About the Book

Corruption, race, murder, and honor collide in the riveting historical thriller, The Lightning Rule, written by New Jersey native Brett Ellen Block. Set against the backdrop of the infamous Newark riots, The Lightning Rule is an intense, tautly plotted literary mystery that examines the roots of hatred and the true meaning of brotherhood.

They say lightning never strikes the same spot twice. Detective Martin Emmett is about to prove the exception to the rule. It is the summer of 1967 and Newark, New Jersey is in the grip of a heat wave that is bringing the city’s simmering racial tension to a boiling point. Banished to desk duty, his career on the line, the young detective is offered a chance at professional redemption if he can quickly and quietly solve the murder of a black teenage boy whose mutilated body has been found in a subway tunnel. But the investigation leads Emmett to a terrible discovery: the dead boy is just one victim in a string of sadistic murders in which the killer uses his victims as prey in a twisted game of cat and mouse.

As Emmett struggles to put together the pieces of the grisly crimes, the riots are unraveling the city. People flee their homes, and shops and churches are boarded up. The State Police are mobilized and the National Guard sent in. Newark is under siege and the killer has seized his next victim. While the riots engulf Newark, crippling the city with chaos and bringing the police force to its knees, Emmett must find the killer before the next hunt begins.