Take yourself back to Mississippi in 1951. Not exactly the hot-spot for a diverse population. This book takes place during this year in a town called Thebes. The town is located off of swampy rivers and bog land, and there is only one way in to the town and one way out–and that is by boat–on canals controlled by the white population.
This town is run completely by whites, and the blacks are indepted to them for life. They run the stores, they supply the rations, they own the banks, and they monitor and control everything that comes in and out of the town. The whites have also set up their own form of crime and punishment in the Old South–Thebes State Penal Farm (Colored).
Sam Vincent, an Arkansas lawyer, is contacted by a Chicago laywer to investigate the prison. Because Vincent is low on cash and clients, he accepts the assignment. Before leaving, he tells his friend, Arkansas State Police Sgt. Earl Swagger where he is going, as no white has ever been to the prison before, unless they are employeed there. When Vincent fails to return, Swagger, bound by friendship and promise, heads out to find him, but what he finds instead is a horror beyond anything he could ever imagine.
The entire penal farm is a savage world, and death is the only salvation. Swagger finds Vincent and frees him, but barely excapes with his life–and his mind. He vows to return to set things right and to destroy the horror that he has witnessed. But he can’t do it alone.
An excellent, quick-paced 500 page novel. If you can’t handle rape, torture, and other serious acts of violence, then this book is not for you.