Bluebird, Bluebird

Highway 59 #1

by Attica Locke

A powerful thriller about the explosive intersection of love, race, and justice from a writer and producer of the Emmy winning Fox TV show Empire.

When it comes to law and order, East Texas plays by its own rules--a fact that Darren Mathews, a black Texas Ranger, knows all too well. Deeply ambivalent about growing up black in the lone star state, he was the first in his family to get as far away from Texas as he could. Until duty called him home.

When his allegiance to his roots puts his job in jeopardy, he travels up Highway 59 to the small town of Lark, where two murders--a black lawyer from Chicago and a local white woman--have stirred up a hornet's nest of resentment. Darren must solve the crimes--and save himself in the process--before Lark's long-simmering racial fault lines erupt.

A rural noir suffused with the unique music, color, and nuance of East Texas, Bluebird, Bluebird is an exhilarating, timely novel about the collision of race and justice in America.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Mystery Thriller, Crime, Thriller, Audiobook, Book Club

320 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 12, 2017

About the author

Attica Locke is a writer whose first novel, Black Water Rising, was nominated for a 2010 Edgar Award, a 2010 NAACP Image Award, as well as a Los Angeles Times Book Prize and was shortlisted for an Orange Prize in the UK.

Attica is also a screenwriter who has written movie and television scripts for Paramount, Warner Bros, Disney, Twentieth Century Fox, Jerry Bruckheimer Films, HBO, Dreamworks and Silver Pictures. She was also a fellow at the Sundance Institute’s Feature Filmmakers Lab and is a graduate of Northwestern University.

A native of Houston, Texas, Attica lives in Los Angeles, California, with her husband and daughter.

Reviews

[Paromjit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Attica Locke has written a superb novel that is bleak, compelling, atmospheric, with a strong sense of location of small town East Texas, that depressingly mirrors many parts of the USA today. It gives us the disturbingly unsettling everyday experiences of Darren Mathews that suggest nothing has changed since the days of an openly active KKK running rife, where lynchings were common, and where black communities lived in fear of their lives on a daily basis. Darren is a black Texan Ranger, suspended for going to the aid of Mack, whose granddaughter, Breana, is harassed by Ronnie Malvo, a diehard ABT racist. A few days later, Malvo is found shot dead, and Mack is seen as the main suspect. Darren tries to do his best for Mack to ensure he does not stand trial for murder, and this outcome hangs over Darren throughout the story. The Aryan Brotherhood of Texas (ABT) is a strong and active presence in East Texas, additionally involved in meths production and the illegal sale of guns. Darren is a troubled man, his marriage to Lisa is threatening to splinter because of the dangers of him being a Ranger, his drinking, and the time he spends away from home.

Darren hears of two bodies recovered from a bayou in Lark, in Shelby County. One is a black lawyer, Michael Wright, from Chicago but with local roots and the other is local white girl, Missy, discovered two days later. Despite his suspension, he goes to Lark to investigate. He is in redneck country and discovers that it is impossible to understand the black grandmother Geneva, and her black community cafe without Wally's icehouse, a local ABT bar run by the repulsive Brady. Geneva lost her beloved husband, Joe Sweet shot in 2010, and her son was shot by his wife, Mary, in 2013. Wally is wealthy, although it is not clear where the money comes from, and he has plenty of clout with the local sheriff. Lark is not welcoming of Darren, he finds a dead fox left in his truck, and his life in deadly danger. However, he identifies with the dead Michael and feels for the widow, Randie, as he searches for the truth against all the odds. Neither the Texas Rangers nor local law enforcement will consider or allow for race as a motive for the murders due to political implications. As Darren trawls through the murky waters of local intertwined history, he finds that family, love, hate and jealousy have lead to murders in the past and present.

The title Bluebird, Bluebird is a reference to the highly symbolic John Lee Hooker's song, Bluebird, Bluebird, take this letter down South for me. I loved Locke's novel Black Water Rising, but this is superlative, it has her trademark beautiful prose. It is a compelling story with its insightful and pertinent social and political commentary on the incendiary issues of race and justice that continue to divide and threaten the US today. It chillingly explains just how strong the bedrock of support for Donald Trump is and why worryingly it remains undiminished. It is a complex tale with a central character, Darren, caught up in a fraught situation with personal reverberations that have him questioning his identity and if he should continue to serve as a Texas Ranger. This is the first of the Highway 59 series by Locke and I cannot wait to read the next. A phenomenal read that I highly recommend. Many thanks to Serpent's Tail for an ARC.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke

Engrossing and laden with atmospheric foreboding-

This novel is packed with emotions, thick racial tensions and family dramas. I could almost imagine blues rifts playing in the background as the events in Lark, Texas unfolded. I could envision the town, the people, and feel the intense feeling of dread creeping up on me as the story unfolded.


When Michael Wright, a black lawyer from Chicago, stops in the small East Texas town, he never makes it back home. His body was pulled out the nearby bayou, and his fancy car disappeared somewhere along the way. A very short time later, the body of Missy Dale, a local white woman is also found dead. The possibility does exist, considering how small this town is, that the two deaths are connected.

Enter, Darren Matthews, a black Texas Ranger, currently on suspension, separated from his wife, in a full -on battle with a whiskey bottle. Darren is given permission to casually visit, sans his badge, Lark, Texas to get the lay of the land. There, he encounters a kindred spirit of sorts in Michael Wright’s widow, who is there to claim her husband’s body.

Before long, Darren has slapped his badge back on and finds himself in the midst of a full blown murder investigation.

The deaths seem to have a connection to Geneva Sweet, the owner of a local café. It would appear, that Michael Wright stopped by her place, asking some questions, right before he was murdered. Geneva’s past comes sharply into focus as Darren investigates Michael and Missy’s murders, amid rumors that the Aryan Brotherhood may have few contacts within Lark, meaning Missy's angry husband.


Bluebird, bluebird, please do this for me
Ooh, bluebird, please do this for me
If you see my baby, tell her I want her to come back home to me
John Lee Hooker


I could not put this book down!! The mystery is compelling and very suspenseful, but it’s the lush writing, and deep characterizations that really made this novel stand out.

