Reprisal
by .Simon and Schuster, $3.00.
Novels about race hatred have shown a marked tendency to go all out for melodrama, at the expense of truth and its sobering complexities. Reprisal is an exception. Mr. Gordon’s story, which hinges on a young Negro’s decision to revenge the lynching of his wife, is powered by a quiet, controlled anger that dramatizes its point without histrionics or oversimplification. The characters are intelligently conceived and skillfully individualized. A Literary Guild selection.