The Hidden Assassins

by: Robert Wilson

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The Long Mile

If you like violence, The Long Mile by Clyde W. Ford is decidedly for you. Violent, yes – boring, no. There's enough constant action in this book to make you dizzy, plus enough suspense to keep you on the seat edge nine-tenths of the reading time. Even if I didn't follow my psychology studies through to a degree, both I and anyone else can easily see that Dr. Clyde is using the power of the written word to release the very appropriate and understandable anger of the black man against the white so-called upholders of justice. The Caucasian race is well aware of the politics, the greed, and the unscrupulousness of certain white people, but none is made so aware as anyone of color, upon whom blame for whatever is immediately placed. The Long Mile accurately depicts that frustration and anger.

John Shannon, formerly a black policeman with the New York Police Department, has been incarcerated for two years, supposedly for the murder of a fellow NYPD cop – but it's a murder he didn't commit. At the start of The Long Mile, Shannon is being released, through the efforts of his female lawyer, Nora Matthews. However, even before he can get home to see his wife and son, he's apprehended again. This time, however, he's taken to Ken Tucker, who manages the Mayor's Office of Municipal Security. There John is offered help – but he would be working for a white man, and one in the company of those he mistrusts. So he refuses Tucker's help.

Shannon goes first to his lawyer's office, but while there learns that his son JJ (for John Jr.) age thirteen, has just been kidnapped along with four other teenage gang members. From there on the novel is a wild ride while Shannon both seeks to find the true murderer of the cop he's been accused of killing and simultaneously finding his abducted son.

John Shannon must avoid all the people who seek to put him back into prison instead of uncovering the truth, and his investigations include forays into the drug world as well as confrontations with major players in the NYPD. The one thing that keeps Shannon going is the wisdom of a man he met in prison, called Promise.

The Long Mile naturally ends with John Shannon's innocence discovered and punishment of the bad guys. There are no last-minute plot twists or surprises in this novel, which may make it unique in the mystery field – but the suspense alone is all that's needed here. Clyde W. Ford has presented us with an all-too-typical situation, which should be enough all by itself to motivate both the Caucasian and other races to do something about it. The Long Mile might be a violent book, but its violence is necessary. It's a one-man Watt's riot, screaming not only for understanding but for justice and equality. Read it.

Alan Paul Curtis

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