Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
The long-awaited return of acclaimed novelist Kent Anderson. Oakland, California, 1983: a Vietnam veteran-turned-police officer strives to be both a good cop and a good man. Before Hanson arrived in Oakland, he had already seen some of the worst of humanity on a tour of duty in Vietnam and a stint in the Portland, Oregon police department. And then he moves to California to join the under-funded, understaffed Oakland police force. Unlike nearly all of his fellow officers, Hanson deliberately chooses to live in the precinct that he patrols; he takes seriously his duty to serve and protect the black community--his neighbors--in East Oakland.
Hanson befriends a neighborhood boy, embarks on a romantic relationship, and tries to remain in a notorious drug dealer's good graces, all while struggling to stay a good cop despite the forces of hate and violence threatening him from all sides.
GREEN SUN is bracingly relevant to both the political and cultural moment we're currently living in: Hanson is a white cop who meets black civilians not as antagonists, but as allies against his becoming the type of cop that he hates most.
Synopsis
A true and personal history of American violence, Green Sun is the long-awaited return of Kent Anderson, who counts Michael Connelly, James Ellroy, George Pelecanos, and James Patterson among his fans. Oakland, California in 1983, churns with racial conflict and violent crime. Officer Hanson is a white cop in a one-man squad car, more concerned with dispensing justice as he sees it than with enforcing the California penal code. He's returned to police work after trying graduate school and teaching English literature. Finally abandoning the hope that books and language might save him from who he'd become as a Special Forces sergeant in Vietnam, where Death had become his teacher and companion.
On patrol in East Oakland, Hanson mostly ignores the PTSD that followed him home from the war, dismissing it in order to be honest and fair on the job, no matter what the risk.
At odds with the police brass, Hanson becomes friends with eleven-year-old Weegee, falls in love with Libya, a black woman in his district, and finds his fate entwined with that of Felix Maxwell, the drug king of Oakland, his star-crossed brother in tragedy.
A book about modern police work unlike anything you've ever read, Green Sun is the third novel in Kent Anderson's acclaimed, autobiographical Hanson trilogy, written "with a ferocity that makes your head buzz" (New York Times) and described as "fiercely authentic and deeply disturbing" (Los Angeles Times).
Synopsis
The long-awaited return of Kent Anderson, with "the best of what crime fiction can do" (Michael Connelly). Oakland, California, 1983: a Vietnam veteran-turned-police officer strives to be both a good cop and a good man. Oakland in 1983 is a city churning with violent crime and racial conflict. Officer Hanson, a Vietnam veteran, has abandoned academia for the life-and-death clarity of police work, a way to live with the demons he brought home from the war.
But Hanson knows that justice requires more than simply enforcing the penal code. He believes in becoming a part of the community he serves-which is why, unlike most officers, he chooses to live in the same town where he works. His sense of fairness and honor leads to a precarious friendship with Felix Maxwell, the drug king of East Oakland. He is befriended by Weegee, a streetwise eleven-year-old who is primed to become a dope dealer. He falls in love with Libya the moment he sees her, a confident and outspoken black woman.
Every day, every shift, tests a cop's boundaries between the man he wants to be and the officer of the law he's required to be. When an off-duty shooting prompts an internal investigation, Hanson must finally face who he is, and which side of the law he really belongs on.
Synopsis
TOP 10 MYSTERIES & THRILLERS FOR SPRING --PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"One of the unsung heroes of crime fiction" (Chicago Tribune), Kent Anderson returns after two decades with this dazzling novel about justice, character and fate, set against the backdrop of an American city at war with itself. Oakland, California, 1983: a city churning with violent crime and racial conflict. Officer Hanson, a Vietnam veteran, has abandoned academia for the life-and-death clarity of police work, a way to live with the demons that followed him home from the war.
But Hanson knows that justice requires more than simply enforcing the penal code. He believes in becoming a part of the community he serves--which is why, unlike most officers, he chooses to live in the same town where he works. This strategy serves him well...to a point. He forges a precarious feiendship wil Felix Maxwell, the drug king of East Oakland, based o ntheir shared sense of fairness and honor. He falls in love with Libya the moment he sees her, a confident and outspoken black woman. He is befriended by Weegee, a streetwise eleven-year-old who is primed to become a dope dealer.
Every day, every shift, tests a cop's boundaries between the man he wants to be and the officer of the law he's required to be. At last an off-duty shooting forces Hanson tofinally face who he is, and which side of the law he belongs on.
Synopsis
"One of the finest police novels I have ever read" -- Stephen King
Crime fiction legend Kent Anderson returns with a dazzling novel about justice, character, and fate in an American city at war with itself.
A 2019 LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE FINALIST
Oakland, California, 1983: a city churning with violent crime and racial conflict. Officer Hanson, a Vietnam veteran, has abandoned academia for the life-and-death clarity of police work, a way to live with the demons that followed him home from the war.
But Hanson knows that justice requires more than simply enforcing the penal code. He believes in becoming a part of the community he serves--which is why, unlike most officers, he chooses to live in the same town where he works. This strategy serves him well...to a point. He forges a precarious friendship with Felix Maxwell, the drug king of East Oakland, based on their shared sense of fairness and honor. He falls in love with Libya the moment he sees her, a confident and outspoken black woman. He is befriended by Weegee, a streetwise eleven-year-old who is primed to become a dope dealer.
Every day, every shift, tests a cop's boundaries between the man he wants to be and the officer of the law he's required to be. At last an off-duty shooting forces Hanson to finally face who he is, and which side of the law he belongs on.
Synopsis
One of the unsung legends of crime fiction (Chicago Tribune), Kent Anderson, returns after two decades with this dazzling novel about justice, character and fate, set against the backdrop of an American city at war with itself. Oakland, California, 1983: a city churning with violent crime and racial conflict. Officer Hanson, a Vietnam veteran, has abandoned academia for the life-and-death clarity of police work, a way to live with the demons that followed him home from the war.
But Hanson knows that justice requires more than simply enforcing the penal code. He believes in becoming a part of the community he serves -- which is why, unlike most officers, he chooses to live in the same town where he works.
This strategy serves him well . . . to a point. He forges a precarious friendship with Felix Maxwell, the drug king of East Oakland, based on their shared sense of fairness and honor. He falls in love with Libya the moment he sees her, a confident and outspoken black woman. He is befriended by Weegee, a streetwise eleven-year-old who is primed to become a dope dealer.
Every day, every shift, tests a cop's boundaries between the man he wants to be and the officer of the law he's required to be. At last an off-duty shooting forces Hanson to finally face who he is, and which side of the law he belongs on.