Bluebird, Bluebird
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4.0 • 190 Ratings
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
A "heartbreakingly resonant" thriller about the explosive intersection of love, race, and justice from a writer and producer of the Emmy-winning Fox TV show Empire (USA Today).
"In Bluebird, Bluebird Attica Locke had both mastered the thriller and exceeded it."-Ann Patchett
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. From a writer and producer of the Emmy winning Fox TV show Empire, Bluebird, Bluebird is a rural noir suffused with the unique music, color, and nuance of East Texas.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Bluebird, Bluebird is in essence a modern Western: a tale of a lone man wading into dangerous territory, gamely staring down long odds. When a black man and a white woman are found dead in a tiny East Texas town, black Texas Ranger Darren Mathews leads the investigation, digging up deep, intimate connections among the town’s residents. Attica Locke draws every scene with a vivid sensuality so intense and mesmerizing that we felt we were right there—in each bar, sheriff’s office, estate, café, and darkened bayou copse she conjures.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
At the start of this absorbing series launch set in East Texas from Edgar-finalist Locke (Pleasantville), Texas Ranger Darren Mathews is suspended from the force because he rushed, while off duty, to the aid of a friend in a dispute that turned violent. Then, against his family's wishes and the law, he determines to check out a racially charged crime a few hours up the highway. In the desolate town of Lark, the bodies of a black lawyer from Chicago and a local white woman have surfaced in a bayou within a few days of each other. Darren discovers that the town revolves around two prominent figures: Wally Jefferson, proprietor of a white supremacist bar and close confidant to the county sheriff, and Wally's neighbor Geneva Sweet, a black business owner with her own brand of authority. As Darren investigates the two murders, he becomes immersed in Lark's fraught history. Darren must deal with his conflicting loyalties to his family and to Texas, as well as his identity as a black man, as he struggles for justice in this tale of racism, hatred, and, surprisingly, love.)
Customer Reviews
Very good
This was a good book. It moved a bit slow at places, too much description of surroundings. Good mystery, lots of unforeseen twists.
Great mystery!
I enjoyed the perspective of the Ranger in this book and the American Gothic undertones. An easy read that made me think.
Bluebird, Bluebird - Excellent
Excellent book! Great writing that kept me riveted to the book.