One-Shot Harry
Gary Phillips
Rave
Positive
Mixed
Pan
One-Shot Harry
Gary Phillips
Rave
Positive
Mixed
Pan
Rave
Positive
Mixed
Pan
Propulsive.
Phillips’ knack for making the past feel immediate is on point in the well-plotted One-Shot Harry, his first novel about Harry Ingram.
... an edgy time travel ride back to L.A. in the spring of 1963.
n addition to the rich history here, Phillips vividly captures the sights and sounds of the era (jazz and blues on Central Avenue) as well as the ubiquitous racism and police brutality that threatened everyone in the Black community. Ingram emerges as a particularly satisfying, no-nonsense hero whose bullshit detector spares no one. Happily, the open-ended conclusion suggests there’s more to come..
Phillips’s Harry is a worthy companion to Walter Mosley’s Easy Rawlins. Here’s hoping it’s not a one-shot appearance..
Terrific.
Phillips roots his hero’s adventures in a densely woven web of real-life local history that emphasizes both Black Angelenos’ historic oppression and the moment for resistance crystallized in the Freedom Rally King plans en route to the demonstration in D.C. whose approach signals the possibility of historic change for both haves and have-nots.