Black Water Rising

Black Water Rising is a historical mystery set in early 1980's Houston, Texas. The main character, Jay Porter is an African American lawyer who gets caught up in a murder investigation and issues between unions and money-hungry oil companies.

This is a mystery, but the social commentary is clearly the focus of the book. Attica Locke's writing is vivid and atmospheric as she describes the racial injustice in Houston at the time while giving readers a clear picture of what life was like for the haves and the have-nots. 

The story starts off with a strong opening scene but soon becomes overly complicated with several subplots and too many flashbacks to Porter's past. Porter is a good enough guy (if a little dull) but, for a lawyer, he makes unbelievably silly decisions. This focus on his past and the added tangents bogged down the story leaving the mystery to feel like it was always in the background.

Black Water Rising reads like a movie script with its descriptions (which shouldn't come as a surprise since Locke is a writer/producer for TV and film) and it's these descriptions that garner most of my rating. But while this is an impressive debut and its writing and social commentary are strong, the mystery was too slow, needed more tension and an ending that had a more satisfying resolution. 

My Rating: 3 stars

Author: Attica Locke

Genre: Suspense

Series: #1 in Jay Porter series

Type: eBook

Source: Local Public Library Digital Collection

Publisher: HarperCollins eBooks

First Published: June 2009

Opening Lines: Texas 1981 - The boat is smaller than he imagined. And dingier.

Book Description from GoodReads: Jay Porter is hardly the lawyer he set out to be. His most promising client is a low-rent call girl, and he runs his fledgling law practice out of a dingy strip mall. But he’s long since made peace with his path to the American Dream, carefully tucking away his darkest sins: the guns, the FBI file, the trial that nearly destroyed him.

Houston, Texas, 1981. It’s here that Jay believes he can make a fresh start. That is, until the night he impulsively saves a drowning woman’s life – and opens a Pandora’s Box. Her secrets put Jay in danger, ensnaring him in a murder investigation that could cost him his practice, his family, and even his life. But before he can get to the bottom of a tangled mystery that reaches into the upper echelons of Houston’s corporate powerbrokers, Jay must confront the demons of his past.

With intelligent writing that captures the reader from the first scene through an exhilarating climax, Black Water Rising marks the arrival of an electrifying new talent.