The Secret of Magic

November 4, 2013
When African-American WWII veteran Joe Howard Wilson, returning home to Mississippi in 1945, is killed in what appears to be a racially motivated crime, his family’s former employer writes to legendary NAACP lawyer Thurgood Marshall for help. Johnson’s spirited sophomore novel (following The Air Between Us) explores racial boundaries in 1940s Mississippi through the eyes of Regina Robichard, a young black lawyer from Harlem sent to investigate the murder in Marshall’s stead. Upon arriving in Revere, Miss., Regina discovers that, although the stories that she has heard of overt racism and strictly enforced Jim Crow laws are true, the reality is much more complicated. Unlike New York, where “races rarely mingled”, here they lived “right on top of each other, constantly traipsing in and out of one another’s lives.” Joe Howard’s father, Willie Willie, has taught generations of children, both black and white, the secrets of the surrounding forests. Yet many of these children, now adults, are the very people who want to sweep his son’s death under the carpet. Inspired by the story of African-American WWII veteran Isaac Woodard, who was blinded by a South Carolina policeman following his service, , this novel presents a spirited portrayal of the postwar South, though heavy-handed storytelling keeps the characters from fully coming alive. Agent: Harvey Klinger, Harvey Klinger Inc.

This solid audiobook unfolds with methodical precision, and Peter Francis James's voice is well suited to its calm, quiet pace. His is a news anchor's style and tone: deep, resonant, and measured. For the most part, his delivery is appropriate for Johnson's story of prejudice and injustice in the American South. James captures dialogue without sentimentality and maintains a cool distance from the tension that surrounds the murder of an African-American hero of WWII. Sometimes the action slows to such a languid pace that one might grow restless, lulled further by James's reserved performance, but the gripping nature of the story as a whole is likely to keep one engaged. L.B.F. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine