Rating: 5/5
Review:
An excellent, insightful thriller
I thought Bluebird, Bluebird was excellent. I approached it with some trepidation, half
expecting it to be grim and turgid, but I found it exciting, readable and very insightful
about modern racism in the southern USA.
Darren Williams, a black Texas Ranger investigates two
deaths in a small Texas town; one
of a black man the second of a white woman.
Attica Locke creates a phenomenally convincing atmosphere of uneasy
peace with an ever-present threat from White Supremacists and an expectation
among black people of bigoted law enforcement which cannot be trusted. Her characters are excellently drawn and very
believable, although I could have done without Darren's drink problem, suspension
from duty and Complicated Personal Life.
The book and his character would have been just as powerful and
interesting without such over-used staples of the genre – possibly more
so. Nonetheless, this is a gripping
story with plenty of emotional and political meat to it, which kept me completely
hooked. (It has also got me to listen to
some of my old Lightnin' Hopkins
records again, for which I'm very grateful.)
Locke writes fine, readable prose with very natural dialogue
and she throws in some brilliantly evocative observations. For example, of a black woman whose husband
has been killed: "This night had opened a valve past mere grief, had
touched a fear that burrowed beneath the skin of any coloured person below the
shadow of the Mason-Dixon Line." The book is peppered with gems like this.
In short, Bluebird, Bluebird is both a fine thriller and a
book with important things to say about crucial social issues. I'll be waiting for the next in the series
and can warmly recommend this one.
(I received an ARC via NetGalley.)
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