Smoke Kings – An Interview with Author Jahmal Mayfield

Smoke Kings has the most ingenious premise I have encountered in a crime novel in recent years. Nate Evers is a black political activist. When his cousin is murdered, Evers turns his back on peaceful protest and, with three close associates, begins kidnapping the descendants of hate crime perpetrators and forcing them to confront their past and pay reparations to a community fund. But such a group is bound to make enemies, and Evers and his friends soon find themselves incurring the wrath of a violent white supremacist and a dogged former cop with some racist views of his own. Who will triumph, or rather just survive in the inevitably violent confrontation the novel is heading towards? It keeps you guessing till the final page.

I had some reservations about reading Smoke Kings. I was concerned it would be a political screed, more concerned with lecturing the reader than entertaining them. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Jahmal Mayfield’s writing is entertaining, empathetic and enlightening, and Smoke Kings is destined to become one of the most important novels of 2024.

I had the pleasure of talking to Jahmal about his new novel.

Interviewer: Smoke Kings has a terrific premise of turning the idea of reparations into a noir narrative. How did you come up with this punchy, gripping idea?

The conversation around reparations is not a new one. It is, though, for many, an uncomfortable conversation. I think the best art challenges us, and so it felt right for me to include this controversial idea in the book. When I conceived of reparations as one of the plot points, I knew some would put down the book just upon seeing that word. I decided that was all the more reason to lean into the idea.

Interviewer: Smoke Kings won a terrific early endorsement from Don Winslow. Who are your inspirations as a writer, both in and outside the literary world?

I like to describe myself as a reader first, and a writer second. My bookshelves are warped from the weight of all the copies being held on them. Don Winslow is absolutely one of my inspirations. I remember reading the first lines of SAVAGES and thinking “This guy is insane.” And that’s actually the kind of reaction you hope you bring out of a reader. Beyond Winslow, there’s Dennis Lehane, Walter Mosley, James Baldwin, James Lee Burke, Lee Child, and on and on. I’m inspired by any author with the courage to write something that is true and honest.

Interviewer: I hadn’t watched Kimberly Jones ‘How Can We Win?’ video until after I read your book. It’s a
powerful indictment of endemic corruption. Describe its impact on you and the plotting of Smoke
Kings.

What first struck me while watching the video was Kimberly’s clear anger and rage. The second thing that captured my attention was how eloquent and thoughtful she was with her words and her argument. I’d never seen these two sort of sparring realities work in concert in this way. It felt to me as though I was witnessing something truly remarkable. And then when she ended with the line “And they are lucky that what Black people are looking for is equality and not revenge”…I knew I had the premise for a pretty good revenge thriller.

Interviewer: You’re very good at writing conflicted characters. Nate Evers and Mason Farmer both have strong but very different belief systems, hinged on an inner anger. How did you get inside these characters’ heads and present them to the reader in an engaging way?

First of all, thank you so much for the compliment. Now, to answer your question, I think with all characters it is important to understand their perspectives. We’re all shaped by our experiences, our allies and enemies. Our backgrounds. Our heartaches. Our triumphs. It’s one of the writer’s central jobs, I believe, to tell us something about the human condition when we write. I don’t want a villain who is all bad. Nor any character who should be fitted for angel wings. So, when I started crafting Nate and Mason, I kept asking them to reveal who they really were to me. I interrogated them every step of the way while drafting the novel.

Interviewer: Describe the political situation regarding race in the US. Does your novel argue things are getting better or worse?

My little cousin was murdered during the summer of 2018, and then we had the execution of George Floyd a few years later. When I started writing SMOKE KINGS, it was from a deep and abiding place of hostility. Over a few drafts, though, I just came to the realization that questions about race in the US are far more nuanced and complex than many of us care to admit. I shifted my thought process to making SMOKE KINGS more of a conversation about the issue of race. I’m pleased that most of the early reviews have noted my balanced and thoughtful handling of the topic. I worked hard to make it so.