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Sep 16, 2010

Marie rated it:

Considering this is Locke's first novel, it is an excellent effort. She paints Houston in the early '80s as a greedy, oil-hungry place divided into rich and poor, black and white. Her main character has a tormented past that continues to follow him around, sometimes in his mind.

It's a novel of redemption and hope, in the end. It's a good solid story, but at times I found myself getting a bit bogged down in the details. It could have gripped me more and drawn me in deeper.

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Jun 12, 2011

Jenny rated it:

The New York Times was quoted as saying that the story was "akin" to those by George Pelecanos or Dennis Lehane. I haven't read books by either of those authors but have heard great things. What I do think of when I hear those names, however, are thrillers that are mature and have thorough storylines -- not just a simple whodunit.

I found that to be the case with Black Water Rising. It tells the story of Jay Porter and is set in 1981 Texas. He's an attorney barely scraping by. More...

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Oct 18, 2010

Barbara rated it:

This is a primer for readers too young to remember the fight for Black Power in the 1960s and 70s. It is also an invective against the manipulation of the government by big oil companies. And, lastly, it's a sad tale about union strikes and the hovering shadow of mechanization just over the horizon. These are big issues for a debut novel to take on, and the result is a little uneven but captivating.

In 1981, Jay Porter is black and a lawyer in Houston. His wife is expecting their firs More...

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Sep 17, 2010

Jlaurenmc rated it:

I read multiple books each week -- the last month or so being the exception, what with returning to teaching and making lesson plans and such. Most books are fairly good at doing their jobs -- they hold my attention, provide entertainment, make me think, educate me on new and interesting topics. Every once in a while, a book comes along and insinuates itself high above the rest.

Last week, Attica Locke's debut novel Black Water Rising became one such book, a step ahead of even the " More...

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Apr 23, 2010

Stacey rated it:

There aren't very many African American mystery writers out there, so this novel was a welcome surprise. The author really did her research. The plot was well executed, with tidbits of historical relevance that helped set the stage. The main character, a tortured soul, complex and yet compelling, has checked out of life for the most part just going through the motions from one day to the next. Wake, work, wife, wake, work, wife. Shaky family foundations, married, but unable to trust his pregnant More...

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May 10, 2010

Jennifer rated it:

From my blog...

In her thrilling debut novel Black Water Rising author Attica Locke takes the reader on a fast paced literary thrill-ride deep in Houston. Jay Porter is down, but not out, when he opens up a law practice in Houston, Texas and with few clinetns. He is working a case with a prostitute who claims she was injured in a car accident as well as promising his father-in-law Reverend Boykins that he would help the longshoremen working in the Ship Channel by speaking with the may More...

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Feb 06, 2010

Edward rated it:

Jay Porter knows he is "this close" to being in trouble. He can't rub two pennies together there is a baby on the way, and he really needs pull together a surprise of some kind for his wife's birthday. It truly becomes a night to remember when gun shots are heard, and then they pull a woman onto the boat they were taking an evening cruise on.

Attica Locke's debut novel, set in Houston at the beginning of the 80's, is a face paced mystery. Taking us through oil boom town tryi More...

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Jun 25, 2010

Aimee Dars rated it:

I purchased this book at Tattered Cover Bookstore in Denver, when I dragged my colleagues on a $20 cab ride because I wanted to be sure to visit the iconic store during the AACSB Sustainability conference. I was looking for a literary mystery to read on the plane, and I had trepidation about this novel, but thought it was the best of those available.

Part of my hesitation came from the setting - did I really want to read a book about Houston, an oil-rich city in Texas, especially dur More...

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Dec 13, 2010

Faye rated it:

I gave this book to a family member as a present on the basis of rave reviews and it recently made it's way back to me. I think this was a really interesting read but I was a little disappointed given what I'd heard about it. The descriptions of 1970's Texas were vivid and the greed and underlying racial tensions of the time were really well portrayed. However, I found it a difficult book to get into. I thought the characterisations were good, particularly of the protagonist, Jay, but I always f More...

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May 20, 2010

Staci rated it:

My thoughts:
This was a very solid debut book!!! I enjoyed reading this, as it brought to mind the reasons why I used to read Grisham's earlier works. Some have compared this author to Lehane and Turrow, but not having read either one I can only compare the author's writing to Grisham. I love the little guy versus the big bad corporations and corrupt politicians scenario. Another aspect that I enjoyed was the mini-history lesson on civil rights and the grittier, more violent side of the act More...

