2017 Reading Challenge discussion

Jill Leovy combines true stories about people we care for with a compelling analysis of the circumstances that led to impunity for the murderers of black men in the "Big Years" around 1980 and again in early 1990s Los Angeles. This suspenseful narrative, eloquently and deftly told, reframes the homicide landscape as a consequence of people interacting under feeble legal authority who develop their own "shadow law".

The killing of a street-innocent eighteen-year-old, the son of a highly regarded Robbery-Homicide Division detective, the investigation of the crime and the preparation for the trial of his murderers are the stories that move us. Leovy shows us the victim, his family and the investigating detective from the outside and the inside. We read about the victim's baking enterprise and his affection for animals. We learn of his father's belief in the importance of living in the community he polices. We discover that the investigating officer views himself as a salesman of legal authority, and dresses and acts the part.

Ten years of research went into this book. It is involving, entertaining and important.

28 out of 50/52.