Darren cuts quite a figure as a Texas Ranger, with his Stetson hat and boots, but his deep -seated sense of loyalty and all his personal baggage causes him to entertain all manner of self-recriminations, regrets, and self-doubt.
But, the history of Lark, the beautiful descriptions of the area, and the musical homage goes a long way toward creating that dense atmosphere where racial hostilities simmer, threatening to boil over. The past will catch up with the present as old buried secrets surface and long overdue justice will finally be served.

I really need Attica Locke to write a follow-up to this one, since Darren still has some serious issues to address. I’d love to see this turn into a series, or at the very least a trilogy.

Either way, this author has left quite an impression on me. I’m ready to dive into her other novels, ASAP!!

4.5 stars rounded up

[Annet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bluebird, bluebird, take this letter down south for me... (John Lee Hooker)

Great read, great writing. Crime Noir in Southern USA, Houston area and around. I remember I read Black Water Rising of Attica Locke some years ago and thinking, this is an interesting writer. So this one caught my eye. Recommended for sure for those who like a good crime story, brooding, raw, rough & gritty.... Seems this is going to be a series!

I read her first book in 2013, this is what the profile of Locke says: Attica Locke is a writer whose first novel, Black Water Rising, was nominated for a 2010 Edgar Award, a 2010 NAACP Image Award, as well as a Los Angeles Times Book Prize and was shortlisted for an Orange Prize in the UK. Locke is a screenwriter too of tv series and movies.

Southern fables usually go the other way round. A white woman is killed or harmed in some way, and then, a black man ends up dead. When it comes to law and order, East Texas plays by its own rules, and Darren Mathews, a black Texas ranger working the backwoods towns of Highway 59, knows all to well. Deeply ambivalent about his home state, he was the first in his family to get as far away from Texas as he could. Until duty calls him home. He is drawn into a case in the small town of Lark, where two dead bodies have washed up in the bayou. First, a black lawyer from Chicago and then, a local white woman and it's stirred up a hornet's nest of resentment. Darren must solve the crimes and save himself in the process - before Lark's long-simmering racial fault lines erupt...

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The men rarely stood on common ground--belying the trope of twins who think with one mind_but for he fact that they were Matthews men, a tribe going back generations in rural East Texas, black men whose self regard was both a natural state of being and a survival technique. His uncle's adhered to the ancient rules of Southern living, for they understood how easily a colored man's general comportment could turn into a matter of life and death. Darren had always wanted to believe that theirs was the last generation to have to live this way, that change might trickle down from the White House.
When in fact the opposite had proved to be true.
In the wake of Obama , America had told on itself."

I seldom start a review with a quote, but I found this so succinct and powerful. Darren, like his uncle before him is a Texas Ranger, a black man, and a rarity in that service. He takes his task to serve and protect very seriously. Two bodies are pulled from the bayou,one a black man, one a young white woman, and Darren finds himself returning to East Texas, a place he had left vowing never to return.

To call this a mystery is I think doing it a disservice. It is so much more, politics, race, white supremacists, and hate, so much hate. Cover-ups and secrets, the past rising up to affect the present. This is a mystery for those who do not like mysteries. (Angela, are you reading this?) The writing is fantastic every word, every action, description has meaning. Atmospheric, pulls one right in to a South that is determined to hold on to it's prejudices. The characters, so well drawn, all of them, which is a rarity in most stories. One knows exactly how these people feel, think, and the things they think are important. An absolutely stellar read, which by something in the ending, leads one to believe we may be hearing more from Darren Matthews.

[James Thane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Darren Mathews is a rarity in that he's a black Texas Ranger. He also has troubles of his own that may cost him his career and his marriage. While his future, both professional and personal, hangs in the balance, Darren finds himself in Lark, a tiny East Texas town out in the middle of nowhere, where the local sheriff suddenly has two homicides on his hands. The first victim was thirty-five-year-old Michael Wright, a black lawyer from Chicago who was found floating in a bayou after being beaten to death. The second, Melissa Dale, was a twenty-year-old married white woman who worked as a waitress at a roadhouse, and who had been seen talking to Wright just before he was killed.

Lark is a town with racial divisions and and relationships that go back for decades, and the bar where the waitress worked and where she was seen talking to the black victim, is home to a number of members of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas. Shelby County hasn't had a homicide in years, and when Missy's body is pulled from the bayou three days after Wright's, it's clear that the two crimes must be connected.

The logical and and all-too-traditional conclusion that many are ready to jump to, is that a black man committed an act of violence against a white woman and has been summarily punished for his crime. But as Darren realizes, the order in this case is wrong: The black man was killed first. As a second alternative, it's possible that someone was upset about seeing a black man and a white woman "fraternizing" together and thus decided to punish both of them. Or, in fact, the situation could be much more complicated than either of these scenarios.

The local hick sheriff would like to see both homicides swept under the rug ASAP, and the last thing he wants is outside interference in his "investigation." But he's forced to allow Darren access, and the Ranger is not about to let this case go until he's satisfied that the solution is correct. Given the forces arrayed against him, however, this will be a virtually impossible and a very dangerous task.

This is a beautifully written book with an excellent sense of place. Locke obviously knows the territory very well, and the reader is immediately immersed in this tiny, troubled town. The characters, Darren Mathews in particular, are complex and believable, and the web of relationships between and among them is expertly woven. The story is compelling and tragic, and Locke has a great deal to say about race, class and justice in today's United States. One of the best books I've read in quite a while, and a solid 4.5 stars.

[Paula K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Winner of the Edgar and Anthony awards 2018

Attica Locke knows how to write a compelling mystery with good character studies. Time doesn’t seem to have changed in East Texas. Two murders have occurred in small town Lark which have stirred up strong racial tensions. A black lawyer from Chicago and a local white women are both in the morgue. The dark atmosphere both socially and politically are portrayed well.

Darren Mathews, a black Texas Ranger, is drawn to the murders. He arrives in Lark in pretty tough shape. His wife has left him, he’s been suspended from the Rangers for helping out a friend in trouble, and he has started drinking too much. With disregard for his own safety, Darren decides he wants to stay on and solve the murders no matter what local family history he needs to stir up.

Written in a slow crime noir style, Bluebird, Bluebird was an enjoyable read and didn’t take long to finish.

4 out of 5 stars

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Bluebird, Bluebird, current day East Texas has never moved on from the 1950s. Segregation and prejudice are the norm. The Aryan Brotherhood is alive and well. I couldn’t count the times a white man called a black man ‘boy’.

Told from the perspective of Darren Matthews, a black Texas Ranger, as he investigates two murders in a small town - a black man’s, whose murder is barely being investigated before he arrives, and a white woman’s. The book’s blurb rightly describes it as a collision of race and justice in America.

This one is raw and dark. It grabs you and makes you twinge. How can this still be? Locke gets it exactly right with the atmosphere, especially the fear the black community lives with on a daily basis.

It doesn’t move particularly fast. We watch as Darren tries to find the killer. As the white sheriff arrests first one person and then another, Darren knows there are still questions being left unanswered; things being purposely swept under the rug. It’s an uphill battle, a man against the establishment. Darren is fully fleshed out. You get his back story and what makes him tick.

I listened to this and the narrator, JD Jackson, did a good job and his voice takes you right to east Texas.

[Esil · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to keep reminding myself that Bluebird, Bluebird is set today, and not fifty years ago or so. It's depiction of race relations in rural Texas is reminiscent of books I have read about the Jim Crow era, and is quite bleak to say the least. It's a mystery of sorts. Troubled African American Texas Ranger Darren Matthews goes to a small town in East Texas to investigate the seemingly linked murders of a black man and white woman. As the story progresses, it feels like he is peeling back the different layers of a community deeply afflicted by racial violence and hatred. But Locke makes the story more complicated by emphasizing that hatred can sometimes be tightly bound up with love and attraction. It's a smart story, deeply and subtly taking on one of contemporary America's most vexing and ugly realities. At times, I found Darren's own troubled soul to be a bit much -- I don't know why every good fictional detective has to struggle with alcohol and crappy relationships. But the setting and mystery aspect of the story more than make up for this flaw. Well worth reading. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read an advance copy.

[Brandice · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I thought Bluebird, Bluebird was a decent story, I enjoyed it much less than I expected to, after great hype. The premise was intriguing - Darren Matthews, an African-American Texas Ranger, becomes involved in a case in the small town of Lark, in East Texas, where two bodies were recently found - a white woman and a black man. Darren attempts to solve the mystery of these two murders.

The story took forever to actually build my interest though. I wasn’t into it until about the 60% completed mark, which is pretty far along. The book however was short and fortunately, picked up a bit around this point.

Though fictional, Bluebird, Bluebird incorporates many realistic elements - dealing with the racial tensions that often permeate small, southern towns (though not exclusively), the old school mentality of small towns (even though the story is set in present time), and the frequent mistrust between police and community. These are frustrating yet timely topics, but I felt like other stories have addressed these issues better.

I didn’t feel connected to the characters (which there were a lot of), including Darren. While I acknowledge he was trying to do the right thing, I didn’t like how he acted for the majority of the book - using the badge to his advantage when convenient but voluntarily compromising some personal relationships with poor decisions.

The slow pace and lack of connection with characters left me wanting more. While I finally became somewhat invested in the mystery, it had taken so long, I was just relieved to be getting somewhere. The ending was also left open-ended, and I think it’s likely to become a series, which I’m unlikely to continue reading.

There are many positive reviews for this book and Locke’s talent as a writer is evident. While it just didn’t compel me in the same way, I can see why others enjoyed Bluebird, Bluebird.

[Larry H · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars.

Brooding, atmospheric, and thought-provoking, this was a great read that totally sucked me in.

Darren is a Texas Ranger, a job over which he is constantly conflicted given that he is black and his home state isn’t known for their indulgence of racial minorities. He's kept at arm's length at work as well—trotted out when it's good for public relations but kept out of some sensitive circumstances.

When Darren responds to a call for help from a family friend, it gets him into trouble professionally, since he acted as a Ranger in a personal situation, and personally, since his continued work as a Ranger angers his wife.

A friend in the FBI suggests he head out of town and let the dust settle, and instead look into two murders that have recently rocked the small town of Lark. Both a black lawyer from Chicago and a local white woman have been pulled from the bayou waters a few days apart, and while some believe the murders are related to people getting involved with those they shouldn’t, the issues that are at play in Lark run much deeper than that.

In trying to figure out who and what was behind the murders, Darren unwittingly stirs up a hornet’s nest of old resentments, racial tensions, love affairs, the blending of bloodlines, and the need to keep secrets. But he also discovers that some of what is driving things forward in Lark hit closer to home than Darren wants to admit. He has to explore his own desire to keep working as a Ranger and decide whether he is willing to give his all to his marriage, given that his wife would rather him return to law school.

Bluebird, Bluebird is a great read. Attica Locke ratchets up the tension and introduces so many possibilities you don’t know what to think. Her characters all have some flaws and don’t pretend otherwise but they’re fascinating to read about. This is a book about love, family, race, loyalty, jealousy, and so much more.

At times the pacing was a little slower than I’d like but I still couldn’t get enough of this. Locke just released a second book featuring Darren, so I’m excited about that, too.

See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com.

Check out my list of the best books I read in 2018 at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-best-books-i-read-in-2018.html.

You can follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/the.bookishworld.of.yrralh/.

[Dorie - Cats&Books :) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't always write a review on audiobooks but this one was very, very good and I enjoyed the narrator's voice and style.

We are introduced to Darren Matthews an African American Texas Ranger who is investigating two murders in a tiny town called Lark in northeast Texas. I am not familiar with this area but this book gives us a good view into the poverty, racism and small mindedness of the majority of the town. There are some very dangerous characters here and white supremacy has a stronghold here.

This book was so well written that the mystery of the two murders was impossible for this reader to figure out. I was reminded of that old quote "Oh what a tangled web we weave / When first we practice to deceive." The line belongs to Sir Walter Scott, from his 1808 poem Marmion." This is one intricately plotted novel.

