The Emperor of Ocean Park by Stephen L. Carter, 2002

Read in 2007 ** Big spoilers afoot! Read at your own risk. **

Synopsis: Talcott Garland is a successful law professor, devoted father, and husband of a beautiful and ambitious woman, whose future desires may threaten the family he holds so dear. When Talcott's father, Judge Oliver Garland, a disgraced former Supreme Court nominee, is found dead under suspicioius circumstances, Talcott wonders if he may have been murdered. Guided by the elements of a mysterious puzzle that his father left, Talcott must risk his marriage, his career and even his life in his quest for justice.

This is one of the best books I've read all year. The narrative's flow matched the attitude of the protagonist. Talcott wanted to solve the mystery, but it was almost against his will that he did and the slow pace of the story brought that out even more than Talcott's constant justification. Carter also draws us into the story by giving partial information and darkly hidden hints. It took me until almost ½ way through the book to decide that Kimmer was indeed a member of the darker nation. Through something Talcott said about people saying he'd gone over to the enemy, I thought this might mean he married a white woman, but actually I still don't know what that means. He doesn't seem particularly conservative in his views. As a matter of fact, he seems to have little conviction either way. But I suppose as an educated black man in the 21^st century, he is obliged to be a liberal.

I also loved the world I was drawn into because it is one I'll never know otherwise. Higher academia and Washington politics and the whole clubby, secret-handshake deal is fascinating. As is life in the upper echelon of black society and the obligations and pressures they feel. It seems like they have to constantly justify their existence not only to the rest of the darker nation who has not achieved any success, but also to the white community whose fringes they are now entering. Neither trusts them or accepts them – or so they feel, and they close ranks and form their own exclusive club. Awkward.

So we don't know what happened exactly to destroy the Judge's bid at a Supreme Court seat, but we know that we'll get to it. We also don't know why the Judge chose Talcott to uncover his buried secrets or why he gave him clues in such a cryptic manner, but we know we'll get to it. It makes for a very long story arc, but a satisfying one.

It's interesting that none of the Judge's children ever called him dad, daddy or even father, but always the Judge. The children grew up to be successful on the surface, but each of them has major problems in their lives; Talcott is married to a truly awful woman whom he cannot fall out of love with no matter how much of a bitch she becomes; Addison is polished, famous, rich and highly sought after not only by other talk show hosts who want him on their shows, but also by the federal government for tax evasion; Mariah is married to a man who is very good at making money and remaining devoted to her, but she has no purpose what with every task performed by a hired human or a machine. This is why she throws herself so entirely into the conspiracy that surrounds the Judge's death. She doesn't think it was suicide, but murder and after a few inexplicable things happen to Talcott, he believes it too.

The conspiracy boils down to this – the Judge's young daughter was killed in a hit and run accident. The cops do almost nothing. The investigation dies. The driver is never found. The Judge goes off the deep end and in his paroxysm of grief and drinking, hires a private investigator whose name was suggested by Jack Ziegler, an old friend and notorious figure in the shadowy side of the American Government. This investigator finds out who exactly was in the car; the son of a prominent Senator and his fiancé. Both of whom are also killed in eerily similar hit and run accidents

In exchange for this service, Uncle Jack's price is that the Judge sways some legislation his way. Because he is part of a panel he'll need help and he recruits a fellow Judge who is lured by easy money. This goes on for years and the Judge feels the crushing burden of his secret and his perfidy. He has more bouts of alcoholism and is basically miserable. Then comes the Supreme Court nomination. He would certainly carry this obligation with him to that job as well. But then his nomination comes under heavy fire when it is reported that he met with Ziegler in his chambers after hours. Surly with all those surveillance measures and any candle-end-burning law clerks that happen to be around he didn't think it could go unnoticed. Under heavy cross-examination he defends his friendship with Uncle Jack and that is his doom. He has to withdraw his name in disgrace. The media frenzy is intense and his family suffers right along with him.

So why would an otherwise sane and logical man make such a mistake? Uncle Jack had one of the most unsavory reputations for secret assassinations and dealings with known despots and terrorists. If they had to meet, they could certainly have done it secretly. It was the Judge's way of ending the agreement with Uncle Jack and Uncle Jack allowed it to happen. They both knew it would completely eliminate any chance the Judge had of the Supreme Court seat and agreed without discussion that it would go forward. Jack let the Oliver off the hook.

The whole puzzle is presented to Talcott as a chess problem; the Double Excelsior where by moving only pawns in a certain way and in a certain order white wins. The Judge wanted to find a solution where the black pawn would win. But there was more to it. His colleague on the bench as well as the names of all businessmen, world leaders and US politicians are documented on a floppy disk hidden away at the house on the Vineyard. Talcott figures it out and, after a very clever ruse played out in the cemetery (where Talcott is actually shot 3 times in the skirmish), finally finds it. He's almost home free except for the gun wielding maniac who braved a class 3 hurricane to get this disk – the Judge's fellow crooked judge. But after a struggle and a chase in the howling wind, the storm gets the attacker and he is drowned and dragged out to sea.

Amidst all of this overt drama, more covert drama takes place. Talcott's wife Kimmer is cheating on him. Again. We only see Kimmer (what an asinine name) through his eyes, and he is supposed to love her beyond reason, but she still comes across as a cold, calculating and highly unreasonable bitch. In her opinion her unhappiness justifies her cheating. She feels no shame at betraying him or destroying their marriage. A marriage she didn't want to enter into in the first place, but produced an unwanted son to keep afloat. But then again "once a cheater, always a cheater" holds true – she cheated on her first husband with Talcott. Blinded by love, he thought she'd never do it to him. But do it she did and to make it even more cruel, she did it with one of his own students. Besides being a complete bitch she is also fairly stupid and irrational in a lot of her beliefs. Prejudicial, too. Narrow-minded jerk about sums her up and I'm very glad she did not get her Federal Bench appointment.

I was hesitant to read this for fear of it being a thinly veiled screed decrying the rampant racism and race related problems in the US, the blame for which would entirely be the fault of the white man. If it had, I would have given it up. As a person who has never done an evil, racially prejudicial act in her life, I don't need this kind of haranguing. But other than some fairly accurate observations and finger-pointing to both sides, race was not a major factor. It came up, but only as part of the story and only where it would make sense. It was interesting though to see how much the darker nation blames the paler nation for its problems. Ditto for some of the deep-seated resentment and hatred the darker nation has for the paler. Exactly the same unfounded sentiments that in reverse, made this country tear itself apart. Irony doesn't even begin to cover it.

But if every time a person brings this up about the darker nation and it is construed as bigotry or an attack, no progress will be made. The undercurrent of hatred and distrust will continue to divide us.