- Listed as one of the top crime debuts of 2017 by Austin’s independent bookstore BookPeople.
- Shortlisted for the 2017 PEN Southwest Book Award.
- Finalist for the 2018 Texas Institute of Letters Sergio Troncosco Award For Best Work Of First Fiction.
Oklahoma, 1994. The Waco siege is over; the OJ trial isn’t.
Dean Goodnight, the first Choctaw Indian employed by the Oklahoma County public defender's office, pulls a new case—the brutal murder of a once-promising basketball star. The only witness is Caleb, the five-year-old son of the prime suspect. Investigating the murder, Dean draws four strangers into his client's orbit, each of whom becomes deeply involved in the case—and in Caleb's fate.
There's Aura Jefferson, the victim's sister, a proud black nurse struggling with the death of her brother; Aura's patient Cecil Porter, a bigoted paraplegic whose own dreams of playing professional basketball were shattered fifty years ago; Cecil's shady brother, the entrepreneur and political manipulator "Big" Ben Porter; and Ben's wife Becca, who uncovers a link between the young Caleb and her own traumatic past.
As the trial approaches, these five are forced to confront their deepest disappointments, hopes, and fears. And when tragedy strikes again, their lives are forever entwined.
THE MIDNIGHT MAN is filled with joyful, vividly drawn details from the basketball games serving as backbeat to the story. With great compassion and grace, author David Eric Tomlinson explores the issues underpinning one of the most dramatic events in our recent history.
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What People Are Saying
° Author of FIRE IN BEULAH, KIND OF KIN, HARPSONG, THE MERCY SEAT, and STRANGE BUSINESS
° Two-time winner of the Oklahoma Book Award
° William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence & Political Science, Amherst College
° Author of WHEN THE STATE KILLS and author or co-author of more than 50 books in the fields of law and political science
° Author of A HARD AND HEAVY THING
° Veteran, law student, and volunteer for The Wisconsin Innocence Project, where he works to free the wrongfully convicted
° Author of CREPUSCULE WITH NELLIE
° Derringer Award-winning author of AN EMPTY HELL, THE EVIL THAT MEN DO, and three other Jackson Donne crime novels
° Retired Oklahoma State University basketball coach
° First coach to take four schools to the NCAA Tournament