I enjoyed every moment of this audiobook and am quite excited that this author has the second book in the series coming out September 17, entitled "Heaven My Home". I highly recommend this novel to anyone who loves great character development and beautifully descriptive writing!

**This novel won the 2018 Edgar Award for Best Novel, don't miss this one.

[Brina · Rating 3 out of 5]

My public library's book of the month for October. African American Texas Ranger Darren Matthews is investigating a double murder in rural Lark, Texas. A fast paced detective thriller that I enjoy as a palette cleanser in between a string of denser reads. This double murder appears that way on the surface but as Matthews investigates, he peels back layers of a crime in which black and white, love and hate are intricately woven. I can see why the library would choose this as their book of the month as the racially motivated crimes and history behind them in Eastern Texas have the potential to generate many intriguing discussions.

Not the best writing but fast paced with drawn out character studies. Writer Attica Locke has written for Empire on tv as well as won the Harper Lee Award for best new southern fiction. As Goodreads lists this as Highway 59 #1, Matthews and his cast of characters will be back. I was drawn to his character enough to merit another go round when Locke comes out with case #2.

3+ stars

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bluebird, Bluebird is one of those novels that I felt was written for me. Published in 2017, this is the fourth book by Attica Locke, a native Houstonian who after nearly fifteen years as a highly sought-after screenwriter (on projects that all went unproduced), began moonlighting in mystery fiction, using the geography, culture and racial divides of East Texas to inform her stories. Like Tana French, Locke writes literary novels that happen to involve a homicide investigation. Her ability to unlock doors mysterious to me even as a Texan and her examination of what it means to be a Texan in today's political climate are two of her greatest strengths.

Darren Mathews has been suspended from the Texas Rangers pending a grand jury investigation. Ignoring a plea from his wife Lisa, Darren drove to San Jacinto County to help Rutherford "Mack" McMillan, the caretaker of the Mathews family house in Camilla. With Mack's granddaughter being terrorized by a no-account cracker named Ronnie Malvo, an armed standoff ensued and two days later, Malvo was found dead in a ditch, shot by a .38 like the one Mack had pointed at the dead man. While Darren's career dangles by a thread, he separates from Lisa, who wants him to resign from law enforcement and return to law school like the Princeton grad she married.

Darren receives a call from Greg Heglund, an FBI agent that he went to private high school with in Houston. Itching for a "come-up" that will advance his career and get him out of the Houston field office, Greg asks Darren to look into a double-homicide in Shelby County, where the town of "Lark" has produced two dead bodies in six days despite having a population of two hundred folks. Located off U.S. Highway 59--the north-south route that has long carried blacks to visit family, or in some cases, completely out of state for jobs or an environment less hostile to them--Darren is in many ways going home.

He was Texas-bred on both sides, going all the way back to slavery. Since Reconstruction, no one had ever left the piney woods of the eastern edge of the state save for a few uncles and cousins fleeing the law on his mother's side. Her people stayed because they were poor; the Mathewses stayed because they were not. From early on, they owned farm-rich land, bequeathed by the same man who gave his favored slaves the surname Mathews, or so the legend went, and black folks didn't just up and leave that kind of wealth to start over someplace foreign and cold. No, the Mathewes dug deeper into the soil, planting cotton and corn and the roots of a family that would be theirs alone--and not a pecuniary unit, convertible to cash at will. They farmed hard and made enough to raise generations of men and woman and send dozens of them to college and graduate school; they made a life that could rival what was possible in Chicago or Detroit or Gary, Indiana. They were not willing to cede an entire state to the hatred of a bunch of nut-scratching, tobacco-spitting crackers. Money allowed for that choice, sure it did. But money also demanded something of them, and the Mathewes were willing to give it. They built a colored school in Camilla, offered small-business loans to colored folks when they could, and dedicated their lives to public service, becoming teachers and country doctors and lawyers and agitators when the times called for it.

What they were not going to be was run off.

Darren is struck that the sequence of deaths in Lark--a black male from Chicago traveling alone and a white female who works at a local icehouse--buck the historical trend in the South: a white lady's real or imagined assault followed by the murder of a black man. Michael Wright was a thirty-five-year-old lawyer who grew up in nearby Tyler and for reasons unknown, had returned home. His body found decomposing in the bayou, Michael's death is presumed to be robbery by the sheriff, who fears the attention a hate crime would bring, but Missy was married to Keith Avery Dale, an ex-con whose prison record is a red flag for affiliation with the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas.

Leaving his badge in his truck, Darren finds Lark divided along racial lines, with Geneva Sweet's Sweets offering home cooking and haircuts to black travelers and Jeff's Juice House, where Missy Dale worked, a hangout for whites. With Missy's body discovered in the bayou behind Geneva's, the sheriff is operating on the theory that the perpetrator is black. Little urgency has been placed in finding Michael Wright's killer despite the presence of his estranged wife Randie Winston seeking answers. A photographer, Randie has zero sensitivity for southern social norms, but Darren recognizes a kindred spirit whose spouse was also uncomfortable with her long working hours.

Nosing around the two homicides and doing his best to salvage his marriage in spite of it, Darren confronts questions that have long divided his family. His father killed in Vietnam and his mother a deadbeat alcoholic, Darren was raised by his twin uncles William and Clayton, a Texas Ranger and a defense attorney, respectively. While William--shot and killed during a traffic stop--long maintained that the law would achieve parity and justice for blacks, Clayton disagreed, believing the law to be a lie that has always been used to oppress blacks and must be challenged. Randie is incredulous that Michael or Darren feel partial to a place that doesn't seem to want them.

"He should never have come down here," she said, her hands balled into fists, the bottoms of which were pressed into the thighs of her jeans, as if she were holding tight to an invisible buoy, as if she believed her anger at Michael might keep her from sinking into the tide of grief that had only begun to lick at her toes. "What the hell did he think was going to happen in a place like this?"

"Coming home is not asking for it."

"This was not his home," she said.

