The Lightning Rule

by Brett Ellen Block

As a city burns, one white man hunts one black boy in a twisted game of predator and prey in this riveting new thriller.

Set against the backdrop of the infamous Newark race riots, The Lightning Rule is an intense, tautly plotted 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. 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. 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.

With The Lightning Rule, critically acclaimed author Brett Ellen Block returns with an explosive novel of suspense, politics, and racism. Masterfully crafted and delivered in sleek signature prose, Block's third book is a fierce story about the raging battle to restore morality to a city being attacked from within.

Based on the real life race riots, The Lightning Rule redefines the traditional thriller and raises questions about the state of race relations today. "Next year, 2007, will be the fortieth anniversary of the riots and my hope is that this novel will help increase awareness about this historic and often overlooked event while providing a compelling and entertaining story," said Block, who received her undergraduate degree in Fine Arts from the University of Michigan, then went on to earn graduate degrees at the Iowa Writers' Workshop and the University of East Anglia's Fiction Writing Program in England.

Her debut collection of short stories, Destination Known, was awarded the Drue Heinz Literary Prize, and she is a recipient of the Michener-Copernicus Fellowship. She is also the author of the highly praised novel The Grave of God's Daughter. Born and raised in Summit, New Jersey, she now splits her time between Summit and Los Angeles, California.

For more information, please contact Danielle Bartlett at William Morrow Publishers: Danielle.Bartlett@HARPERCOLLINS.com

THE LIGHTNING RULE: ISBN# 0060525061