Scan barcode
A review by realadhdoug
Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke
4.75
I cannot for the life of me figure out why this novel doesn’t have more five star reviews. I found it to be utterly captivating from start to finish. The story is told with such a steady, alluring rhythm that I felt like the author was singing it to me. And wow it was a beautiful song!
Normally, it tries my patience when an author is overly descriptive about the landscape and general environment in which the story is set. But this story is heavy on painting vivid descriptions of the dusty Texas roads, how everyone dresses, the smell of every room a character enters, etc.—and I did not once find it in the least bit droll. Don’t know how to put my finger on it, but this writing style just hooked me and made me feel invested in the story.
The general plot centers around Darren, a Black Texas Ranger who’s recently been suspended and is considering leaving the Rangers to go back to law school. But first, he heads to a small town outside of Dallas to investigate the suspicious death of a traveler he suspects may have been the target of a hate crime. When he arrives, he discovers that a local woman had just occurred in the same town a day later. Meeting up with the traveler’s recently estranged wife who had come down from Chicago to investigate her husband’s death, Darren pokes around trying to figure out the events that led to these two deaths. In the end, he discovers a more complicated situation than he could have imagined—a tangled web of love and hate that pits the hostility of racial prejudice against the bonds family in completely unexpected ways.
It looks like this book is part of an ongoing series, with the latest having just come out. I can’t wait to continue on in this simply fascinating world Locke has created.
Normally, it tries my patience when an author is overly descriptive about the landscape and general environment in which the story is set. But this story is heavy on painting vivid descriptions of the dusty Texas roads, how everyone dresses, the smell of every room a character enters, etc.—and I did not once find it in the least bit droll. Don’t know how to put my finger on it, but this writing style just hooked me and made me feel invested in the story.
The general plot centers around Darren, a Black Texas Ranger who’s recently been suspended and is considering leaving the Rangers to go back to law school. But first, he heads to a small town outside of Dallas to investigate the suspicious death of a traveler he suspects may have been the target of a hate crime. When he arrives, he discovers that a local woman had just occurred in the same town a day later. Meeting up with the traveler’s recently estranged wife who had come down from Chicago to investigate her husband’s death, Darren pokes around trying to figure out the events that led to these two deaths. In the end, he discovers a more complicated situation than he could have imagined—a tangled web of love and hate that pits the hostility of racial prejudice against the bonds family in completely unexpected ways.
It looks like this book is part of an ongoing series, with the latest having just come out. I can’t wait to continue on in this simply fascinating world Locke has created.