Amazon.com
Darryl Billups calls Baltimore "the world's biggest country town," and he's drawn to it like a magnet. He gained sensational success as a crime reporter for the (fictional) Baltimore Herald, where he exposed the neo-Nazi who tried to blow up the NAACP headquarters, an event chronicled in Up Jumped the Devil. Following this stint, Billups tried his luck as a reporter in New York. But the offer of a management job at the Herald and a $15,000 raise has brought him back to Baltimore, where he remains the hottest thing to hit that town since the Homicide television series.
Darryl's hopes for a quiet life are disturbed when someone begins killing people--all young, all African American, all upwardly mobile--and decorating their faces with decals of the Confederate flag. The tough old police detective who worked with him on the NAACP bombing case lets Darryl break the story to the country. Meanwhile, the killer--(who incidentally gets turned on by Jerry Springer)--gradually emerges from the shadows complete with a catalog of frightening surprises. The author knows his Baltimore, and he knows the inner-workings of a journalist's mind. He makes Darryl a most human and very interesting kind of hero. --Dick Adler
From Booklist
If the secret to a successful series is a standout protagonist, Walker is off to a great start. Journalist Darryl Billups, starring here in his second adventure, is smart, funny, hip, and unforgettable. His self-deprecating humor and his love for his girlfriend and her young son endear him to the reader immediately. A former reporter for the Baltimore Herald, Billups gains an editorial position after helping police on a high-profile case. Now his friend, Detective Philip Gardner, calls him in on a case featuring a serial killer who murders thirtysomething black professionals and marks their faces with a decal of the Confederate flag. Soon Billups, who fits the victims' profile, has become a target himself. One of Walker's great strengths is his handling of the race issue in the context of the story. Billups points out the inequities he and others suffer because of their race with frustration and forthrightness, but he never climbs on a soapbox to do so. This suspenseful, rich mystery will have readers impatient for the next installment. Jenny McLarin
