Tomb of the Unknown Racist

March 19, 2018
This bold, funny, and political novel—Boyd’s first in 20 years—returns readers to the singular voice of Ellen Burns (The Revolution of Little Girls; Terminal Velocity). No longer the radical addict of her younger years, Ellen is now in her 50s and tirelessly sober, caring for her dementia-fogged mother near her childhood home in 1990s Charleston, S.C. Their relative peace is interrupted by the news that Ellen’s brother, Royce, a notorious white supremacist believed dead, might still be alive. He might even be responsible for the kidnapping of his multiethnic grandchildren, a story that explodes onto national news, sending Ellen on a whirlwind journey to a New Mexico reservation to try and help her long-lost niece. But when the truth about the kidnapping comes to light, Ellen is left in the center of a storm of controversy, along with the local police chief and a budding journalist. The novel is incredibly fast-paced and nearly lighthearted at times, despite its dark and tangled subject matter. With the trappings of a thriller, Boyd’s meditation on family bonds and white guilt is a curious but rewarding departure for the loudmouthed and hilarious Ellen, and a satisfyingly strange conclusion to the arc of her wild life.

March 1, 2018
Twenty years after her last novel (Terminal Velocity, 1997, etc.), Boyd returns with a wildly ambitious page-turner that defies easy categorization.It's been years since we last saw Boyd's old protagonist, Ellen Burns: Now it's 1999, and Ellen--stable and sober--is living a quiet life in Charleston, caring for her aging mother, who's struggling with dementia. That is, until Page 8 (the book wastes no time). And then one night, after Wheel of Fortune, Ellen is startled by a familiar face on the TV news. A young mother in New Mexico has been kidnapped; her children are missing. Ellen knows that face, though she hasn't seen it in years: It's Ruby, her brother's daughter, now all grown up. Not that Ellen has seen her brother, either: According to the FBI, Royce Burns is dead. Once a celebrated novelist, Royce became a fervent white supremacist, abandoned his multiethnic family, joined up with an underground terrorist organization, and was killed as part of a face-off with the feds. Or at least, that's what they're telling her--though she buried his ashes in a child-sized coffin, Ellen herself has never been totally convinced of his death. And so Ellen, both totally plausible and larger-than-life, finds herself rushing to Ruby's home in New Mexico, still loyal to the idea of her family despite her brother's crimes. But as she digs into the case alongside rugged police chief Ed Blake, she discovers Ruby's story--and Royce's--is even darker and more disturbing than she'd suspected. A gentle romance with Ed bubbling hesitantly in the background, Ellen sets out on a quest to find out the truth about her brother-- and is forced to grapple not only with the crimes of her family, but with her own culpability as a white woman, Royce's sister or not. Unexpectedly light, even chatty, given the subject matter--white supremacy, unspeakable violence, American extremism--the novel is a family drama with all the flourishes of a thriller.Discombobulating--in a good way.

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April 15, 2018
Boyd's first novel in 20 years continues the story of Ellen Burns, last seen in Terminal Velocity (1997), and her political activism. Now sober, Ellen is living a quiet life in Charleston, where she takes care of her invalid mother and works on reconciling her past, especially the death of her novelist-turned-white supremacist brother, Royce, killed during a botched FBI raid. When she sees Royce's daughter on TV asking for any information about the kidnapping of her two multiracial children, Ellen is drawn to her niece not only because of their uncanny resemblance but also because she suspects Royce may still be alive and have something to do with the kidnapping. Ellen is a nuanced protagonist who is by turns empathetic and enraging. Without clearly defined motivations, though, she comes off as a bit of a white savior, and, in turn, revelations tend to fall flat. Ellen's chosen form of activism, however, is endlessly discussable, and the tortured history of Charleston makes for a compelling setting.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)