Details at Ten - Hardcover

Garland, Ardella

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0684873753 ISBN 13: 9780684873756

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2000

Synopsis

With this heart-stopping new thriller, Ardella Garland -- pen name of bestselling novelist Yolanda Joe -- introduces one of the sassiest, smartest, and most compelling characters ever to crack a mystery: television news reporter Georgia Barnett. In a tale as immediate as this evening's news, Details at Ten follows the charismatic Georgia as she struggles with justice, truth, and the ratings while pursuing a terrifying story of a child missing in the midst of gang warfare in Chicago. Little Butter, as the girl is called, has disappeared after witnessing a drive-by shooting on the South Side and identifying the criminals' car on live TV during an interview with Georgia. Haunted by the recognition of her responsibility for the child's fate and heartbroken at seeing her old South Side neighborhood devastated by violence, our whip-smart reporter throws herself into the search for Butter -- dragging news producers, directors, cameramen, and support staff behind her kicking and screaming. For as the take-no-prisoners Georgia quickly discovers, the last thing her ratings-driven TV news czars want to cover is another tragedy in a poor black neighborhood. Georgia uses her power as a television personality in smart, hilarious, and heartfelt ways as this shocking story unfolds with the pace of a runaway train. Our daredevil reporter's pursuit of the truth takes her into dangerous territory, but she's not there alone. This is one woman who won't take no for an answer, but everywhere she turns, there in her way stands a masterpiece of a man, Detective Doug Eckart. He's a tough cop and he's not about to let a TV reporter nose in on the case, but Georgia's drive is relentless and she keeps scooping him at the most sensitive moments. These made-for-each-other enemies agree to a sexually tense truce while gang violence escalates, informers turn up dead, and time to find the little girl seems to be running out. As a simple missing-persons case mushrooms into a citywide effort to nab one of the most powerful gang leaders in Chicago, Georgia, Doug, and the crew of Channel Eight News find themselves struggling to do what's right in a world of violence, racism, and fear. In Details at Ten, Ardella Garland takes her readers into a world of both terror and hope with a powerful tale of innocence, justice, and, finally, love.

About this title

Review

Georgia Barnett is a Chicago television news reporter with ideals but no illusions. She knows the pressures and expectations of her highly politicized profession, and as an African American woman, she recognizes that her work will inevitably be judged within the constructs of race and gender. When a young black girl disappears after identifying a drive-by shooter's car on live TV during an interview with Georgia, the reporter is caught between guilt-ridden responsibility for the child's fate and her awareness that the powers-that-be want nothing to do with another story from the projects.

Detective Doug Eckart understands that all too well, and it's not long before Georgia and Doug join forces to find Butter and bring her abductors to justice. Their search takes them through Chicago's South Side, a once-proud neighborhood brought to its knees by drugs, violence, and apathy. As Georgia moves gingerly through the minefields of gangland territory, she becomes both the pursuer and the pursued; treachery and danger are the hallmarks of this bleak world.

Georgia is immensely likeable: her quick wit and no-nonsense feminism may remind readers of another African American mystery heroine, Charlotte Carter's sassy, brassy sax player Nanette Hayes (Drumsticks, Rhode Island Red). Her personality and sarcastic asides buoy a novel handicapped by an illogical plot that unfolds at an often glacial pace; author Ardella Garland (nom de plume of novelist Yolanda Joe) may have spent 12 years as a CBS news writer, but this work lacks the suspense of late-breaking news. To readers captivated by Georgia's voice, however, such shortcomings will no doubt be minor, easily forgiven offenses. --Kelly Flynn

About the Author

Ardella Garland is the pen name of Yolanda Joe, author of the Blackboard bestselling novels Falling Leaves of Ivy, He Say, She Say, Bebe's by Golly Wow, and This Just In. Joe is a graduate of Yale University and the Columbia University School of Journalism, and worked as a newswriter at CBS in Chicago for twelve years. Raised by her grandparents, she grew up and still lives in Chicago. The name Ardella Garland is a combination of her grandparents' names and was created to honor them.

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0684873753
• ISBN 13: 9780684873756
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 208