Trouble the Saints by Alaya Dawn Johnson

Johnson captures the conversational rhythms of the hard-boiled denizens of the New York crime scene beautifully, allowing readers a new perspective on the power struggles between crime bosses and corrupt law enforcers jockeying for power at the end of Prohibition. They share a deep friendship with Tamara Anderson, a dancer/hostess and card-reading Oracle, able to see the patterns of power and resistance that drive their entwined fates. Phyllis, is one of these, has enjoyed a decade-long, glamorous existence as a paid assassin, but longs to leave her soul-staining profession to reunite with her former lover, Devajyoti Patil, an undercover agent who has powers and tragic secrets of his own. They are both feared and coveted by whites who crave power, and symbolize the ambiguous status enjoyed in Depression-era America by mixed-race individuals who could “pass” as white. In this imaginative setting, certain people of color are blessed (or cursed) with “saint’s hands” that manifest various uncanny skills. Phyllis LeBlanc is an assassin for a vicious mob boss, possessing a supernatural gift for throwing knives with deadly accuracy.

Best known for her YA science fiction and fantasy, Johnson returns to adult fiction in this alternate-reality noir adventure set in New York in 1940.

Trouble the Saints by Alaya Dawn Johnson