Search This Blog







2025 Cover Lovers Reading Challenge (hosted by Yours Truly)

2025 Literary Escapes Challenge


2025 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge



2025 Build Your Library Reading Challenge









Texas Thriller As Sluggish as a Houston Summer

When Jay Porter's attempts to speak out against injustice land him in jail, he vows to let someone else save the world. All he wants to do is get out and get on with his life. A decade later, he has. He's not exactly living the American Dream, but he's got a wife, a law degree, and a baby on the way. So what if he runs his business out of a shabby strip mall? So what if his most promising client is a brainless hooker? So what if he can barely afford to pay rent, let alone bottles and diapers? He's free, ain't he?

Only, he can't forget. The details of that night continue to haunt him. Before he's even made a conscious decision to investigate, Jay's asking questions. The more he probes, the less anything makes sense. Why is the incident being kept out of the papers? Who is the girl Jay pulled out of the bayou? What was she doing in one of the toughest parts of the city? Guilt wracks Jay's every waking moment - should he go to the police with the little he knows? He can't risk ending up in jail a second time. It's better to keep his mouth shut. Except that the more he learns, the more outrageous the story becomes. Jay learned long ago to let someone else take on all the injustice in the world, but apparently, he's the only one who can fight this battle. Can a struggling black lawyer take on the biggest names in Houston oil? Will he risk everything - once again - to make things right? Or will he go with his first instinct and leave the whole thing alone?
Attica Locke's debut novel, Black Water Rising, is a gritty thriller that examines inequality on every level. It looks at the Civil Rights movement; the disillusionment of freedom fighters who continued to battle racial inequality even into the '80s; the difficulty of rising above one's criminal record (no matter how undeserved); and the struggle of the average man against the supremacy oil money. It was Locke's scrutiny of these big issues, more than anything else, that kept me reading Black Water Rising. The book's characters really didn't speak to me, the plot moves as slowly as a dingy rowboat floating down Buffalo Bayou, and the overall tone is decidedly depressing. Locke's writing impresses, for sure, but I still had a hard time sticking with the story. The action eventually picks up, moving toward a powerful conclusion - it just takes a very patient reader to stay with it for that long. I did like the premise of the novel, it just needed a more exciting execution, a little speed to make it move. Locke's debut proves she has the talent - time will see what she does with it. Regardless, Attica Locke is definitely an author to watch.
(Readalikes: The back cover blurbs compare Locke to Dennis Lehane and Scott Turow.)
Grade: C
If this were a movie, it would be rated: R for language, violence and sexual content
To the FTC, with love: This review is part of a virtual book tour coordinated by the folks over at TLC Book Tours. To see the rest of the tour stops, click here.


Reading
Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery

Listening
This Side of Murder by Anna Lee Huber


Followin' with Bloglovin'

-
Roommating By Meredith Schorr2 hours ago
-
Perilous Tides2 hours ago
-
-
Audiobook Burnout5 hours ago
-
-
The Girls Who Grew Big by Leila Mottley8 hours ago
-
-
Knave of Diamonds by Laurie R. King9 hours ago
-
-
Groff, Lauren "Matrix"13 hours ago
-
-
-
-
Monthly Round-Up: June 202523 hours ago
-
-
Sunday Salon: June 29, 20251 day ago
-
-
June Reflections2 days ago
-
-
-
A Review of A Fool’s Revenge4 days ago
-
A couple of titles5 days ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
No Roundup this month1 month ago
-
-
Sunday Post #5682 months ago
-
-
February 2025 Reading Wrap Up3 months ago
-
One Big Happy Family by Susan Mallery4 months ago
-
-
-
I'm Still Reading - This Was My October7 months ago
-
Review: The Duke and I10 months ago
-
Girl Plus Books: On Hiatus11 months ago
-
-
-
What Happened to Summer?1 year ago
-
6/25/23 Extra Ezra2 years ago
-
-
-
-
-
Are you looking for Pretty Books?2 years ago
-
-
-
-
-
-

Grab my Button!


Blog Archive
- ► 2021 (159)
- ► 2020 (205)
- ► 2019 (197)
- ► 2018 (223)
- ► 2017 (157)
- ► 2016 (157)
- ► 2015 (188)
- ► 2014 (133)
- ► 2013 (183)
- ► 2012 (193)
- ► 2011 (232)
- ▼ 2010 (257)
- ► 2009 (211)
- ► 2008 (192)


2025 Goodreads Reading Challenge
2024 - Elementary/Middle Grade Nonfiction
2023 - Middle Grade Fiction
2022 - Middle Grade Fiction
2021 - Middle Grade Fiction

2020 - Middle Grade Fiction