But it was, and Darren understood that in a way Randie didn't. Not Lark, of course, but this thin slice of the state that had built both of them, Darren and Michael. The red dirt of East Texas ran in both their veins. Darren knew the power of home, knew what it meant to stand on the land where your forefathers had forged your future out of dirt, knew the power of what could be loved up by hand, how a harvest could change a fate. He knew what it felt like to stand on the back porch of his family homestead in Camilla and feel the breath of his ancestors in the trees, feel the power of gratitude in every stray breeze. He wanted to say all this and more to Randie. But she was closed off by then, sitting rigid, her chin jutted forward an aggrieved anger that would never hold. God help her, Darren thought, when that wall comes down and the hurt comes calling.

Bluebird, Bluebird does often feel like issues or concerns in search of a story. The most compelling material involves Darren Mathews' family history, his decision to join the Texas Rangers and struggle to maintain his marriage along with it. The murder mystery is necessary to expose the reader to secrets lurking in Lark and some of the crime solving has the convinient nature of a '70s cop show to it. What Locke does is investigate a crime from a completely fresh point of view, with the anxieties and aspirations and secrets specific to blacks in East Texas at the forefront of her storytelling, which is filled with marvelous prose.

He told Randie he had to make a call, mumbling something about his lieutenant, anything to grant him a few minutes alone to read the medical examiner's report. He could not take in the information and protect her from it at the same time. He would tell her what he had to and no more. He left as a John Lee Hooker record dropped on the jukebox, and Randie sank into the booth below the guitar, staring at the Les Paul. Bluebird, bluebird, take this letter down South for me, Hooker sang as Darren opened the cafe's front door, the bell clinking behind him. The air outside stung the sweat breaking out across his forehead. He stepped into the cab of his truck, warm from the midday sun. The file came attached to an e-mail that reported that Missy Dale's final examination was still in progress at the Dallas County Medical Examiner's office.

Darren opened the file on Michael Wright.

In addition to writing descriptions that deliver the food, weather and blues of East Texas as a sensory feast, Locke makes a sound decision introducing a cop under grand jury investigation. Darren's role in covering up Malvo's murder or possibly even pulling the trigger is not resolved until the final pages and through watching how his character juggles morality versus legality, I became a juror weighing his culpability. While the book doesn't implicate the acting president in the behavior of its racist deplorables, it does flip over the rock of American society and reveal the snakes that Barack Obama's presidency, despite its hopes, seemed to do little to exterminate.

[Theresa Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me a while to get into this story about a black Texas Ranger who’s suspended for going to the aid of an acquaintance who was being harassed by a white supremacist who was on his land. That supremacist is found dead two days later. Darren is already struggling with his marriage and drinking too much in his loneliness and frustration.

Despite being suspended, when he hears about a black man found dead under suspicious circumstances in a town of 200 people that’s well known for having a high tolerance for members of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas, he can’t help but nose around, especially when a white girl is found dead in the same bayou just two days later. ABT is even worse than the KKK because it deals drugs like meth among its many criminal ties.

This is when the story really picks up. I was taking notes and I still had a hard time figuring out who was related to whom and how, but I got the gist of it. Once I got into it, I devoured the book in a day.

I enjoyed this mystery, which doesn’t shy away from the complexities of race and family.
For more reviews, please visit: http://www.theresaalan.net/blog

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bluebird, Bluebird is an intriguing mystery about a tiny East Texas town called Lark and its inherent racism. I am an idiot, but I never knew until I read this novel that the entree into the Aryan Brotherhood is the murder of a black man, woman or child.

Darren Matthews is a black Texas Ranger who has to fight the bias that surrounds him in all aspects of his life, but especially at work. The other, predominantly white rangers, don't like him taking on race crime. When a white woman and a black man wash up from the river in almost the same spot in Lark, Darren knows race is involved in the murders, but his police force seems determined to play it down.

He plays it as it lays.

[Smitty1423 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Couldn’t believe the rating on Goodreads on this one. Throughly enjoyed going through this story with our main character Darren Matthew’s as he’s navigating Texas as a black Texas Ranger. Love the fact that this is a series and will continue it for sure.

4.4/5

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Darren felt something painful settle in his gut then, saw clearly what he'd been previously unable to face, as if the truth had pulled up a seat at the table and offered to buy the next round."

And Darren has been chasing that truth for years......who he really is and where his true allegiance lies. Darren Matthews is a black Texas Ranger who originally focused upon a future in law all the way from East Texas to the University of Chicago. He dug in his heels hoping for traction, but he kept losing ground time and time again. East Texas kept a callin' and this time Darren answered.

But the hard-boned knuckles of allegiance kept knocking at his door. Lisa, his wife in Houston, had had enough of the fly-by-night relationship and showed him the other side of that door. He longed to patch things up with her, but he had business to attend to. He had something to prove to himself.

Darren received a heads-up on a crime committed in the small community of Lark near a bayou in East Texas. Moreso as a black man than even a Texas Ranger, Darren knew that something was deadly amiss when the bodies of a black Chicago lawyer and a local white girl washed up on the shore of that bayou. This was even further outside the realm of murder. He knew it in his bones.

Darren becomes involved in the lives of the locals, in particular, a black woman named Geneva Sweet who owns a small cafe along Highway 59. It's this tiny eatery that will keep us spellbound as Attica Locke works her magic with this Johnny Lee Hooker rhythm pulsating throughout.

Locke pours bountiful elements of grit and realism into layer upon layer of Bluebird, Bluebird. The tale is heavy with the complete lights-off nature of human against human. And yet, all the while, we readers feel we're leaning against the shoulder of Darren as he battles against the demons that reside within and those dastardly ones breathing his same air too close for comfort.

Bluebird, Bluebird is a treasure of a read. Attica Locke is a master wizard with words. This is the first book in this series. Heaven, My Home is the next one which came out in 2019. Have Mercy, I'm hopin' the third one is already in the works. Get on board. You can't help but savor something as desirable as sweet tea and a book of this caliber.

[Kelly (and the Book Boar) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/

4.5 Stars

“Bluebird bluebird take this letter down South for me.”

