A series of brutal home invasions terrified Los Angeles in 1937. They ended in Chicago a year later with the arrest of African American teenager Robert Nixon, igniting racial tensions in an already appallingly divided city.
Tortured in custody and portrayed by the press in the most lurid and flagrantly racist terms, Nixon faced an all-white jury. It would be the fastest conviction in the history of Cook County. Used as inspiration for Richard Wright's classic social protest novel, Native Son, the case against Nixon is a still-relevant examination of bigotry, suppressed rage, and the making of a murderer.
The Brick Slayer is part of Bloodlands, a chilling collection of short page-turning historical narratives from bestselling true-crime master Harold Schechter. Spanning a century in our nation's murderous past, Schechter resurrects nearly forgotten tales of madmen and thrill-killers that dominated the most sensational headlines of their day.
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[The child of divorce, seven-year-old Jimmie Thompson lived with his parental grandparents, Mr and Mrs Bert Thompson of Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania] ***(Amazon Original Stories, 28 June 2018, ebook, 80 pages, Prime Reading)
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I enjoyed this third mini-dose of true crime. The Brick Slayer is set a lot later than the other two short narratives. I was appalled by the way Nixon, just eleven-years-old was convicted with no real evidence against him. The boy didn't stand a chance, an all-white jury and already demonised by the media - a perfect scapegoat. I've never read Native Son but I've heard of it and The Brick Slayer intrigued me enough to want to read the novel.
