Ride the Lightning

On June 27, 1973, the maximum security penitentiary at McAlester, Okla., was rocked by a bloody riot. A day later, the prison was a smoldering ruin and four people were dead. Mitchell, a lawyer who once served as chairman of Oklahoma's pardon and parole board, updates the time frame of this event to the present for his first novel, a tale of political ambition, backroom dealing and greed. Although the real revolt was a protest against prison conditions, Mitchell spices the story by casting the melee as a cover for the escape attempt of two hardened murderers who avoided the electric chair thanks to the Supreme Court's abolition of the death penalty in 1973 (the title refers to a weary executioner's injunction to a prisoner as he throws the switch). At the center of the story stands Eric Williams, a recent addition to the parole board who is caught in the uprising during a meeting of the board. The narrative is as much about Eric's transformation from cynical and ambitious political appointee as it is about the riot, which doesn't occur until late in the book. Mitchell knows his history and prisons and has a good story to tell. But his writing, sometimes stiff, sometimes overheated, never settles into the natural narrative voice his material deserves. (Apr.)