Free Audiobook : Deacon King Kong, by James McBride

In the September of 1969, an aging, irritable church deacon nicknamed Sportcoat enters the courtyard of the Cause Houses housing project in South Brooklyn. With his fumbling actions, he draws a .38 revolver from his pocket and, in front of a gathered crowd, shoots the project's drug dealer at close range.

The reasons fueling this desperate act of violence and the subsequent ripple effects lie at the core of Deacon King Kong, James McBride's poignant and humorous novel, following his National Book Award-winning work, The Good Lord Bird. Deacon King Kong delves into the lives of those impacted by the shooting: the victim, the African American and Latinx residents who witnessed the event, the neighboring White community, the investigating local police officers, the congregation of the Five Ends Baptist Church where Sportcoat served as deacon, the neighborhood's Italian mobsters, and Sportcoat himself.

As the narrative unfolds, it becomes evident that the lives of these characters - swept up in the whirlwind of 1960s New York - intersect in unexpected ways. With the emergence of the truth, McBride illustrates that some secrets aren't meant to stay buried, that growth requires confronting change without trepidation, and that love's potential resides in hope and empathy.