Reviews

Even better than the first book, Black Water Rising. Darker subject matter, same brand of humor, crazy plot twists, exceptional writing, characters to love. One of the best books I read this summer. My full review here:

kmardahl's review

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4.0

I am a huge fan of Attica Locke's storytelling. She writes a great page-turner and throws in a lot of the painful racist history of Texas and the U.S.

I happened to find this excellent article on The Guardian that is part of a lecture she gave at the 2020 Noirwich Crime Writing Festival:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/sep/12/murders-in-my-novels-true-crimes-about-land-attica-locke

There are possible spoilers there. Not of the crime you think her books are about, but of the bigger picture in her story. I value that quality in her writing. It just goes to show that you can get some great escapist lit - a page-turning mystery - that also packs another punch about some political and cultural issues that don't let the old brain cells escape too far

Now I just have to get my hands on her book, The Cutting Room--the only one I have yet to read--and then I will be desperate for Attica Locke to write a new book. :)

katymvt's review against another edition

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4.0

More like a 3.5. It got off to a slow start, but then took off. Some of the characters were underdeveloped. The political aspect overshadowed the mystery, so much so that you don't even really care who did it and when you find out, it's not that satisfying. But, the trial was interesting. The misdirects were sufficiently mis-directy.

notablebird's review against another edition

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3.0

The turns of phrase, reflections, and metaphors are very good, and no wonder as Locke is an accomplished dramatic writer. The book is unsurprisingly cinematic. I did not read the first of these books, and I suspect my enjoyment of this one without that character background might be the lesser for it. Overall, it's ground that has generally already been covered, and the dead wife, kidnapped daughter avenues are trite and veer into melodrama. I would like to read a more serious book by this author; I hope she has one.

sfcohen's review against another edition

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3.0

Maybe a 3.5? Not the best-written mystery I've read, but adequate. It drops enough references to the first novel with the same protagonist, [b:Black Water Rising|6214113|Black Water Rising|Attica Locke|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327883835s/6214113.jpg|6394686], that I probably will read that soon while it's all fresh in my mind.

tonireads's review against another edition

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4.0

Lawyer Jay Porter is back after his introduction in Locke’s first book, Black Water Rising, where he tackled a murder case that found him embroiled in environmental politics and changed his life. Pleasantville picks up a few years later and Jay has become somewhat of a go-to lawyer for citizens in their fight against the dumping of chemicals in their neighborhoods.

Pleasantville, a predominately African-American neighborhood in Houston, Texas (in real life and in the book), is currently being represented in a lawsuit against a company that caused a chemical fire near their homes. On the eve of a mayoral election, a campaign volunteer goes missing Jay finds himself reluctantly involved in finding out what happened to her.

Attica Locke writes super-layered novels, so it’s almost impossible to cover everything in this review. Grief, greed, politics, environmental racism…it’s all here. What I love best about Pleasantville, and her other books, is that I never have a clue about who’s behind the mystery until she reveals it to me. The last pages of the book move at a lightning speed that will have your heart racing and tuning out everything else around you.

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