Robert Suydam defeats the case against him and Malone returns to his day job of fighting illegal immigration in Red Hook. He and Mr Howard are trying to find evidence that Robert Suydam is mentally unstable at the request of the Suydam family so they can pinch all the money. We then shift to Detective Malone’s perspective he is helping Mr Howard take the book page Att. The deeply affects Charles who decides to help Robert Suydam wake the Sleeping King. He proves he’s not bullshitting by moving the mansion around in space and time (like a reverse Tardis).Ĭharles returns home and finds that his father has been killed by Mr Howard who was looking for the page from Ma Att’s book. Robert Suydam is racist as hell and starts talking about a Sleeping King who he will raise and use to destroy the world. When they go to leave Detective Malone states that he is aware Charles took a page from the book he delivered to Ma Att in order to stop her using magic.Ĭharles arrives to perform at Robert Suydam’s mansion but it is empty and Robert confirms this is a dress rehearsal for the main event. They want to know about Robert Suydam, a wealthy white man who is offering Charles an obscene amount of money to perform with his guitar at an upcoming event. We then jump forward in time by a month and Charles is being questioned by two police officers, Detective Malone and Mr. The story opens with Charles delivering a book to Ma Att. The first part of the novella is told from Charles perspective and the second is seen through the eyes of Detective Malone. The novel follows Charles “Tommy” Tester who lives with his sick father and runs schemes as a street hustler in Harlem in 1924.

The ballad of black tom