Upon winning the Edgar Award, Attica Locke was quoted as saying: “My books are very black, very Texan. I didn’t think there was a place for them.” I hate to admit that were it not for my recent obsession of stalking Little Brown for David Sedaris Calypso posts on Instagram, I might not have ever heard of Bluebird Bluebird myself. Those of you who are a lot more hip than I probably recognize Locke’s name from a certain lil’ television program she wrote for . . . . .



But I rely on my peeps at Goodreads and the local liburrrrrry systems to provide my entertainment so I haven’t been fortunate enough to stumble upon Locke’s work until now. Boy oh boy am I glad I did. The story here goes like so . . . .

“Let me get this straight … a double homicide with serious racial overtones, a sheriff’s department that initially gave short shrift to the killing of a black man, and the Texas Rangers send in an officer on suspension – ”

What comes next is the unraveling of not only the murder cases, but also the history of the one-horse town where they occurred that features a Jim Crow era black-owned restaurant on one end and a watering hole frequented by the Aryan Brotherhood a quarter mile down the road.

Now give me just a second here . . . .



Because I’m about to make Goodreads history and recommend this to a bunch of not-easy-to-please readers. Obvs. Shelby and I share a brain and I figure she’d pretty much dig this one, so I’m pulling out the big guns in order to prove I think this was the shit. Original Dan, Dan 2.ÖØÕʘṎΩϴѺỘ (whatever the symbol is this week), Melki and Kemper???? All y’all should give this one a spin. There’s no Lifetime Television for Women supersleuth housewives – no ridiculous™ plot twists – it’s just guuuuuuuuud. And to sweeten the deal for my You Tube lovin’ frenemy . . . . .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QMg-...

[Rincey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Daaaaaaaaaaaang

[Brown Girl Reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

My video review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRHlW...

[Libby · Rating 4 out of 5]

4+ stars - Along Highway 59 running through East Texas is Geneva Sweet’s cafe. Geneva never turns anyone away hungry. Back when black people weren’t welcome in other restaurants, Geneva opened shop, becoming a haven along the highway where they could stop and eat, refuel their bodies. She serves down-home country cooking, with oxtails on the menu as well as black-eyed peas, fried pies, pork sandwiches, and other delicious items. On the jukebox turntable, there’s a terrific selection of blues, Muddy Waters, Mahalia Jackson, and James Lee Hooker sings “Bluebird, Bluebird take a letter down south.” Attica Locke sets the scene magnificently as we sink into a town where race relations are also on the menu, but its offering is not delicious; its deleterious.

Darren Matthews has been born and bred in this briar patch of East Texas. He loves home and country and his heart is in his work. A Texas Ranger on suspension, he thinks part of the reason for his suspension lies in his interest in the ABT (Aryan Brotherhood of Texas). There’s another major reason; you’ll need to read about it. When his friend, Agent Greg Heglund sends him to Lark, Texas, he’s supposed to probe the stories behind the two bodies that have been pulled out of the bayou. A black man died three days before a white girl washed up downstream. Usually, Darren thinks, it’s the other way around, the white girl dies first, then a black life enters the void. Darren is struggling in his relationship with his wife, Lisa, who wants him to give up the Rangers. When the dead man's widow shows up to find out what happened to her husband, a little sexual tension comes to the pages.

A quarter-mile from Geneva’s is Jeff’s Juice House, an icehouse with a wrap-around porch along three sides, where truckers and the locals can tank up on something besides gasoline. Some of these guys are carrying guns and have SS lightning bolt tattoos. This jukebox plays Waylon Jennings and George Strait. The Juice House and Geeneva’s Cafe play pivotal roles in the mystery behind the two dead bodies.

This novel engaged me from the start and held my interest throughout. Locke is a writer and producer on the Golden Globe-nominated TV show, Empire, which is about a family involved in the music industry, so perhaps this accounts for the expertise with which she so masterfully weaves the thread of music around the rich and vibrant characters of ‘Bluebird, Bluebird.’ I enjoyed what felt like a realistic portrayal of race relations and the fact that in this novel, it was the white people who had to be differentiated. There was one clunky spot in the plot; other than that a most compelling read!

[Anne Bogel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been meaning to read this series for a while now and am so glad I made time for this first installment!

As a black Texas Ranger, Darren Matthews has an intricate understanding of racial tensions in East Texas. He’s proud of his roots and his family, but when his loyalty lands him in trouble, he agrees to get out of town and investigate a crime for a friend. He drives up Highway 59 to the town of Lark, where a recent murder has stirred up hatred and history.

Atmospheric and timely, and terrific on audio.

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Bluebird, bluebird, take this letter down South for me.” – John Lee Hooker

Bluebird, Bluebird is set in the fictional East Texas town of Lark, where the battered body of a black lawyer from Chicago is found in the bayou. Local law enforcement’s early conclusion: drowning. A few days later, the body of a young local white woman is found in the same bayou. Ordinarily, two deaths that appear to be similar that occur in such a short period of time would seem to be related; however, the fact that the white woman died after the black man does not seem to make sense.

Darren Matthews is a Texas Ranger. He is unusual because there are few African Americans who wear the badge, especially in East Texas. Darren was raised by two uncles – Clayton, a defense lawyer and professor of constitutional law, who urged him to become a lawyer; and William, a Ranger, who had since died. Although Darren had been to law school, it was in William’s footsteps that he followed. This, and his drinking, has caused a lot of friction in his marriage, and he is currently separated from his wife Lisa. He is also separated from his badge, having been suspended pending the outcome of a grand jury hearing on a murder case in which he was first on the scene while off-duty.

Darren receives a call from an FBI buddy tipping him off to the situation in Lark and decides to make a visit to Lark. I had to wonder why Attica Locke chose the name Lark for her fictional town. In literature, the lark is often the symbol of daybreak, often in a religious way, signaling the coming of the dawn. The culture of this little backwater town is like something out of Jim Crow, but it is the Donald Trump era. The “N-word” is still used without much embarrassment by some folks. A white supremacy group, the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas, slithers about making and selling meth and hawking illegal guns. They top the list of Darren’s suspects, but what will he really find in this hornets’ nest? The lark is a beautiful songbird, but it is territorial. The white men of Lark, TX, do not want outsiders, not the Rangers – especially not a black Ranger – nor the Feds investigating in their little town.

