Reap the Whirlwind - by Peter Houlahan (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The bestselling author of Norco '80 returns with a riveting story of mid-1980s San Diego that placed one young Black man at the center of a whirlwind of crime and punishment that profoundly altered Southern California

March 31, 1985. Two white patrol officers in search of a gang member followed a pickup truck carrying seven young Black men up a dirt driveway in the Encanto neighborhood of Southeastern San Diego. Minutes later, gunshots rang out, and the truck's driver, Sagon Penn, fled the scene in an officer's patrol car. The incident stunned the city. What followed would change it forever.

Penn was an idealist who believed in the power of Buddhist chants to bring about the oneness of humanity. The two police officers were rising stars in one of the most progressive police departments in the country, yet one that had suffered more officers killed in the line of duty than any other. While the facts of the case were never in dispute, what remained unresolved was what, if anything, could justify such a violent confrontation? For over two years, a determined prosecutor and a charismatic defense attorney engaged in a sensational courtroom drama that revolved around matters of mental health, racial biases, and the self-image of a once-sleepy beach town grappling with its transformation into a major metropolitan area. The Sagon Penn incident forever altered how San Diego would respond to incidents involving police and communities of color.

Based on court transcripts, personal interviews, and archival police reports, Reap the Whirlwind is a gripping true-crime narrative set against the evocative backdrop of Southern California.

Review Quotes

Amazon, A Best Book of the Month
Los Angeles Daily News, A Most Anticipated Summer Read
Daily Kos, A Notable New Book

"Looking for a reads-like-a-novel-but-isn't true crime book that you'll be thinking about long after you turn the final page? Then you can't go wrong with Reap the Whirlwind. Author Peter Houlahan (Norco '80) scrupulously avoids taking sides as he describes a textbook police stop in '80s San Diego that ended up with 2 cops dead and a civilian ride-along badly injured. Deftly tracing the event through the court case that followed and beyond, Houlahan delivers an unnervingly topical look at a tragic confluence of racial profiling, (un)conscious bias, and mental health issues." --Vannessa Cronin, Amazon Book Review

"[An] engrossing work of reportage."--Michael Giltz, Parade

"A gripping true-crime narrative set against the evocative backdrop of Southern California." --C. Christopher Smith, The Englewood Review of Books

"In meticulous yet utterly spellbinding detail, Houlahan lays out all aspects of the case, from the backstories of the principal figures to the tragic shootings that evening and in particular, the intriguing courtroom battle between prosecution and defense." --Booklist (starred review)

"In a colorful narrative populated with well-drawn characters, Houlahan explains how the case laid bare the city's long-simmering tensions over policing and how the verdict served to turn down the heat, opening meaningful dialogue between police and the Black community. The result is a propulsive legal thriller with deep insight into Southern California policing history." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"[A] fast-paced narrative . . . An assumption-shaking true-crime narrative that transports readers onto the street and into the courtroom." --Kirkus Reviews

"Reap the Whirlwind's novelistic narrative style delivers emotional weight as Houlahan plots out the cataclysmic event and its aftermath, from skewed news reporting to the inner workings of the judicial system to the messy interpersonal drama that followed Penn, whose psyche suffered devastating consequences. When the story develops into a full-fledged courtroom drama, Houlahan remains an impartial, careful observer. A topical, piercing story about how perspectives on law enforcement and innocence shift depending on who you are, Reap the Whirlwind shows how police brutality and racial profiling impact Black victims far beyond the actual incident--even when they make it out alive." --Natalia Berry, BookPage

"Houlahan's documentary-esque book reads like a thriller and offers a panoramic view of the original altercation and everything that occurred as a result . . . We readers come away from the book with a strong sense of time and place in the San Diego of the mid-to-late 1980s, we feel we know Sagon Penn and Donovan Jacobs and many other people who were or became integral to the drama, we get the racial divides existent in the city at the time, we react to the many stunning twists and turns that came out of the two extensive trials. And Houlahan is balanced in how he presents the story, not taking sides but rather telling all that he learned from a wide variety of angles and via many opposing perspectives and allowing us to draw our own conclusions as to who were the real victims and villains in the tragedy. Reap the Whirlwind is a deeply satisfying read that is the true crime version of a courtroom thriller novel." --Brian Greene, Retreats from Oblivion

About the Author

PETER HOULAHAN is an author, freelance writer, and book review contributor. His work has appeared in CrimeReads, Salon, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Daily Mirror, and The Orange County Register. His first book, Norco '80: The True Story of the Most Spectacular Bank Robbery in American History, was a finalist for an Edgar Allan Poe Award, the Hammett Prize, and a Macavity Award. The book has been chosen as a New York Times summer pick; a best book of the year by NPR, The Wall Street Journal, and Amazon; and a Gold Standard selection by the Junior Library Guild. His second nonfiction book, Reap the Whirlwind, was released in 2024. Originally from Southern California, Houlahan now lives in Fairfield County, Connecticut, where he works as an emergency medical technician. Find out more at www.peterhoulahan.com.