Description

Shortlisted for the Orange Prize, nominated for an Edgar Award, an NAACP Image Award and a Los Angeles Times Book Prize

On a dark night, out on the Houston bayou to celebrate his wife’s birthday, Jay Porter hears a scream. Saving a distressed woman from drowning, he opens a Pandora’s Box.

Not the lawyer he set out to be, Jay long ago made peace with his radical youth, tucked away his darkest sins and resolved to make a fresh start. His impulsive act out on the bayou is heroic, but it puts Jay in danger, ensnaring him in a murder investigation that could cost him is practice, his family and even his life. Before he can untangle the mystery that stretches to the highest reaches of corporate power, he must confront the demons of his past.

A provocative thriller with an exhilarating climax, Black Water Rising marks the arrival of an electrifying new talent.

Publisher Review

The most impressive crime debut I've read this year -- Marcel Berlins * The Times * What a ride! Black Water Rising is a superlative debut; a wonderful treatise on the Texas 1980s - the best bad town novel in some time. Attica Locke is a stand-out in every imperative-young-writer way -- James Ellroy Black Water Rising is a stylish, involving literary thriller with a strong emphasis on human politics and character. An auspicious debut from Attica Locke -- George Pelecanos Black Water Rising is a terrifying reminder of how recently America was a very bad place to be young, gifted and black. This is an authentic, atmospheric debut that burns with an entirely reasonable anger -- Val McDermid Started reading Black Water Rising with my morning coffee and barely set it aside until I'd finished it that evening - that's the kind of grip it has. Attica Locke serves up a rich stew of venal politicians and legal chicanery in which staying alive is hard enough and hanging on to your integrity harder still. Longshoremen, Civil Rights and Big Oil - John Grisham meets Chinatown in 1980s Texas -- John Harvey A ripping read -- Miranda Sawyer * Observer Summer Reading *