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Worse Than a Lie
Ben Crump
Ballantine
358 Pages
Goodreads/Amazon/Bookshop.org
This is the first of a new series by a fledgling author, Ben Crump, about a civil rights attorney, Beau Lee Cooper. In this laudable debut, Cooper represents a former Black police officer after he is shot by racist police in Chicago on the night of the election of Barack Obama. The pacing of the novel was relatively strong and the plot was modern and relevant. This book seems most like novelist David Baldacci in terms of its incorporation of racism as a motif. While I think Baldacci is a stronger writer, Ben Crump is less experienced and over time may become as compelling a writer.
I loved that the propelling event of the novel occurs on the night of Barack Obama’s election. While in some situations, this might seem gimmicky, it worked here. In fact, I think perhaps more could have been done with it. The message, of course, is that in spite of the fact that a Black man was elected President, things have not really changed. I think this is a worthwhile message to convey, but the message was evident at the beginning of the novel when the stop and shooting occurs, which may the book’s biggest flaw. The reader is taken through the details of what happened as it happened and are shown the corruption of the police officers at the very start. In addition, the police officers are cast as stark villains from the outset. While I was engaged in the novel, knowing everything at the beginning and the evilness of the police was a detraction. Since much of the novel was the trial, my thinking is that the book would have been improved had we seem more of the event unfold then. Further, had the police officers been more nuanced, I think that would have added to the interest.
Along similar lines, there are times when the narrative lapses into a lesson about civil rights, which is unnecessary. The entire premise, from beginning to end, is about race and discrimination and the novel is strongest when this is conveyed through character, plot and dialogue (even there, a writer needs to be cautious about not having a character deliver a diatribe that projects the theme). Honestly, I think this book is at its best when it returns to the point that the shooting took place on the night of Obama’s election and during the trial when the details could have and should have been delivered.
Nonetheless, as a first novel and one of a series, it was a strong effort. I look forward to the next one in the series to see how this character develops and what new challenges he faces. My expectation and hope is that this will be a two or three book series. I think longer than that will fatigue the character and the theme. I do wonder what will be the unifying event in the book (here it was Obama’s election, which is hard to beat).
Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine for providing me with this advanced reading copy. All of the opinions herein are my own.
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