SHOOTING AT SHADOWS

In McMullin’s debut crime novel, a freelance photographer is caught up in a web of neo-Nazi violence.

Photojournalist Ethan McGuire takes pictures of those on the fringes of society: tattoo artists, cock fighters, spiritualists, burn victims. His current job has him tagging along with a group of white supremacists staging a rally in the Finger Lakes town of Geneva, New York. Ethan chooses this subject in part because he’s disturbed by the casual racism that permeates the suburbs of Rochester, where his daughters—10-year-old Mary and teenage Kath—live with his ex-wife, Robin. The photo shoot doesn’t go quite as planned—the skinheads are overwhelmed by protestors and, in an attempt to save one of the younger racists from getting beaten with a baseball bat, Ethan winds up striking a protester in the head with his camera. Due in part to this temporary confusion in loyalties, Ethan decides to pursue the skinheads project deeper. “The story isn’t simple because racism isn’t simple, people aren’t simple,” he tells his photo agent. “I haven’t figured out whether these are monsters wearing effective disguises or there’s a bit of a monster inside all of us.” Little does Ethan know, but he hasn’t even met the real monsters yet—the kind who rob banks and commit murders…and sometimes carry badges. McMullin documents Ethan’s journey with photographic precision, as here, where he describes a trip to a gun dealer: “Spread out on the table were the parts of a rifle…It appeared new and the oily metal surfaces were shiny in the clear morning sun. Unlike the clarity of the day, the young people looked a little bleary eyed, but still listened and watched with as much concentration as they could muster.” Though set in 2010, the novel feels particularly timely, and the perpetually zoomed-in Ethan serves as a compelling guide to this extremist subculture. One hopes that McMullin has further adventures planned for his unlikely hero.

A dark and gripping tale set on the far-right fringe.