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Jun 08, 2010

Jo rated it:

Set in Houston, Texas during the racial tension of the early 1980’s, we are introduced to Jay Porter a struggling lawyer, who is forced to take second-rate cases in order to support himself, and his pregnant wife, Bernie. When Bernie’s birthday outing on a boat on the river goes wrong, Jay helps a drowning woman out of the river, and delivers her to the police. With this action Jay finds himself drawn into a world of racial politics, and civil unrest which will have far reaching repercussions.
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Aug 05, 2011

Larry added it

It's 1981 in Houston, Texas. The country is in the throes of the oil crisis. Struggling lawyer Jay Porter and his pregnant wife are taking a nighttime boat ride in celebration of her birthday when Jay rescues a woman from drowning. She appears to have been assaulted, so he drops her off at the police station. And then Jay's troubles start, when after several days he learns a man was murdered that night and the prime suspect is the woman he rescued.

Of course, that's just the tip of the iceberg. More...

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May 30, 2010

Maryan rated it:

What a fabulous debut for Attica Locke, who brings to life the 1970’s civil rights movement and black activism which carries the reader into the 1980’s with great depth and feeling. She has woven a legal thriller and historical mystery into a engaging narrative.

Jay Porter is a struggling lawyer with a pregnant wife and his only client a prostitute. He is trying to put the past behind him when a decade ago he was a civil rights activist, framed for murder and jailed. He does not want More...

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Oct 26, 2011

Sarah rated it:

What a terrible read. Have joined a new reading group and this was the library's offering. I really don't understand how it became shortlisted for the Orange Prize last year. Must've been a bad year.

I normally never feel inclined to give-up on a novel, but was sorely tempted to ditch this book.

The voice is clunky, she focuses on irrelevant incidences, for instance:

"she keeps an eye on the chicken thawing in the sink, and when she gets bored with that, s More...

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Jul 30, 2009

Bookmarks Magazine rated it:

"Black Water Rising is an engrossing, complex, and cinematic novel about ethics and convictions, race relations, and one man's personal journey. Mixing social commentary and crime, Locke tells a compelling story about Jay's uneasy fight for justice; a few critics noted that Locke does for Houston what Dennis Lehane does for working-class Boston. While most reviewers thought that the characters could well handle the numerous subplots and back stories, the New York Times and Washington Post d More...

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Aug 08, 2011

Melise rated it:

I was pleasantly surprised by this novel, particularly when I found out that it was the first book by this author. Set in Houston, in the mid-70s during the oil crisis, it does a great job of evoking the political environment that was impacting that city at the time. In some ways, it is reminiscent of the movie Chinatown on that front.

I think maybe the author took on too many major plot points--although she handled them very well, and I never had trouble following what was happen More...

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Jun 13, 2010

Annie rated it:

I did enjoy this one – really I did – and read it cover to cover in a day. The crime story thread had me hooked, and I enjoyed finding out more about the civil rights issues, the labour disputes, racism in the Southern States, the machinations of the oil companies (although a lot of the labour dispute’s twists and turns did pass me by a little). The main weakness for me was that the book tried to do too much, and without engaging the reader in its characters. Jay was quite well drawn, but the More...

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Mar 12, 2011

switterbug (Betsey) rated it:

In this adroit debut thriller, Attica Locke delivers the goods with an understated and assured confidence. The cadence, as well as the story, is brisk and balanced. She avoids the pitfalls of many debut authors, i.e. the prose is not self-conscious or cloying, and the story develops with a natural ease. Her sentences are a joy to read, as they are poised, with a sense of the poetic, and well scrubbed. This is a novel with political overtones and racial conflicts; however, Locke executes her narr More...

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Apr 19, 2010

Myron rated it:

I started reading this book but I could never get into it enough to complete it. Ultimately, I just did not care for the lead character. He was just there and since the book was completely from his point of view, I never got to know any of the other characters. There was never a sense that the characters of this story was anything but characters in the story. It felt like a plot driven book disguised as a character driven one. Stephen L. Carter does this type of storytelling much better. He's ab More...

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Sep 16, 2009

Anjali marked it as to-read

NPR says:

"To see how Houston has changed, you could board a boat on Houston's Buffalo Bayou with author Attica Locke. Her new crime novel, Black Water Rising, explores the racially divided Houston of 1981. The main character is a black man who witnessed a murder on the bayou, but can't bring himself to tell authorities because bitter experience has taught him not to trust white cops.

Locke's personal story suggests how the Houston power structure has changed since 198 More...

