Deacon King Kong

From James McBride, author of the National Book Award-winning The Good Lord Bird comes a wise and witty novel about what happens to the witnesses of a shooting.

"A hilarious, pitch-perfect comedy set in the Brooklyn projects of the late 1960s. This alone may qualify it as one of the year’s best novels."  -  The Washington Post

The year is 1969. In a housing project in south Brooklyn, a shambling old church deacon called Sportscoat shoots – for no apparent reason – the local drug dealer who used to be part of the church’s baseball team. The repercussions of that moment draw in the whole community, as it becomes clear that the lives of the characters overlap in unexpected ways. 

When the truth begins to emerge, James McBride shows us that not all secrets are meant to be hidden, that the best way to grow is to face change without fear, and that the seeds of love lie in hope and compassion. 

"Deacon King Kong is deeply felt, beautifully written and profoundly humane; McBride’s ability to inhabit his characters’ foibled, all-too-human interiority helps transform a fine book into a great one."  -  The New York Times Book Review

Deacon King Kong is a book about a community under threat, about the ways people pull together in an age when the old rules are being rewritten. It is very funny in places, and heartbreaking in others.