Random Things Tours: A Hate Crime in Brooklyn by David G. Secular

Brooklyn is considered a beacon of multiculturalism on the US East Coast, but it comes also with risks and challenges. The diversity is a blessing, but in legal terms, it may be challenging as it can involve a conflict of different customs and interpretations of co-existence.

A Hate Crime in Brooklyn, the debut novel of the American-British criminal defense attorney and legal writer David G. Secular, explores such an episode. 

After a random interaction with a Black man, Sylvester Stanley, Sofia Hushemi, an Albanian immigrant, lost a precious ring. Precious both in terms of value and of prestige, as it was given by her brother-in-law, Victor, the kingpin of Albanian-American mafia. Her family connections may bring with a specific way of seeing the world, where things are rarely random and most probably things happen for a reason: sending a warning, possibly. Maybe, after all, Sylvester was not just a jogger crossing Prospekt Park. Shortly after he will be attacked and all the leads may go to Sofia, who now risks to spend the rest of her life in prison.

Although a debut novel, A Hate Crime in Brooklyn is not only using advanced legal knowledge, but also a very elaborated plot as well as characters. It feels like we may turn into detectives, trying to figure out the transnational mafia ties and the family allegiances, while understanding the enormous polarized media pressure. 

This is a recommended book to anyone interested in a crime story set in Brooklyn with a very different diversity touch.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own