Any author writing a work of fiction with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as a central character has his work cut out for him, as King's public persona has since been beatified in the decades since his assassination, and his words are now woven into the fabric of American mythos. But who was King in private? Rashad Harrison's daring, disturbing Our Man in the Dark reveals a bawdy, lustful and often troubled man whose indiscretions make him easy prey for his enemies.
The story unfolds through the (fictional) trials of John Estem, a lowly bookkeeper for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. With little power despite his proximity to great men, he longs for respect from a disdainful father, childhood sweetheart and his cohorts in the civil rights movement. In short, Estem is ripe for recruitment by the FBI to become an informer and dig up Dr. King's dirty laundry.
Harrison's characters and his depiction of 1960s Atlanta have enough color to engage and detail to ring as historically accurate, and his account of the era is nuanced, showing each race as a house divided. Still, are readers ready for this less than perfect King? The recent opening on Broadway of Katori Hall's The Mountaintop suggests yes. Anyway, King would probably be pleased to step off the pedestal of sainthood; like Dorothy Day, he wouldn't want to be so easily dismissed. --Thomas Lavoie, former publisher