Growing up in Mississippi in the '50s, I was insulated from the harsher side of life. I'd never heard of Phenix City, AL, until a movie came out in 1955 - "The Phenix City Story." I didn't see it (I was just 10 then), but I got the impression this was a real and a bad place...and I was right.

All these years later and I've revisited those days through this strong novel, based on fact, by Southern writer Ace Atkins. I've read some strong stuff in my life - Burke's Dave Robicheaux series contains some of the most wrenching events in print, but the things that happened in Phenix City drop evil into your life to stay. I found it hard to shake some of the images Atkins unfolds.

There is good at work here as well and Edmund Burke's quote about evil triumphing when good men do nothing is brought into sharp focus by 1954 Phenix City. It makes for a read best done in daylight. Night reading allows the forces of darkness to crowd a little too close for me. 

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Found "Good People" to be a surprisingly good read. It starts with a bang, then introduces two strong characters (the good people), puts them in really frightening situations that challenge their integrity, closes with an even bigger bang, then offers a denouement that I found highly effective AND original. This could be a tight thriller of a suspense movie, but it IS a ripping good read. This author, Marcus Sakey, writes well.