“City of Hate” was written by East Dallas neighbor Timothy Miller.
After the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Dallas earned a new nickname: City of Hate.
Now, the moniker is the name of a new book written by an East Dallas neighbor, whose characters stumble upon the holy grail of JFK conspiracies while trying to solve their friend’s murder.
“City of Hate” has been a 13-year journey for Casa View neighbor and author Timothy Miller.
“I’ve been writing for years, and this is my debut novel,” Miller said. “It’s a pretty complex read, but it captures the essence of the underbelly of Dallas. It was really fun to write.”
Set in Dallas in the 1990s, the crime noir novel follows recovering alcoholic Hal Scott, who discovers his friend dead in his downtown apartment. All fingers point to Scott as the murderer.
Scott turns to “Lemon,” the self-proclaimed bastard son of Lee Harvey Oswald. Lemon’s mother used to dance at the Carousel Club, owned by Jack Ruby, and has a cache of conspiracy books. The FBI and CIA want what Lemon has discovered in his mother’s attic.
Miller’s mother was downtown, just blocks away, when Kennedy was assassinated. Her experience inspired Miller to write the book.
Timothy Miller
“I wanted to write a story about people you may not have known were there during the assassination of a president,” Miller said.
Reviewers have praised “City of Hate” for its frank discussions of difficult topics, such as addiction, emptiness and political frustration. The Bookends Review wrote:
[Miller] knows how we feel. Through Hal, he commiserates with us and pours out a potent cocktail of human emotions, reactions to modern life in a modern city. Most of it is relatable, not the least of which is Hal’s rage against a political system set up by the wealthy, for the wealthy, or for corrupt politicians who do what the wealthy demand. That sense of political trapped-ness is very on point in 2020 America.
“As a brand new writer, it takes several years to build a great readership, but we’re getting a lot of great responses,” Miller said.
A paperback copy of “City of Hate” can be purchased for $16 at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million or anywhere books are sold.
