ATLANTA BLUES by Robert Lamb
Novelist Robert Lamb takes a gritty look at the underside of life in Atlanta in his new book ATLANTA BLUES. This title is a play on words as it can refer to (1) a feeling of sadness engendered by the city, (2) a look at the police force of Atlanta, (3) or a song about the city which is filled with melancholy. In a strange way all three definitions fit.
The setting is Atlanta in 1981, and the main character is a newspaper writer named Ben Blake. He spends a lot of his nights riding around the city with some of Atlanta's finest policemen. One of his favorites is Rick Casenelli, a transplanted northerner who knows the city like the back of his hand.
One day Ben is approached by a woman who lives in a city north of Atlanta. Her teenage daughter has run away from home. She thinks maybe the girl has headed for Atlanta, and asks for Ben's help in trying to find her. Ben doesn't want to get involved, but because he knows what it feels like to lose a loved one he agrees. Ben's loss was the death of his wife.
Ben and Rick start an investigation into the girl's disappearance that quickly leads them to the seedier parts of the city. They also stumble across two murder victims who might have had some relationship to the missing girl. Looking for her and discovering why she left home is a descent into hell.
Lamb knows Atlanta and he knows all aspects of the city. He also knows how to create characters who grab our attention and our interest. Ben Blake becomes our eyes, ears and conscience in this investigation. When he is shocked, the reader is shocked; when he is saddened the reader is saddened; and when he has hope the reader has hope. It is a total immersion of the reader by the writer.
ATLANTA BLUES is a story that is lean, mean and clean. There is no extraneous story telling on Lamb's part. He sticks to his basic plot and makes every word count. What he relates isn't a pretty story or one that is actually filled with hope. It is just a true reflection of life in Atlanta then, which is a reflection on life in Atlanta now.
Powerful, disturbing, heart breaking and poignant, ATLANTA BLUES is a gripping, gritty story that will hold you enthralled from beginning to end.
ATLANTA BLUES is published by Harbor House. It contains 240 pages and sells for $24.95.