Four to Midnight: A Novel (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "Every cop who's been on the job for a while can tell you about the call..." (more)
Key Phrases: Sonny Knight, Victor Knight, Gene Desmond (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Flander certainly knows his Philadelphia and his cops. As in his highly praised first novel (Sons of the City), the Philadelphia Daily News reporter plunges readers directly into Sgt. Eddie North's daily life as a cop in a city riven by racial tension. When Sonny Knight, a powerful African-American city councilman, is found beaten on the streets of West Philadelphia, he accuses the first two white police officers to arrive on the scene of inflicting the damage-and then adds Eddie's name to his list when North answers their call for backup. Eddie knows he's innocent, and neither of his cops appears to have been involved in any violence. But the city's police and political leaders, already under pressure from the controversial case of a radical black college professor charged with killing a white cop, seem less than eager to believe North and his men-especially when one of the accused cops appears to have a hidden history of mayhem. Under investigation by internal affairs, Eddie risks his beloved job and several police department friendships as he tries to come up with reasons for Councilman Knight to have lied about his beating. Flander is especially good at showing how decent people on both sides of a racial quagmire can be dangerously blinkered and how easily hard-won loyalties and friendships can be destroyed.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

This complex and riveting procedural centers on the issue of racism among cops--both real racism and that manufactured by others for political gain. Sergeant Eddie North narrates the aftermath of "the call," police terminology for an incident that changes a cop's life forever. In his case, the call is to a West Philadelphia alley where a black city councilman has been severely beaten. The councilman accuses two of North's men of the crime. North sticks with his cops, drawing a hailstorm of media criticism. Flander's depiction of a city set afire by the issue of race is very convincing, reminiscent, in its hard-edged reportorial style, of Wolfe's Bonfire of the Vanities. Flander is evenhanded in his treatment of the highly charged topic. He shows the race card being played, but he also portrays a ring of corrupt cops. And he twists the tension even more by introducing a serial cop killer. Compelling. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow; 1 edition (July 8, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060188987
• ISBN-13: 978-0060188986
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,100,377 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars superb police procedural with a cleverly interwoven message, July 8, 2003

By	Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews (#1 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

In Philadelphia, two white police officers Mutt and Roy, call for supervisory help. Sergeant Eddie North arrives only to have African-American Councilman Sonny Knight scream at him to get the two cops away from him. Later, Sonny accuses Mutt and Roy of beating him up and adds Eddie to his list of accusation. Both officers deny ever touching Sonny and Eddie believes them because he knows he is innocent and neither of the policemen on the scene showed any sins of using force, let alone excessive.

However, the brass, the politicians, and the media think otherwise forcing an Internal Affairs investigation. As this scenario further splits a city divided over another controversial case, Eddie tries to learn why Sonny lied, but soon finds he is drowning in a polluted cesspool of corruption, bad cops, and duality racism.

The inquiries made by the IA staff and by Eddie are intelligent and entertaining so that police procedural fans have a powerful enjoyable tale. However, FOUR TO MIDNIGHT is more than another urban police story. Instead the theme focuses on how racism engulfs everyone in a swamp and destroys the innocent and their friendships. Thus the audience receives a superb police procedural with a cleverly interwoven powerful message.

Harriet Klausner

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars exciting, insightful, literate, July 26, 2003

By A Customer

FOUR TO MIDNIGHT is a very unusual police novel. As a good, juicy page-turner, it delivers the goods and then some - Flander's handling of action sequences is particularly exciting, and very nearly cinematic (I'd definitely like to see the movie of this one). But it's also an exceptional portrait of a city and the cultures within it - Philadelphia, its neighborhoods, its citizens and their multiple mindsets are all conveyed intimately and immediately, so that you instantly feel like you know this place and these people. Finally, the writing is quietly brilliant. There are very few great stylists in this genre, but Flander, in this book, announces himself as one of them - he has drawn together plot, theme, character and place seamlessly and masterfully, creating, not only a great read, but a great novel.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Page turner, December 27, 2003

By	"1drj" (Philadelphia, Pa USA) - See all my reviews

I have read many cop stories but this is one of the tops on my list. From start to finish you can not put this thriller down. What makes it especially interesting is that it seems so real especially since I live in the area. The character development is superb and the street imagery is so lifelike. This is a new author for me and I hope he continues to write more great stories such as this one.