I found the character list and the plot to be somewhat confusing until I got totally submerged into it. There are characters with complex, painful histories. Ms. Locke has penned some richly captivating men and women: Geneva, Randie, and Darren. They struggle with their demons, but they are strong individuals. To Locke’s credit, she creates a balance; the white sheriff seems to be a decent guy. Does that mean there will be justice?

At the crux of it all is the issue of race. At times, it felt to me like a modern day version of Mark Twain’s Pudd'nhead Wilson – or perhaps not so modern, considering the attitudes. Also at the center is what can one man do to make the world better? How does he choose to serve?

If you can make your way through the almost suffocating sultry atmosphere of racism, you may find this story to be moving at times and quite powerful.

4 stars

[Cindy Burnett (Thoughts from a Page) · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

Bluebird, Bluebird is a complex, multi-layered mystery that takes place in a small East Texas town. The tale is dark, thought-provoking and well-written. I liked but didn’t love the protagonist, Ranger Darren Matthews, who is a bit too troubled but smart and compassionate. The plot’s resolution was believable, and I love the way Attica Locke writes her characters and the setting. Overall, it’s a fabulous book.

I live in Texas and have spent a fair amount of time in East Texas. This book was a real struggle for me because Locke’s version of East Texas is drastically different from my own experience. And I guess that is Locke’s point. I live in Houston, a diverse and multicultural city, and I found it depressing and somewhat painful that such overt racism still exists. However, I have reflected on this portion of the book for several weeks and realize that this behavior is clearly occurring all over the United States as is evident in the news and current politics. Hopefully as people continue to speak out and seek change, one day racism will be a bad memory.

Bluebird, Bluebird is a tale that made me think and reflect on the state of our country today. I highly recommend it.

Listen to my podcast at https://www.thoughtsfromapage.com for fun author interviews. For more book reviews, check out my Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/thoughtsfro....

[Antoinette · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 STARS
This book, at its core, is about race and justice. Believe it or not this takes place in 2016 -and yet in East Texas, African Americans are still called "Niggers" and still asked to leave white establishments. Maybe it's because I am from Canada, but I found that to be totally unimaginable.

We meet Darren Matthews, a Texas Ranger, who goes to small town Lark, to investigate the death of a black lawyer and a local white woman. Are the two deaths connected? Being a small town, there are numerous small town secrets at play. We meet Geneva, a black woman, who owns a café and who has seen both her husband and son meet murderous endings. We meet Wally, the local rich man who has designs on Geneva's establishment.

I had difficulty losing myself in this book. Sadly, I predicted most of what was to happen, other than the add on ending, which I didn't like.
There were moments that I liked, such as the delving into the ongoing racial tensions. But, Darren Matthews, I could not connect with or really care about.

There are many excellent reviews for this book, so definitely read it and decide for yourself. I felt it was a good read, but not an outstanding one as I was expecting.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Geneva Sweet ran an orange extension cord past Mayva Greenwood, Beloved Wife and Mother, May She Rest With her Heavenly Father."

The first line of this novel caught my attention immediately. What a great beginning! And it only got better from there.

Being from Texas, and being very familiar with Houston, Hwy 59, and the tiny little East Texas towns that dot the highway like so many mosquito bites on a redneck's arm, I was quickly drawn to this story of a black Texas Ranger and the two murders he is driven to investigate in an area that still holds on to some old-style traditions. And I don't mean the good kind of traditions.

Darren Matthews, Texas Ranger living in Houston, in the midst of an investigation that could mean his job, and a crisis and drinking problem that could affect his marriage, hears of the murders of a black man and a white woman in the little town of Lark in northeast Texas. While on suspension from the Rangers, he decides to check out the situation for himself. What he discovers in this rural setting, is that the stench of white supremacy has overtaken the sweet scent of the area's piney woods. As Ranger Matthews investigates further and gets to know the people in Lark, he uncovers secrets that have been around for years, hiding in plain sight. By the end of the book, an intricate web has been laid bare, as well as a realistic portrait of racial and criminal activities that still happen today - more often than we choose to believe.

This book was so well written, that I couldn't put it down. I read it in almost one sitting. Attica Locke has won multiple awards for her other books, and although I haven't read any others by her, that's going to change right away! Her style is descriptive, her characters well-formed and believable. Her use of real locations and her knowledge of the best and the worst of Texas had me smiling with enjoyment or shaking my head with shame throughout the story.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

[Liz Barnsley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bluebird Bluebird is a novel of true excellence, in concept, execution, character and incredibly talented writing. It pulls you in from the very first page, tells truth however uncomfortable, leaves you thinking about it for a good few hours afterwards and is one of those books that defies definition.

The plot is complex, intelligent and disturbingly realistic – and described much better than I could do justice to in other reviews so I’ll stick to talking about the impact Bluebird Bluebird (taken from the John Lee Hooker song) had on me – that was one of quiet contemplation about the realities of life outside my little bubble of work, school runs, reading and an easy, fairly privileged upbringing.

I’m not sure I can get over how vastly emotional the descriptive, beautiful tone of this novel, telling a sad and unfortunately all too authentic story, makes you feel. Darren Matthews, black Texas ranger, facing a range of problems even aside from the causal racism, is a uniquely qualified character to drive the narrative – his experiences, determination, flaws, all form the heart of the story, which is both thriller and thought provoking drama within one vivid and genuine setting.

Attica Locke is an engaging, perceptive writer who immerses you into the world she is talking about with beautifully captivating prose, an unsettling sense of feeling and sparking dialogue – it is yes an entertaining read but also an educational one – oh how far we think we have come as humans but oh so far do we still have to go….

Highly Recommended.

[Monica **can't read fast enough** · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Bluebird, Bluebird Locke tackles the difficulty of being a black man in the south with education, status, and the drive to make things better. Locke begins to peel back the layers of what it means to call a place that is not always welcoming home. Of being drawn to a place that is hostile to your very existence. Darren and his family have deep roots in Texas. The Mathews family has every right and reason to be proud of their family's legacy that they fought to establish while fighting against people who felt entitled to more and better simply by being born white.

