Great Black Hope
by Rob Franklin · 2025
Buy on AmazonI love a debut that shouts its arrival and a novel that thrills while making you think. Artful and transporting, Great Black Hope is a book I couldn’t wait to get lost in. Smith is upwardly mobile but spiraling out at breakneck speed. One of his closest friends has died mysteriously, and just as he’s trying to numb his brain with illicit substances, he runs afoul of law enforcement. As a queer young Black man from an elite Atlanta family, with family money and a Stanford degree, Smith knows his identity matters. He’s privileged and protected by virtue of his class, but vulnerable on account of his race and sexuality. So when he’s arrested for cocaine possession in the Hamptons, the next moves are crucial. This compulsive coming of age novel traces the ups, downs and twists in Smith’s journeys, from grief to glam party circuit to gritty backrooms to recovery and beyond.