Rating: 5/5
Review:
Excellent
I thought Bluebird, Bluebird was excellent. This, the sequel, is
just as good. (It can be read as a stand-alone book, but I would
strongly recommend reading Bluebird, Bluebird first.)
In Heaven My Home,
Darren Matthews is still mired in the aftermath of his unethical but
understandable behaviour previously. After a period of office work,
he is sent to investigate the disappearance of the son of a convicted
white supremacist killer because as a black Texas Ranger his boss
thinks he may be able to glean information about the racist
organisation the boy’s father belongs to. Things don’t go as
planned or expected and Darren’s flawed but fundamentally noble
character continues to be pulled in different directions both
professionally and personally.
It’s a gripping,
compelling story and again we get an unvarnished picture of the
racism still rampant in some people in the USA and how it has been
strengthened by recent political developments. Some of it is raw,
ugly and abusive, some is more genteel but no less corrosive and
repellent. There is also decency here and an excellent portrait of a
(literally) backwater community and its attitudes.
I may have made this
sound worthy and a bit turgid, but it’s anything but. I found it
completely engrossing and an excellent read; there is some real
weight to both its current comment and historical research, but both
are lightly worn. It’s an excellent book which I can recommend
very warmly.
(My thanks to
Profile Books for an ARC via Netgalley.)
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