In 1919 in Omaha Nebraska on the fictional street of Clandish, a young Caucasian woman was raped by a man of African-American origins. In retaliation, a race riot took place where numerous characters were caught up in its aftereffects. What had happened to lead up to the race riot? KINGS OF BROKEN THINGS by Theodore Wheeler attempts to lead the readers to what happened using multiple characters to tell their story as well as how they saw things from their perspective.

Reading THE KINGS OF BROKEN THINGS by Theodore Wheeler from cover to cover, I can tell that a whole lot of research went inside the story because Theodore Wheeler not only paints the characters with a paintbrush, but he carefully attempts to include the scenery, the background and also attempts to make characters as fascinating as he can. The recreation of 1918 and 1919 is spectacular and very vivid; my favorite parts included how corruption ran the town as well as the street; I also enjoyed the thin line that was drawn between being kindness and manipulation.

Having said that, I felt that the story had a little too much going on and it was difficult for me to find a focus on particular events or to try to tie them together like a present, which might frustrate readers who are seeking well-defined reads. I also was trying to understand how all these disparate characters connect with one another besides just knowing each other.

For a reader that is seeking a lesson on how corruption works as well as history of Omaha , Nebraska post World War I as well as for a fascinating and panoramic read, KINGS OF BROKEN THINGS by Theodore Wheeler is a novel that should satisfy those needs.