Atlanta native's ‘Great Black Hope’ explores risky messiness of young adulthood

Atlanta native Rob Franklin has delivered a dazzling literary debut with his novel “Great Black Hope” (Summit Books, $28.99), a zeitgeisty social commentary on race and class among a rarefied subculture of New York City and its intersection with the legal system and the media.

Think “Bonfire of the Vanities” meets “Bright Lights, Big City” for the pre-pandemic era.

Smith is a gay, Black Stanford grad from a wealthy family in Atlanta, working at a startup in Manhattan. His closest friends are his roommate, Elle, the Black daughter of a neo soul icon, and Carolyn, a white socialite. Both beautiful and privileged, they are Smith’s entrée to a glittery social scene of private parties, club nights and “afters” ― an endless string of late-night after parties fueled by coke, booze and sex.