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The Occidental Book of the Dead
From the PEN/Faulkner finalist and National Book Award longlisted author of Welcome to Braggsville, comes this long-awaited, visionary new novel centered on a Black cop in an Atlanta precinct, whose façade of white alliance begins to crumble after a highly publicized murder.
George Washington Jonson is determined to forge a new life. After growing up in one of Atlanta’s poorest housing projects, he enlists in the U.S. Army and finds some relief serving abroad. When events lead him back home, he joins the police force. It’s 1992, and Jonson is patrolling the streets he grew up on alongside his new partner, a shady legacy cop and self-described “redneck” who takes Jonson under his wing.
After a decade on the job, Jonson has fashioned a new life for himself in an affluent suburb with his white wife and stepson, though he’s still policing his old neighborhood, and now tasked with training hot-headed rookie recruits. One night on patrol a split-second confrontation with a white teenager takes a violent turn. That single gunshot sets into motion a series of escalating lies—all threatening to be exposed as investment in the case mounts to a fever pitch.
When the white-washed veneer of Jonson’s life begins to crack, the story splits, presenting two contrasting versions of the American experience as he’s forced to confront the history that shaped him and the compromises required of a good man in a broken system.
Employing a bold, inventive structure and spanning two fraught decades, vividly evoking the complexities of the South, and written with the same virtuosic dissonance and insight as his previously acclaimed novels, The Occidental Book of the Dead is a propulsive, pyrotechnic exploration of systems of corruption and conspiracy—and an epic, unflinching portrait of a nation divided.
George Washington Jonson is determined to forge a new life. After growing up in one of Atlanta’s poorest housing projects, he enlists in the U.S. Army and finds some relief serving abroad. When events lead him back home, he joins the police force. It’s 1992, and Jonson is patrolling the streets he grew up on alongside his new partner, a shady legacy cop and self-described “redneck” who takes Jonson under his wing.
After a decade on the job, Jonson has fashioned a new life for himself in an affluent suburb with his white wife and stepson, though he’s still policing his old neighborhood, and now tasked with training hot-headed rookie recruits. One night on patrol a split-second confrontation with a white teenager takes a violent turn. That single gunshot sets into motion a series of escalating lies—all threatening to be exposed as investment in the case mounts to a fever pitch.
When the white-washed veneer of Jonson’s life begins to crack, the story splits, presenting two contrasting versions of the American experience as he’s forced to confront the history that shaped him and the compromises required of a good man in a broken system.
Employing a bold, inventive structure and spanning two fraught decades, vividly evoking the complexities of the South, and written with the same virtuosic dissonance and insight as his previously acclaimed novels, The Occidental Book of the Dead is a propulsive, pyrotechnic exploration of systems of corruption and conspiracy—and an epic, unflinching portrait of a nation divided.
845 pages, Kindle Edition
Expected publication October 6, 2026
About the author
T. Geronimo Johnson
6 books212 followersAvailable September 2026: "The Occidental Book of the Dead"
George Washington Jonson is a Black cop in Atlanta, Georgia.
In 2005 he is out on patrol with his young white trainee, Utner, when a split-second confrontation with a white teenage suspect takes a violent turn – and Utner shoots the teenager dead. The city is thrown into chaos, and order must be restored.
So far, so Hollywood.
But then, a dizzying somersault in the novel’s structure upends the narrative and begins an even darker, more complicated and provocative story about racism, power and corruption – building to an unforgettable portrait of a nation divided.
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Johnson is the bestselling author of Welcome to Braggsville (William Morrow), longlisted for the National Book Award and Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence, and Hold It ’Til It Hurts (Coffee House Press), a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award. He has been awarded the Ernest J Gaines Award for Literary Excellence, the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing, and the Rome Prize. He received his MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where he taught writing, and has held Stegner and Iowa Arts fellowships.
George Washington Jonson is a Black cop in Atlanta, Georgia.
In 2005 he is out on patrol with his young white trainee, Utner, when a split-second confrontation with a white teenage suspect takes a violent turn – and Utner shoots the teenager dead. The city is thrown into chaos, and order must be restored.
So far, so Hollywood.
But then, a dizzying somersault in the novel’s structure upends the narrative and begins an even darker, more complicated and provocative story about racism, power and corruption – building to an unforgettable portrait of a nation divided.
