Black Water Rising
Author(s): Attica Locke
This is a Serpent's Tail lead crime novel. Reminiscent of early John Grisham and Walter Mosley, this taut, fast-paced novel heralds an exciting and powerful new voice in fiction. Big oil and its twin, corporate corruption, meet their match with Jay Porter, a struggling personal injury attorney down on his luck, who suddenly finds himself in a situation spiralling out of control. Jay knows a boat ride on the Bayou won't measure up to his wife's expectations of a birthday celebration, but it's all he can afford. Once a man of virtuous ideals, he is now just waiting for a break; all that changes when midway through dinner, gun shots and sharp cries for help ring out. When he fishes a woman out of the Bayou, his sixth sense tells him this charitable act will lead to no good. Unravelling the woman's past, Jay finds himself enmeshed in a web that weaves together greed, politics, and corporate corruption. And the secrets of his own past come back to either haunt or save him.
Product Information
Shortlisted for Orange Prize for Fiction 2010.
Derek writes: Attica Locke is a great discovery for us crime readers and Black Water Rising is a great debut thriller. Set in Houston in 1981, it's the story of Jay Porter, a lawyer who might have come straight from a Dennis Lehane novel - struggling to make ends meet, a one man band with his biggest hope for a client a low rent call girl. This client, if she can ever get her shit together, might just be awarded a settlement that will keep Jay afloat for another month. His wife is heavily pregnant and as the book opens Jay is taking her on a moonlight cruise on the bayou, but he can't even pull that off properly. The boat is tired and dingy; Jay and Bernie the only two passengers. Jake's American Dream is a simply one - his wife, his baby - and in the child he sees a new start for himself. Then the humid night air is shattered by a scream and Jay, against all his instincts and his better judgement, impulsively dives into the bayou and saves the life of a drowning woman. So begins a spiral that drags Jay even lower, pulling him into a murder investigation that entangles his past with the money from the big end of town. Beautifully crafted with a fine sense of place, Jay Porter and his struggle for justice will stay with you long after you turn the last page of this stunning new book.
General Fields
- :
- : Profile Books Ltd
- : Serpent's Tail
- : 01 November 2009
- : 216mm X 135mm
- : United Kingdom
- : books
Special Fields
- : 448
- : 1
- : Paperback
- : Attica Locke
