Black Water Rising

BLACK WATER RISING
Attica Locke
HarperCollins, 2009. 427 pgs. Mystery

Jay Porter, former firebrand in the civil rights movement, lost his stomach for the fight when he was betrayed and nearly sent to prison for a crime he didn't commit. In Attica Locke's new character study/thriller, "Black Water Rising," Jay is forced out of his meager, under-the-radar life when he saves a woman from drowning in the bayous near Houston. Soon Jay and his wife are threatened by a thug who works for someone powerful and frightening who may or may not be involved with an upcoming dockworkers' strike. Complications multiply and Jay, in spite of his fears for himself, his wife, and their soon-to-be-born baby, fights back, at first tentatively, and then as his true self against corruption in high political and economic places. Grounded in rich character development and a firm sense of place, Black Water Rising is a thoughtful and suspenseful book, a perfect transition from beach reading to the deeper waters of autumn.

LW