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Johnson is the bestselling author of Welcome to Braggsville (William Morrow), longlisted for the National Book Award and Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence, and Hold It ’Til It Hurts (Coffee House Press), a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award. He has been awarded the Ernest J Gaines Award for Literary Excellence, the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing, and the Rome Prize. He received his MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where he taught writing, and has held Stegner and Iowa Arts fellowships.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
To make a VERY long story short, The Occidental Book of the Dead was not a good fit for me.
A book has to be really engaging and really good at moving a story forward (or a biography of someone who lived a long and momentous life) for me to commit and stay interested over the course of almost 700 pages.
This book did not. The format is unique, introducing a character in a brief few chapters that the reader will not know the significance of until almost a third of the way through a book told by a different character and actual protagonist of the story.
As part of this first part, the story is then told by George Washington Jonson, a Black officer in the Atlantis Peace Department, first partnered with the white Tucker as a man new to the job and recently returned from a stint in the military served in Germany. Fast forward in his career and Jonson is now serving as the senior officer with a white rookie cop when the events of a single night paired together result in disaster not just for the two men, but for almost everyone else in their orbit.
This first part of the book is the screenplay story as told by Jonson. Then comes the next two thirds of the book where he tells the real, unvarnished story in full detail.
I appreciate the perspective, especially when race is involved, that the true story is often not the one that gets told, and presenting the contrast between the two can be enlightening, but I just got so lost and turned around in the second part of the book, and that was after having some difficulty following along in the first part of the book.
Half the time Jonson doesn’t seem to know what’s playing out around him, and who is planning on throwing whom under the bus either to clean things up or to cover their own back. He refuses to see anything bad in Tucker despite people’s claims to the contrary. The whole thing was so convoluted for me.
Then mixed in with the timeline of events is Jonson’s ruminations on race relations, desiring to achieve acceptance by assimilating with white culture, marrying a white woman (but not a trashy one), and how white people couldn’t possibly begin to understand what Black people deal with on a daily basis and how Blacks are going to be at the bottom of the pecking order no matter what because the system is set up for them to fail.
I’m white, and I will try to never claim to understand things from a Black perspective. But with as much as this seemed to go in circles over and over again it didn’t seem to provide a whole lot of clarity beyond the concept that no matter how I act, and no matter how good my intentions are, I’m doing something wrong.
If I hadn’t been reading this for review I probably wouldn’t have made it far into the Second Gospel before calling it quits out of exhaustion, confusion and boredom. While reading this I was also reading Last Summer on State Street, and in contrast, the power of that novel to express the inequality and unfairness experienced by so many Black people, especially the poor ones, took my breath away and had an emotional impact on me as a reader.
I made the effort to read this over the course of a week both to pace myself for the intense nature of the material and to avoid just started to skim pages that started feeling very repetitive to me, but this was just not a good fit for me.
A complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
A book has to be really engaging and really good at moving a story forward (or a biography of someone who lived a long and momentous life) for me to commit and stay interested over the course of almost 700 pages.
This book did not. The format is unique, introducing a character in a brief few chapters that the reader will not know the significance of until almost a third of the way through a book told by a different character and actual protagonist of the story.
As part of this first part, the story is then told by George Washington Jonson, a Black officer in the Atlantis Peace Department, first partnered with the white Tucker as a man new to the job and recently returned from a stint in the military served in Germany. Fast forward in his career and Jonson is now serving as the senior officer with a white rookie cop when the events of a single night paired together result in disaster not just for the two men, but for almost everyone else in their orbit.
This first part of the book is the screenplay story as told by Jonson. Then comes the next two thirds of the book where he tells the real, unvarnished story in full detail.
I appreciate the perspective, especially when race is involved, that the true story is often not the one that gets told, and presenting the contrast between the two can be enlightening, but I just got so lost and turned around in the second part of the book, and that was after having some difficulty following along in the first part of the book.
Half the time Jonson doesn’t seem to know what’s playing out around him, and who is planning on throwing whom under the bus either to clean things up or to cover their own back. He refuses to see anything bad in Tucker despite people’s claims to the contrary. The whole thing was so convoluted for me.
Then mixed in with the timeline of events is Jonson’s ruminations on race relations, desiring to achieve acceptance by assimilating with white culture, marrying a white woman (but not a trashy one), and how white people couldn’t possibly begin to understand what Black people deal with on a daily basis and how Blacks are going to be at the bottom of the pecking order no matter what because the system is set up for them to fail.
