SAME SAME
“Brothers under the same skin, Same Same sketches the lives of two talented journalists, one white, one black, in a novel that is part thriller and part morality tale… timely and timeless.” — Eleanor Clift, Newsweek / The Daily Beast
SAME SAME is a political suspense novel about friendship, race, and power—told through two men who grew up in the same small Virginia town but lived worlds apart.
Samuel Lewis, raised in a working-class African American family, and Hamilton Armstrong III, the only son of a wealthy white family tied to the Ku Klux Klan, meet through mischief and—despite the racial barriers of the pre–Civil Rights era—a lifelong friendship is formed.
Driven by a shared love of writing, they build journalism careers in New York, endure dangerous—and raunchy—moments in Vietnam, and eventually land at the same Atlanta newspaper as dueling political columnists:
- Sam pens the conservative viewpoint
- Ham delivers the liberal perspective
Unexpected excitement enters their lives as a bomb meant for Sam kills a colleague in the midst of their coverage of Barack Obama’s rise to the presidency.
SAME SAME: What The Reviews Say
“Brothers under the same skin, Same Same sketches the lives of two talented journalists, one white, one black, in a novel that is part thriller and part morality tale. Doug Smith, a ground breaking reporter, undoubtedly lived the themes echoed in this book and he skillfully weaves a tale with a message that is both timely and timeless.”
“Doug Smith has written a fetching race-drama that flips the script on group assumption about life, love and politics. There is energy here, start to finish, and the tension puts the reader on his toes, then back to his heels. The author is quite savvy about the newspaper industry, mindful of its decline and guarded about newspapers way forward. But it is race politics in America, glancing off White House politics, where the novel takes on currency and makes itself a worthy book for our time.”
“People say newspapers are dying. Well, Doug Smith’s new rollercoaster novel certainly sends them out with a bang. Murder, sex, race, politics, scandal—all set in the newsroom. I love it!”
“Doug Smith allows us to accompany the main characters during portions of their lives’ wanderings without holding our hands. We can insert ourselves and our experiences along the way and appreciate their trials and errors.
Don’t rush to the end. Savor the mystery in this literary journey. Same Same is a readers treat.”
“I commend Doug Smith on the latest version of his classic novel, “Same Same”. It includes wise observations that are helpful in negotiating the special challenges of today’s world.”
