Writing in the tradition of Dennis Lehane and Greg Iles, Attica Locke, a powerful new voice in American fiction, delivers a brilliant debut thriller that readers will not soon forget.
Jay Porter is hardly the lawyer he set out to be. His most promising client is a low-rent call girl and he runs his fledgling law practice out of a dingy strip mall. But he's long since made peace with not living the American Dream and carefully tucked away his darkest sins: the guns, the FBI file, the trial that nearly destroyed him.
Houston, Texas, 1981. It is here that Jay believes he can make a fresh start. That is, until the night in a boat out on the bayou when he impulsively saves a woman from drowning—and opens a Pandora's box. Her secrets put Jay in danger, ensnaring him in a murder investigation that could cost him his practice, his family, and even his life. But before he can get to the bottom of a tangled mystery that reaches into the upper echelons of Houston's corporate power brokers, Jay must confront the demons of his past.
With pacing that captures the reader from the first scene through an exhilarating climax, Black Water Rising marks the arrival of an electrifying new talent.
In 1981 Houston, black attorney Jay Porter has a lot of information on a recent homicide, but has several reasons not to share his knowledge with the cops. Besides not trusting the police, an offshoot of growing up in the city's slums, Porter knows if he speaks up he goes under the spotlight, and he has a lot to hide. Back when he was nineteen in 1970 he was on trial for inciting a riot and for conspiracy to commit murder of a federal agent; he knows he was fortunate that there was a juror who lived near his future father-in-law's church. He didn't even know Bernie who is now his wife or her dad Reverend Boykins at that time, but they and his flock were there for him. He wants his felonious history to remain concealed and a tryst with Mayor Cynthia Maddox to stay secret as he is beginning to make it in the middle class and wants the best for his wife and their new child.
On the other hand, Porter also realizes by his silence, an innocent man is being condemned. Although his conscience bothers him, he weighs being the Good Samaritan against the impact on his family and his career.
This is a terrific historical legal thriller that brings to life Houston in 1981 as the civil rights movement remains strong but not quite as effective as it had been. Jay is a fabulous lead character as he decides to let the innocent dupe take the fall rather than challenge the city's powerful, but each time he shaves his conscience bothers him. Although too many subplots that help anchor time and place take away from the main theme, sub-genre fans will enjoy this strong character driven tale as Jay has nothing to lose materially with silence, but everything to lose with speaking out.
In her debut novel, Black Water Rising, Attica Locke gives us a literary thriller that grabs us from the opening page to the last page. It is Houston, Texas 1981 and Jay Porter, a struggling lawyer without two pennies to rub together, is about to take his pregnant wife on a boat ride on the bayou as a birthday celebration. As if they both have foresight of what is to come, each is hesitant for their own reasons on whether they should take this trip. Jay wonders if this will meet his wife's expectations. Bernie, his wife, wonders if the boat will survive the trip but she does not want her husband to be disappointed. But those thoughts are thrown aside as Jay pulls a drowning woman out of the water. He knows this is the right thing to do, but his inner voice and past tells him, he should not have gotten involved with a white woman running away from the black side of town. After leaving the woman on the police station steps, Jay and Bernie go home. But Jay cannot leave well enough alone, and wants to know more about this woman and as each clue he uncovers brings danger to him and his family, Jay wonders if he can turn away before he is drawn back into his past which he was barely able to survive.
This book provides us with a wonderful treat as besides the mystery story to be solved, there is the story of how Jay became the person that he is. It is a story about young people taking charge to bring about social change in the 1970s and how the establishment used their power to make sure that this change did not happen. This storyline is blended seamlessly with the mystery story and shows us that while things change the more things remain the same. The author did an excellent job of presenting time and location. The reader is transported to Houston and along with the heat and humidity will feel Houston's growing pains as she comes into her own as an oil power town. There are a variety of characters, some you will love and some you will dislike. However, I would like to have learned more about Bernie, as at times I did not understand her behavior, especially when she was in danger.
I enjoyed this book and while the action in the book is centered in the 1970s and 1980s, it is very current with our times as we examine the connection between government, business and energy and the struggle between greed and doing what is right. I recommend this book to readers who enjoy thrillers, mysteries and storylines with contemporary themes.