I’m white, and I will try to never claim to understand things from a Black perspective. But with as much as this seemed to go in circles over and over again it didn’t seem to provide a whole lot of clarity beyond the concept that no matter how I act, and no matter how good my intentions are, I’m doing something wrong.
If I hadn’t been reading this for review I probably wouldn’t have made it far into the Second Gospel before calling it quits out of exhaustion, confusion and boredom. While reading this I was also reading Last Summer on State Street, and in contrast, the power of that novel to express the inequality and unfairness experienced by so many Black people, especially the poor ones, took my breath away and had an emotional impact on me as a reader.
I made the effort to read this over the course of a week both to pace myself for the intense nature of the material and to avoid just started to skim pages that started feeling very repetitive to me, but this was just not a good fit for me.
A complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Did Not Finish
May 25, 2026Got to the part about dog fighting and I was done.
Did Not Finish
August 15, 2026Thank you to publisher for the gifted ARC.
I can't give a star rating as I didn't finish book. I made it a third of the way through and couldn't find the book that was in the synopsis. Structurally it didn't work for me and it's quite long to be struggling the entire time. More's the pity as I was familiar with the era in which this story is told and was looking forward to this being explored. I would have preferred a more straight-up method of storytelling. I appreciate the novelty but ultimately, it wasn't for me.
I can't give a star rating as I didn't finish book. I made it a third of the way through and couldn't find the book that was in the synopsis. Structurally it didn't work for me and it's quite long to be struggling the entire time. More's the pity as I was familiar with the era in which this story is told and was looking forward to this being explored. I would have preferred a more straight-up method of storytelling. I appreciate the novelty but ultimately, it wasn't for me.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I received The Occidental Book of the Dead as an ARC from NetGalley, and this was my first read by T. Geronimo Johnson. I went in very curious, but I didn’t expect to be pulled in so quickly nor so completely. What initially caught my attention was the premise being a Black cop, George Washington Jonson, involved in the shooting of a white teenager (something rare in this country). That inversion of the usual narrative is not something we see much, and I wanted to see how Johnson would handle the weight, the politics, and the moral complexity of that moment. What kept me reading, though, was the way Johnson tells the story. The structure is bold and disorienting in the best way, splitting perspectives, bending timelines, and playing with language like it’s an instrument. Jonson himself is a fascinating character, someone who’s worked hard to build a life that looks safe, respectable, and aligned with whiteness, even as he continues policing the neighborhood he grew up in. (I found it interesting that he had a white wife and stepson being someone with his upbringing). When that single gunshot happens, everything he’s constructed starts to crack. Johnson uses that unraveling to explore corruption, racial identity, the compromises demanded of Black men in policing, and the lies institutions tell to protect themselves. It’s darkly funny, biting, and deeply uncomfortable in places, but I believe intentionally so. The novel spans decades and paints Atlanta with a vivid, fraught complexity. It’s part crime story, part social commentary, part linguistic experiment and somehow it all works. Johnson’s voice is unlike anyone else’s, and the narrative risks he takes make the book feel alive. At 600+ pages, it’s a commitment, but I never felt bored. Books that long usually do not hold my attention but this one kept be riveted up until the last page! If anything, I kept thinking about how rare it is to see a story interrogate policing, race, and identity with this level of nuance and audacity. This book had me thinking back over the unfortunate killings of Philando Castille, Alton Sterling, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Tamir Rice among others. This book would make a great story for the big screen! #netgalley #theoccidentalbookofthedead
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This is an incredibly long book has been called “ambitious” - if by that the descriptor meant length, I greatly agree. Its story is posited in themes of “race, police violence and systematic corruption in the South.” Great themes but it took so long in the telling - can you sense is theme here?
George Washington Jonson is a veteran police officer in what probably is Atlanta, Georgia. In an incident in 2005, Jonson’s white rookie partner, Lukas Utner, shots and kills a white teenager, Anthony Montana, setting up intense public scrutiny and “a chain of lies”. Anthony was the drug trading and dogfighting so seemingly you might want to write him off but he also was trying to go straight. George is a family man but he’s turned an eye to systematic racism. The more Jonson searches to a truth the more he to face his “history” and his “career compromises.”
The book covers two decades. Jonson is the narrator who gives multiple versions on and off the record of what happened. Then the second half of the book revisits the story from a different perspective. It’s crazy and you have to keep guessing what the real story is. The writing is great and very dark humored - which I liked. But it was just too long and too complicated a story to hold my interest.
