When I learned that award-winning journalist and talk show host Tamron Hall had written her first novel, AS THE WICKED WATCH, I was eager to read it. I have long been a fan of hers, especially her work covering true crime.

Of course, writers understand the adage of writing what they know. As a result, protagonist Jordan Manning closely resembles a younger version of Hall --- a Black news reporter who is making a name for herself primarily covering crime in the Chicago metro area. Jordan, who is originally from Texas, has quickly learned about Chicago by being on its streets every day, and that gives her a good foundation for what will be the case that could make or break her young career.

"Tamron Hall definitely leans on her own experience to give us an up-close and personal depiction of the TV journalist and the incredibly fast pace with which they must work on a daily basis. She is off to a good start here..."

AS THE WICKED WATCH opens with the realization that there is a growing wave of discontent over the number of unsolved murders of Black women on the south and west sides of the city. No doubt this will draw reciprocal comparisons to the amount of attention that the police department is giving to this matter and how it might have been a different story if the victims and missing young ladies were white. It’s a tough subject but one that Jordan is definitely up to tackling. Even though she is not originally from the area, she can easily infiltrate the neighborhoods that have been suffering from this serial crime spree because she happens to fall into the same demographic herself.

No story will be bigger for Jordan than Masey James, a 15-year-old who never made it home from school one day. As a television news journalist, she conducts her own investigation of the facts so that she can present the most accurate coverage of the case. She finds that Masey was a well-liked honor student who came from a loving home with a supportive family and plenty of friends. Was she specifically targeted, or just the next victim of a brutal serial killer of young women?

As Jordan gets deeper and deeper into the case, things begin to snowball --- especially once Masey’s body is located by a pedestrian who sees it laying in an overgrown former playground area. Now the police have some tough questions to face, not only from Jordan and the media but from the neighborhoods that have been victimized by this crime spree. For Jordan, it will become a major spectacle that reminded me a bit of Tom Wolfe’s THE BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES, where people seem to come out of the woodwork to join the cause of a young person from a minority neighborhood being murdered in cold blood.

This situation, which at one point seemed ideal as a star-making opportunity, is in danger of quickly getting out of control for Jordan. Also, the hunt is continuing for this now high-profile killer who may be hiding in plain sight. Jordan definitely takes it personally as she recognizes that nothing pierces the heart more violently than the moment you learn of someone’s demise for all eternity --- especially someone you love.

I always enjoy seeing the role of the press in the media and how it plays out in works of both fiction and nonfiction. Tamron Hall definitely leans on her own experience to give us an up-close and personal depiction of the TV journalist and the incredibly fast pace with which they must work on a daily basis. She is off to a good start here, and I dare readers not to be moved by her dedication, which reads: “To the countless children missing or taken by the darkness of the world. You are more than a story. You are more than words on a page. You are loved, you are missed, and you are not forgotten.”