About this item

‘Deacon King Kong is deeply felt, beautifully written and profoundly humane; McBride’s ability to inhabit his characters’ foibled, all-too-human interiority helps transform a fine book into a great one’ The New York Times Book Review

‘A hilarious, pitch-perfect comedy set in the Brooklyn projects of the late 1960s, This alone may qualify it as one of the year’s best novels,’ The Washington Post

From the winner of a National Book Award and author of The Good Lord Bird, soon to be a TV series starring Ethan Hawke

The year is 1969, In a housing project in south Brooklyn, a shambling old church deacon called Sportscoat shoots – for no apparent reason – the local drug-dealer who used to be part of the church’s baseball team, The repercussions of that moment draw in the whole community, from Sportscoat’s best friend – Hot Sausage – to the local Italian mobsters, the police (corrupt and otherwise), and the stalwart ladies of the Five Ends Baptist Church,

DEACON KING KONG is a book about a community under threat, about the ways people pull together in an age when the old rules are being rewritten, It is very funny in places, and heartbreaking in others, From a prize-winning storyteller, this New York Times bestseller shows us that not all secrets are meant to be hidden, and that the communities we build are fragile but vital,
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What Goodreads readers are saying:

***** ‘Deacon King Kong is one of those novels whose brilliance sneaks up on you, I haven’t been this pleasantly surprised by a book in a while,’

***** ‘I do believe I just finished one of my all time favorite books, I loved every minute spent with Sportcoat and his community, A good old fashioned yarn shot through with truth, spirit, and humor, I LOVED it!’