This is quite a literary accomplishment and will be liked by readers who enjoy Marlon James (whom I do and find easier to read even though his books are long too) or like a story questioning its truth.
My thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for granting me access to this ARC.
George Washington Jonson is a veteran police officer in what probably is Atlanta, Georgia. In an incident in 2005, Jonson’s white rookie partner, Lukas Utner, shots and kills a white teenager, Anthony Montana, setting up intense public scrutiny and “a chain of lies”. Anthony was the drug trading and dogfighting so seemingly you might want to write him off but he also was trying to go straight. George is a family man but he’s turned an eye to systematic racism. The more Jonson searches to a truth the more he to face his “history” and his “career compromises.”
The book covers two decades. Jonson is the narrator who gives multiple versions on and off the record of what happened. Then the second half of the book revisits the story from a different perspective. It’s crazy and you have to keep guessing what the real story is. The writing is great and very dark humored - which I liked. But it was just too long and too complicated a story to hold my interest.
This is quite a literary accomplishment and will be liked by readers who enjoy Marlon James (whom I do and find easier to read even though his books are long too) or like a story questioning its truth.
My thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for granting me access to this ARC.
Read
July 27, 2026Thank you to the author, publisher and Net Galley for providing an ARC.
I do enjoy history and biographies. And I really enjoy hearing a different viewpoint on history, challenging what I was taught in school. But I do need to be in the right mood for such books, because I want to follow all the details. And, I do like to have a hard copy so I can sit down with a pad of post its to keep notes. So this book being offered to me now and needing to read it to review, and having an ebook, this was difficult to read and follow, heavy, complicated and includes jargon and cultural references I was not familiar with. Looking up those details kept taking me out of the story. Maybe by the time this is printed, notes or footnotes will be included to help the reader. Also, it's a very long book. That's not a bad thing, but all these ingredients make it "not a good book for me right now". But I do believe this would be an interesting read for those in the mood. I could sense some of the story the author wants to tell us.
I needed to complete the book to write the review, so I didn't feel that I could DNF it, but I did skim through portions after about 25% into the story.
I wish the author all the best and hope this novel finds its way to the right audience.
I do enjoy history and biographies. And I really enjoy hearing a different viewpoint on history, challenging what I was taught in school. But I do need to be in the right mood for such books, because I want to follow all the details. And, I do like to have a hard copy so I can sit down with a pad of post its to keep notes. So this book being offered to me now and needing to read it to review, and having an ebook, this was difficult to read and follow, heavy, complicated and includes jargon and cultural references I was not familiar with. Looking up those details kept taking me out of the story. Maybe by the time this is printed, notes or footnotes will be included to help the reader. Also, it's a very long book. That's not a bad thing, but all these ingredients make it "not a good book for me right now". But I do believe this would be an interesting read for those in the mood. I could sense some of the story the author wants to tell us.
I needed to complete the book to write the review, so I didn't feel that I could DNF it, but I did skim through portions after about 25% into the story.
I wish the author all the best and hope this novel finds its way to the right audience.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
3-1/2 stars. This book is heavy, complicated, difficult to read and follow, but also enlightening, thought provoking and heartbreaking. The protagonist is a Black peace officer who is partnered with and forms an unlikely bond with a redneck. Throughout his career, he is routinely partnered with white rookies whose inexperience and prejudice shapes their approach to the job. You learn a lot about George and the city he lives in, the way its history and present has been shaped by racism, and the way whites somehow seem able to game a system that Blacks get caught up in despite their best efforts to escape. George is married to a white woman and is a good stepdad to her son. He is reflective, sensitive and in over his head in a complex police bureaucracy that is not what it seems. There are a lot of twists and turns in this novel and it is definitely convoluted. It's also very long. I can't say that I can recommend it, but it certainly made me think a lot about and reflect on my own biases, privileges and experiences.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This 672-page novel about a Black police officer with the Atlanta, Georgia PD requires a lot of work from the reader. It is so filled with urban-police jargon, “street speak”, and cultural references (some of them pretty obscure) that I’m having a lot of trouble understanding it, much less getting anything out of it. This, coupled with the novel’s examination of a number of unpleasant subjects, including dog fighting, drug use, racism, and police misconduct and corruption, makes it a DNF for me 170 pages in (i.e., a quarter of the way through). I appreciate the talent, creativity, and diligence that produced this novel, which is why I’m giving it three stars. But sadly, it’s just not for me.