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Dec 26, 2010

Lu rated it:

What it did live up to was being an incredibly smart book that took me on an exciting journey. It was, for the most part, interesting and suspenseful. The plot follows a young lawyer, Jay, who one night, while out to dinner with his wife on the bayou, gets entangled in a brutal web that goes much deeper into Houston society than he ever thought possible. Pulled by his natural desire to do what is right, to help people, he gets sucked into this dangerous web out of which there really is no ret More...

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May 23, 2010

drey rated it:

What do you do when you've given up on your American Dream, because there's no way to get there now, not after you've been betrayed and have a record? Well... You make do. Make as good a life as you can. Especially when you love your wife, and she's expecting a new addition to the family.

And that's exactly what Jay Porter does. Eking out a living as an attorney who's barely making ends meet, he has "connections" arrange for a nice boat ride on the bayou to celebrate his wif More...

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Aug 05, 2009

Annmarie rated it:

A little confusing but overall a thoughtful read with thriller components. Set in 1981, the book features Jay Porter, a young-ish black lawyer who reluctantly rescues a white woman from drowning while he & his wife are on a creaky boat ride down the bayou in Houston. He's none too keen on getting involved, as there were shots fired and the woman has strangulation marks on her neck. He drops her off at the police station without going in, and hopes that his involvement ends there, but no such luc More...

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Dec 12, 2009

Caitlin rated it:

This wasn't a perfect thriller, but it was a really good one. Set in Houston, TX in the '80's, Locke tells the story of Jay Porter, a lawyer who witnesses something bad out on the bayou, but is disinclined to trust the cops.

Jay Porter is a wonderful character - a former civil rights activist, burned by a snitch in his group and put on trial, but acquitted. He has come through this experience with a law degree, a wife, a baby on the way, and a not-so-thriving law practice in a strip More...

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Feb 20, 2010

Shayla rated it:

I like Thrillers so I decided to give this one a shot. It was a quick read and yet a little slow, if you can understand that. There wasn't a great sense of urgency, and there wasn't immediate danger (except for the screams and murder at the beginning) until more than half way through the book.

Through Jay, Locke's main character, we learn about the civil rights struggle SNCC to the Panthers to other grass roots uprising, and seeing the carryover to the 80s. And seeing as it's set i More...

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May 03, 2010

Ellen rated it:

Oh, I wanted to give this book five stars, but I wound up dropping it to four. As much as I loved it, there were times I wanted to read ahead, times I wanted the pace to move a little faster.

But it's an amazing first novel. Set in the early '80s in Houston, it deals with oil, big business, politics and race relations. The '80s setting invites comparison with the present, of course, in what is intrinsically a thriller/murder mystery that's been shortlisted for the Orange Prize here in More...

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Dec 03, 2009

Carolyn rated it:

Not a commonplace thriller. Attica Locke has a unique and much welcome voice. She wraps a murder mystery with the central character suffering from the long-term effects of the FBI's COUNTER-INTEL-PRO program of the 70's. I can't think of anyone else who has tackled this dark history and she does in in a way that is human and compelling. She educates about this shameful governmental program without lecturing by making it part of the character's personal history and psychological hurdle. The b More...

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Nov 28, 2009

Julie H. rated it:

While Black Water Rising reads like a book co-authored by Dennis Lehane, Erin Brockovich, and Stokely Carmichael, it is actually television and film screenwiter Attica Locke's first novel. The story is set in early 1980s oil boom-era Houston, where you would just as easily think you were trapped in the 1950s pre-Civil Rights era for all the respect the story's African Americans are given. In fact, this very point is effectively reinforced several times throughout the novel in action shifts bet More...

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Nov 12, 2009

H.A. rated it:

Well written, a convoluted, interesting story of Texas in the early 80's. The main character is suffering what seems to me a form of PTSD from his experiences as a radical activist in the 60's civil rights movement. He gets caught up in a conspiracy involving oil, labor unions, and murder.

The story was a real eye-opener as far as what the psychological fall out might be from activists not only in the civil rights movement, but the anti-war movement and any other in the 60's that mig More...

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Aug 02, 2011

Katie rated it:

This novel is a thriller set in America during the 1980's. The civil rights movement is over but moving on is not easy for Jay Porter. Taking his wife for a boat trip for her birthday they hear gunshots and a women screaming, rescuing the mystery lady from the water opens a can of worms for Jay as he investigates. This is a good fast paced book which covers a period of American history which I am not very familiar. The characters in the book are well rounded and believable, and as another review More...

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