly solve the murder of a black teenager whose mutilated body has been found in a subway tunnel. The investigation leads Emmett to a terrible discovery: the dead boy is just one victim in a string of sadistic murders.
In a time before the term "serial killer" was coined and technology acted as the right arm of the law, Emmett uncovers the trail of a madman who has been abducting black teens and using the sewers beneath the city streets as a maze in which to hunt them in a twisted game of predator and prey. While the race riots engulf Newark, crippling the city with chaos and bringing the police force to its knees, Emmett must track down the killer before the next hunt begins.
Critically acclaimed author Brett Ellen Block returns with an explosive novel of suspense, politics, and race. Masterly plotted and delivered in beautiful prose, The Lightning Rule is a fierce story about the raging battle to restore brotherhood and morality to a city under siege from within.
Review
"Evocative...a vivid portrayal of a city where racial tensions have escalated from a steady simmer to a raging boil." Booklist
Review
"A gritty, historically rich narrative....Many cuts above the typical police procedural." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"Polish-American homicide cop Martin Emmett...is a terrific character. (Grade: B)" Entertainment Weekly
Review
"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." Booklist
Review
"Martin Emmett is hardly the first stubborn detective in fiction, but Block does a superb job of giving him flesh and bone in a gritty, historically rich narrative....Many cuts above the typical police procedural." Kirkus Reviews
Synopsis
Banished to desk duty during a brutal heat wave in 1967 Newark, New Jersey, detective Martin Emmett quietly investigates the subway murder of an African-American teen and is horrified to discover that the case is related to a series of brutal killings. By the author of The Grave of God's Daughter. 15,000 first printing.
Synopsis
The tale of Detective Martin Emmett as he tracks a killer through the underground tunnels of Newark while the city above erupts in race riots.
Lightning never strikes the same spot twice. Or so the saying goes. But Detective Martin Emmett has stumbled upon an exception to the rule. The year is 1967 and the city of Newark, New Jersey is in the grip of a heat wave, bringing the racial tension that has been simmering for months to a boil. When the body of a black teenage boy is discovered in a subway tunnel, one finger cut from his hand, Emmett gets the case. The severed finger sounds similar to another report the reluctant, young Homicide detective read while banished to desk duty by his spiteful Lieutenant, who offers him a deal: solve the potentially incendiary murder quickly and quietly, then Emmett can return to regular duty. With his career on the line, Emmett sets out to do just that and discovers that somebody has been abducting young boys, using the sewers under the city as a maze in which to hunt and kill them in a twisted game of predator and prey. Set against the background of the infamous, real life race riot that tore through Newark in 1967, bringing the police force to its knees, Emmett must track the killer before the next hunt begins.
About the Author
Brett Ellen Block received her undergraduate degree in fine arts from the University of Michigan. She went on to earn graduate degrees at the Iowa Writers' Workshop and the University of East Anglia's Fiction Writing Program in England. She won the Drue Heinz Literary Prize for her debut collection of short stories, Destination Known, and is a recipient of the Michener-Copernicus Fellowship. She is also the author of The Grave of God's Daughter. She lives in Los Angeles.
Reading Group Guide
1. The 1960s were turbulent times. How does the era and the setting affect the story?
2. Detective Emmett battles prejudice in his own department. How does that impact his ability to do his job as a detective?
3. What do emmett's relationships with othershis brother, his lieutenant, Mrs. Poole, Otis, Freddiesay about him?
4. Emmett left the priesthood because of a dark family secret. Was this the right decision?
5. The past has as much impact on Emmett as it does on lazlo meers. How are they alike and how are they different? What are their best characteristics and their worst?
6. Lazlo's relationship with his father is at the core of why he does what he does. What made him into the man he is? What happens to a child who feels ignored by a parent?
7. What qualities does meers have that make him both evil and pitiful?
8. How does race play into each one of the characters roles? How would things have been different if the characters' races were reversed?
9. The notion of family is an important theme in the novel. What is a family? Does Emmett's "new family" challenge the traditional idea of what family means?
10. How does Emmett change and how does Edward change during the course of the story?
11. What would you have done if you were in Emmett's shoes at the end of the scene in the sewers with meers?
12. Guilt is a concept that Emmett grapples with throughout the book. How does the idea of guilt relate to each of the characters? How does forgiveness play into the ending?
13. Was justice served in the end? If not, why? How does the idea of justice in general figure into the larger themes of the novel?
14. Project into the futurewhat are Emmett and Edward doing? Is their relationship repaired?
15. Had you ever heard of the Newark race riots? If not, what do you think about them now? How would you react if there were a race riot today?
Author Q&A
What inspired you to write The Lightning Rule?
As a mystery fan, I'd often found myself reading novels that involved murderers and thinking: "Why doesn't that guy pick on someone his own size?" I started to tinker with the idea of a killer who didn't pick on someone his own size but rather somebody much bigger and what that would imply. I'd read a short story in high school called "The Most Dangerous Game" about a wealthy man with a passion for big game hunting who uses his own private island to hunt the biggest game of all people. The concept of one human hunting another was truly chilling to me, and I decided to try and bring that same sort of intensity to this book.
The main character in The Lightning Rule has a strong Polish heritage and your last book focused on a tight-knit Polish community. What role has your ethnicity played in your writing?
Though I personally don't speak Polish, my mother's family did, so I grew up hearing this foreign language and not understanding it, yet I was fully aware that it was a part of my own heritage. Like most people, I can identify with the intense desire to be like everyone else, to be American, for example, yet there is always a latent fear of succumbing to the mainstream and losing one's own identity. The theme of individualism versus acceptance is a struggle almost everyone can identify with no matter who they are or where they're from.
The issue of racism figures heavily into The Lightning Rule. What was your intention in raising that specific topic?
In the novel, the city of Newark is torn apart when white law enforcement officers clash with black citizens while under the city streets, one white man hunts one black teenage boy. The parallels are intended to obvious. My hope is that people will read this book and question or even reassess their own views about equality.
There are no profanities in The Lightning Rule. Was that intentional?
Actually, it was. After my first novel, The Grave of God's Daughter, was put on the New York Public Library's Best Books for the Teen Age, I got to thinking that it might be an interesting experiment to try and refrain from using any expletives in my next book. I'm well aware that most teenagers are already familiar with all of the colorful curse words that exist in our language, but I wasn't entirely convinced they were necessary to tell a good story. And hey, if that would make the book more accessible to young adults readers too, then great! The Newark Riots, like the other historic riots that occurred that summer in 1967, are a part of our history as Americans, and though this account is a work of fiction, everyone regardless of age has the right to know about what happened.
What does this book mean to you?
I approached the novel as an opportunity not only to entertain but to educate. I love a great mystery, and if I can learn something along the way, even better! I didn't know much about the Newark riots until I began the research and I was constantly surprised to find that few people, even those from New Jersey, knew what had really gone on. Bringing awareness to a commonly neglected slice of history and the racial issues that spurred it was as important to me as telling a terrific story.