On New Year's Eve in New Orleans, 1972, Mark James Essex began one of the most violent and deadly sniper attacks on policemen that any American city had ever seen. It was yet another tragic journey down the road of race hatred, and before it ended one week later, hundreds of heavily armed police and a Marine Corps assault helicopter would be called to a burning downtown hotel to battle phantom gunmen who refused to surrender or to be killed. Peter Hernon, the author of Terrible Thunder, lives near Chicago with his wife, Janice, and two daughters. An editor for the Chicago Tribune, he has written five books and was co-author of a bestselling look at the Anheuser-Busch dynasty: Under the Influence. He worked as a journalist in New Orleans.