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An extraordinary fiction debut: a large, stirring novel of suspense that is, at the same time, a work of brilliantly astute social observation. The Emperor of Ocean Park is set in two privileged worlds: the upper crust African American society of the eastern seaboard—old families who summer on Martha’s Vineyard—and the inner circle of an Ivy League law school. It tells the story of a complex family with a single, seductive link to the shadowlands of crime.
The Emperor of the title, Judge Oliver Garland, has just died, suddenly. A brilliant legal mind, conservative and famously controversial, Judge Garland made more enemies than friends. Many years before, he’d earned a judge’s highest prize: a Supreme Court nomination. But in a scene of bitter humiliation, televised across the country, his nomination collapsed in scandal. The humbling defeat became a private agony, one from which he never recovered.
But now the Judge’s death raises even more questions—and it seems to be leading to a second, even more terrible scandal. Could Oliver Garland have been murdered? He has left a strange message for his son Talcott, a professor of law at a great university, entrusting him with “the arrangements”—a mysterious puzzle that only Tal can unlock, and only by unearthing the ambiguities of his father’s past. When another man is found dead, and then another, Talcott—wry, straight-arrow, almost too self-aware to be a man of action—must risk his career, his marriage, and even his life, following the clues his father left him.
Intricate, superbly written, often scathingly funny, The Emperor of Ocean Park is a triumphant work of fiction, packed with character and incident—a brilliantly crafted tapestry of ambition, family secrets, murder, integrity tested, and justice gone terribly wrong.
"This sleek, immensely
readable first novel is custom-designed for the kind of commercial
success enjoyed by John Grisham's The Firm 11 years ago. . . .
With great skill, Carter builds toward a series of climaxes that explode
over the final 150 pages. Few readers will refrain from racing excitedly
through them. A melodrama with brains and heart to match its killer
plot. . . . Irresistible."
–Kirkus Reviews
"A first-rate legal thriller."
–Publishers Weekly
"Fascinating. . . . [A] suspenseful tale of ambition, revenge, and
the power of familial obligations. . . . An elegantly nuanced novel,
with finely drawn characters, a challenging plot, and perfect
pacing."
–Booklist
"A
novel of great originality and insight: a saga of an African-American
family of affluence and privilege forced to reckon with their
misadventures and crimes. But Carter's novel also explores, perhaps for
the first time in recent memory, a less familiar vision of the black
experience in America: one of pride and optimism, and possibility. I've
never read a book quite like it, and I enjoyed it very much
indeed."
–Gay Talese
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