My thanks to NetGalley, author T. Geronimo Johnson, and publisher William Morrow for providing me with a complimentary ARC. All of the foregoing is my honest, independent opinion
My thanks to NetGalley, author T. Geronimo Johnson, and publisher William Morrow for providing me with a complimentary ARC. All of the foregoing is my honest, independent opinion
Read
September 20, 2026"The Occidental Book of the Dead" is a bold, darkly funny literary crime novel that explores race, policing, identity, and the compromises people make to survive within a broken system. George Washington Jonson is a complicated and compelling character as he moves between the poor Atlanta neighborhood where he grew up and the more comfortable life he has built for himself. A violent encounter with a teenager sets off a chain of lies that gradually threatens everything Jonson has worked for. The split structure gives the story an interesting way to examine different versions of the American experience, while the sharp writing and dark humor keep it from feeling overly heavy. It’s an ambitious and thought-provoking story about corruption, history, and the difficult choices people make when their worlds collide.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This was a different read and format than I’m used to, but it worked really well for the book and what it was trying to convey to the reader. I definitely gained a different insight into things like racial tension, bias, and prejudice that took place in a time when I was too young to understand any of it.
It was eye-opening to see things from a different perspective.
The book is a longer read, and it’s a little more of a complex read with terms and vocabulary I had to look up at times, but it’s okay because I enjoy learning new things and I’m always researching.
Thank you, NetGalley, William Morrow, and T. Geronimo Johnson for the opportunity to read and review.
It was eye-opening to see things from a different perspective.
The book is a longer read, and it’s a little more of a complex read with terms and vocabulary I had to look up at times, but it’s okay because I enjoy learning new things and I’m always researching.
Thank you, NetGalley, William Morrow, and T. Geronimo Johnson for the opportunity to read and review.
September 26, 2026
The novel is a long, engaging conversation about race and policing in America, framed across several years in which the characters’ lives evolve in complex and realistic ways. What impressed me most was the way Johnson captures growth and development—each character feels authentic, their changing perspectives reflecting the weight of lived experience.
The social discourse woven throughout is fascinating, offering thoughtful reflections without ever feeling preachy. The dialogue-driven narrative makes the book feel intimate and immediate, as though you’re sitting in on the conversations yourself.
The social discourse woven throughout is fascinating, offering thoughtful reflections without ever feeling preachy. The dialogue-driven narrative makes the book feel intimate and immediate, as though you’re sitting in on the conversations yourself.
September 26, 2026
Thank you for the advanced readers copy and the opportunity to read this before the release
This was different than my usual go to picks for reading which made me even more excited to read it. It is extremely well written. The book is very heavy and hard to read and follow. I understand why some would say they “don’t understand” because it has a lot of terms and references that you have to be familiar with to understand. I was able to follow all of that and read it in its entirety. This is an extremely enlightening book and eye opening.
This was different than my usual go to picks for reading which made me even more excited to read it. It is extremely well written. The book is very heavy and hard to read and follow. I understand why some would say they “don’t understand” because it has a lot of terms and references that you have to be familiar with to understand. I was able to follow all of that and read it in its entirety. This is an extremely enlightening book and eye opening.
Review of advance copy received from Goodreads Giveaways
It's a long book divided into two books. The second book seemed to give a behind the scenes look of what happened in the first book. I think I understood the bigger ideas in the book but wished there was a glossary in the book. Maybe my race, age, and not being from the Atlanta area contributed to my not understanding some of the words and phrases used in the book. This book definitely has me thinking differently about police involved shootings I see on the news now.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you, NetGalley and William Morrow for the ARC of The Occidental Book of the Dead by T. Geronimo Johnson. I was really interested in reading this book. However after about 20% in I had to DNF. It is over 600 pages and had a very heavy and complicated story with a language/words I was not familiar with. I hope others will w you it and so wish the author much success
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This is a very good book for a different reader. It’s well-written, very timely, and has something of value to say. However there are a few things I can’t get past in books that automatically move my rating down and animal harm is one. I also think unfortunately I was a bit disconnected at times. But this absolutely should find it audience and deserves to.
I received this as an ARC
I received this as an ARC
Did Not Finish
September 30, 2026DNF. I can handle reading about a lot of awful things, but I have to draw the line at dogfighting. I am sure this book is only going to get more gory and violent if this is what is happening at the 4% mark of an almost 700 page book.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews