Oh critics, how ye disagree! Many found Palace Council overly long and complained that the "thriller" parts came and went at random. It's also a bad sign in a genre that depends on flash/bang finales if the ending is considered weak. On a separate note, Edward and Aurelia witness more historical events than Forrest Gump—their adventures span from Harlem to Park Avenue, Los Alamos, and Saigon, and involve J. Edgar Hoover, Richard Nixon, and Langston Hughes, among others—and, coverin

Oh critics, how ye disagree! Many found Palace Council overly long and complained that the "thriller" parts came and went at random. It's also a bad sign in a genre that depends on flash/bang finales if the ending is considered weak. On a separate note, Edward and Aurelia witness more historical events than Forrest Gump—their adventures span from Harlem to Park Avenue, Los Alamos, and Saigon, and involve J. Edgar Hoover, Richard Nixon, and Langston Hughes, among others—and, covering two decades, these events can seem hectic. Reviewers consistently praised Carter, however, for his analysis of well-to-do Black America, a segment of the populace about whom hardly any mainstream novels have been written. He can be incredibly astute with his character analysis and political arguments as well. Though this novel isn't concise or clever enough to redefine the thriller genre, Carter may have a bright future as the Henry James of 125th Street.

This is an excerpt from a review published in Bookmarks magazine.