Shadow of Light by James E. Cherry (2007).
A
black cop in Deep South.
A
town runs by white which is in the brink of chaos.
And
the only cop probably can stop the riot has more problems than he can hardly
handle and about to break down.
A
really dark and gritty detective novel.
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layers. – Walter (Walt)
Robinson. A main man ( 38 yrs). A very tough cop. He always has been a model
of consistency and strength.
He is very good at his job, but bad at everything
else. He is fooling around behind his wife all the time and taxing the drug
dealers on the street emptying their pockets regularly.
But what happens to his
grandmother shakes everything down.
Now he is fighting to contain his aggression and emotion.
On top of that, his “departing”
wife just let him know that he becomes a father.
That is the final trigger to flip
him over and now he is a very unstable, dangerous man.
Joseph ( Joe ) Hardegree. Walt’s partner. A
good cop and a very good/decent man. He is a father of two babies and also very
religious man. He cares about Walt, a lot as a friend.
It is through the dialogue
between Walt and Joe, the author expresses his view of the world (Racism,
Religion, Sex, Death, etc….) which is quite interesting and often bang-on the
subject.
His definition of Racism and
Religion may offend someone, well, pretty much anyone who has one, but, man,
you won’t find more convincing argument about those topics than the one Walt
spits out to his very patient partner ( Joe ), during their conversation. What
a guy.
Eric Merriweather. a.k.a. Cebo. Walt’s
nephew. 18 yrs. When he was young and nobody want him, Walt and Big Mama take
him in and raise him.
However, he becomes the leader of
Gangster Apostles, the most powerful drug lord in the street. A brilliant kid who runs the street like a president of big cooperation.
He sends the fax to the police
warning if no justice is done in 48 hours, one cop will be shot per a day.
Naturally, the fax is leaked to the public and the whole city is in panic.
Dissie Marshall (Big mama ). Walt’s grand
mother. She is robbed and raped and shot. The beginning of the hell for Walt.
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lace. – Forrest,
Tennessee. According to Walt, the
city has its own rhythm and attitude and he understands them like his own mind.
He is familiar with its air, its body language, and expression and that makes
him inseparable from his city and at the same time a very good cop.
I have never been in Tennessee, but I got an
impression that no matter whatever happens on the surface of the city,
underneath it, it has little or never changed since Civil Right Movement. Then
again, maybe I am wrong.
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lot. –In order to provoke emotional chaos, James E.
Cherry picks up probably one of the most unthinkable storyline: The assault
and rape of a grand mother.
On top of that, she also is a
woman with strength, integrity, kindness and grace. Bottom line is : she is
everyone’s dream grand mother and now she is in coma.
Inevitably, Walt is mentally and
physically in hell.
Here is the basic story line.
1. Three white teenage kids ( one
crazy, one very intense and one just plain dumb ) rape and shot a grandma in
the quite neighborhood.
2. She happens to be a grandma of
Walt and also is well respected and adored by everyone.
3. Walt’s nephew Cebo sends the fax
to police declaring war. REVENGE!!
4. Walt and Joe also catch another case
( unrelated ), with no suspect in sight.
5. Walt’s wife, 4 weeks pregnant,
just left him.
6. Again, Walt is in hell.
The plot, however exciting it is
and it is quite exciting by the way, is just an excuse to carry on the book, I
think.
What I mean is that James E.
Cherry has so many things to say about Sex, Religion, Black Culture, Racism, etc.., he needs an
entire book to lay down his own view.
But I am sure, he also knows that
in order for people to actually read about his view of the world, he has to
come up with an interesting story/character to hold the attention of readers. And he DID
just that with this book.
You can read this book either as
a detective novel or a statement of his world view. Or both.
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erdict. – Title “Shadow of light” comes
from Walt’s realization that his whole life has been lived in the shadow of
light, never facing the truth, always avoiding emotional involvement.
His view of the world is very
harsh and critical but at the same time fair and realistic.
For a mere 180 page book, this
book is jammed with a lot of stuffs you don’t find it everyday life. That is
until all the criminals are apprehended ( the last one is literary crushed to
the ground by Walt).
After that, it becomes little
stranger. With the last 30 pages, Walt goes through huge transformation from a
violent thug to a humble God-fearing human being.
I am a bit disappointed about the
way he ends the book, though. You see, the author throws a lot of philosophy
about life and death, sex, racism and even fatherhood at the readers. And somehow,
all of them make strong impression on me. I had a feeling he knows what he is
talking about. But instead of leaving everything to readers to contemplate
about life in general, he concludes his
book saying – Only with his God ( Jesus, I assume ), humans can be saved............ Hum.
Well, that’s a quite a strong
statement for a detective novel and frankly, a bit too-much for me. I always
try to avoid books with too much religious back ground because they tend to be
too heavy for my understanding.
However, this is still a very
good mystery and if you want to read something different (and I mean it), this
book should give you plenty to think about.
