home  book reviews  discussion  links  about us  contact us A Killing in This Town Olympia Vernon, Grove Press Reviewer Dorothy L. Ferebee "On the eve of a boy’s manhood, thirteen, he must become a member. He must go out to a nigger’s house and call him out of it. He’s got to tell the others, abed his horse, to hitch the nigger up to the pully, hands tied. Feet tied. And drag him, drag the nigger through the woods until his torso is bloody and his head and body are bloody. Until he loses an eye." This is a tale of poor people, black and white men, who are being killed slowly by lung disease contracted at the Pauer Plant. Earl Thomas is the messenger that carries the government letter informing the men of the lung disease that will kill them all eventually. His fear and courage are two-fold. He is a black man charged with a mission to deliver a message that is urgent and serious. He is a black man who will surely die when the next young boy turns 13 and becomes a Klan member. Adam Pickens is that young boy. The lives of these black and white men and woman are irreversibly intertwined. The black women fear for their men, but must bear up under the pressure. The white women fear their men and must support them in their madness. All are doomed.