Darren's life is as about as complicated as it can get when he becomes entangled in three murder cases that all revolve around issues of race. Darren has been suspended pending an investigation, he and his wife are separated because of differing visions for their future, and Darren's trying to decide which part of the law he wants to fight for. Continue to be a Texas Ranger and fight with his boots on the ground, or finish law school and fight in the courtroom. The cherry on top of this pile of stress is Darren's mother, who is difficult at best, and is making an appearance and making demands in his life. To deal with the mess that his life is becoming, Darren finds himself seeking refuge in bottles of whiskey. When Darren thinks that his life can't get any more complicated, a phone call from a friend sends him to the tiny community of Lark, Texas to poke around in an unofficial capacity. The trip down Highway 59 sets Darren on a path to solving a crime and answering some hard questions about himself that he's been wrestling with.

Attica Locke wastes no time locking in her readers in Bluebird, Bluebird. I admit that I was partial to this story in part because of it's location. The story is set in East Texas, which is very familiar to me. My dad's people hail from the ArkLaTex area. That's Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas for those not in the know! My family and family friends still live and love in Texarkana, Shreveport, and Marshall. My family's farm is just minutes from Wiley College which is mentioned in Bluebird, Bluebird. Many of the places mentioned and described in this story were just that much more familiar to me, because I can clearly picture the farm roads, towns, and woods. I can hear the drawls and cadence of the people Locke describes. For me, this entire book felt like home and the Mathews family felt like a reflection of my own. I can barely describe how wonderful it felt to relate that closely to characters in a story. It is a very rare occurrence for me and it means a lot to truly see my reality reflected so clearly. The south is populated by many African American families who made a place for themselves and prospered through hard work and pushing for education despite the hardships and hurdles thrown at them. Unfortunately, we don't always get a realistic look at those kind of families in fiction. I appreciate Locke featuring this type of modern family as the background for Darren. Far from perfect, but reaching for their piece of the American dream. Locke did a wonderful job of encompassing the bits of really good and the really ugly of these southern communities. Close knit communities anywhere are sometimes difficult, but in the southern states, they can be especially complicated. In East Texas, as in many rural places, time has marched on, but the people there aren't growing and evolving with the times as quickly as other places. The tangled web of race, family, and community are all realistically portrayed in this story.

The ending of Bluebird, Bluebird clearly suggests that this is the beginning of a series and I certainly hope that Locke gives us many more books featuring these characters. There would be so much to explore with Darren as the protagonist. I almost finished this in one sitting on a road trip and hated to see the story end, even though it was a perfect place to leave off. If you are looking for a good crime story I would recommend picking up Bluebird, Bluebird. Attica Locke is an author who is going to be an auto buy for me.

**I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.**

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[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Darren Matthews is a Texas Ranger. He's also on suspension, drinking a little too heavily and clearly on the outs with his wife. And he's black.

Pulled into the tiny town of Lark to look into a double homicide where nothing is as it's seems. It's a local white girl and an affluent, out of town black man. Attica Locke is here to explore the tensions between rural and urban blacks, race in the South, justice and how it splits alongs color lines and the simmering reality of the Aryan Brotherhood.

I'm usually on board for this kind of exploration but I felt Bluebird, Bluebird stumbled within the confines of it's purported genre. It didn't entirely work as a detective story or a thriller and instead read like the first arc of a longer serial.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Climate change, they call it. This keep up and I'll live long enough to see hell on earth, I guess.

This story was not what I thought it might be at the start. It went a different route and went deeper, examining prejudice and racial tensions in a way I haven't read about before, seen through the eyes of various people having to cope with it in whatever manner they chose or were forced to choose, whether it was by leaving their home, or by acquiescing to their oppressors, or by doing so only outwardly so they could continue to live in a town they had every bit as much right to inhabit as any other person, their roots going back just as many generations.

The main character of this book, Darren Mathews, who graduated from Princeton and had two years of law school under his belt, is a black Texas Ranger with a drinking problem and marital troubles. His wife, Lisa, had been hoping he would become a lawyer instead of essentially becoming an elite cop, in her estimation. But despite the lesser pay and whatever prejudices Darren encounters in his job, he considers it an honor and more of a calling than mere employment, based on a notion he inherited from one of the two uncles who raised him.

The nobility is in the fight, son, in all things.

Unfortunately, Darren's calling is at risk now. He is on suspension until it is determined whether or not he acted inappropriately when aiding a black friend who was threatened by a white man on the friend's property, the friend calling Darren in to help him instead of calling the police.

Darren grew up in East Texas, and as he awaits the jury's decision on his future, he returns there as a favor to a friend in the FBI who wants him to poke around a small town where the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas is rumored to have a big hold. He wants Darren to see if two recent deaths might be murder, and if connected, if they are racially motivated, since one victim was a black man who was a stranger to the area, and the other victim was a white woman who lived in that town. Arriving there, Darren finds himself anything but welcome. And as he unofficially investigates the cases and, in particular, the black victim with whom he finds parallels in his own life, a sense of dread sets in, as well as a newfound sense of hope for redemption from all that's gone wrong in his life. If only he can find justice for the victims and for the black townspeople falling under suspicion.

Criminal investigations are about more than who's guilty...Ambition gets in the way of the truth.

Darren also learns that secrets from the past are whispering louder and louder, begging to be heard. He only needs to give them his voice, but at what cost to this town and the people who inhabit it separately, yet together?

Seemed like death had a mind to follow her around in this lifetime. It was a sly shadow at her back, as singleminded as a dog on a hunt; as faithful, too.

Besides containing a very good criminal mystery with plenty of twists and flawed but likable characters, this book brings to light social issues very much current in today's political climate in the US. There is plenty here to keep any book club talking and readers wondering when or if hatred in the hearts and minds of certain people will ever cease to exist.

There is also some very self-assured writing in this book. It is both polished and realistic. I was glad to be a passenger riding along with this author at the wheel, no backseat driving required. Oh and if you're wondering about the title, it was taken from a song by John Lee Hooker. The lyrics are found here:

http://lyrics.wikia.com/wiki/John_Lee...