Wicked City: A Thriller

By Ace Atkins

Book Overview

From the New York Times bestselling author of the Quinn Colson series comes a "noir crime classic"( Mystery Ink ) about one of the most notorious towns in American history. When crime-fighting attorney Albert Patterson is gunned down in a Phenix City, Alabama, alley in the spring of 1954, the entire town seems to pause for just a moment--and when it starts up again, there is something different about it. A small group of men meet and decide 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 die, and unexpected heroes 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, filled with sensuality and surprise.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0425227073
• ISBN13: 9780425227077
• Release Date: April 2009
• Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 0.84 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.5" x 8.3"
• 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!