Bluebird, Bluebird (A Highway 59 Novel, 1)

Attica’s books read like a movie and the audiobooks are even better. This is the second book I’ve read from her and it did not disappoint. She knows how to keep you guessing on romance, the killer, and the suspicious characters lol. I plan on experiencing all of her work.

I heard about this book via Anne Patchett at Parnassus Books. Published in 2017, this 2018 Edgar Award winning book had absolutely flown under my radar. Southern fiction. Crime fiction. Jim Crow is alive and well in East Texas. The year is 2016. The Aryan Brotherhood has a stronghold down in Lark, Texas. Geneva Sweet opened her establishment years ago wanting to provide a place where black travelers could stop and rest and get a decent meal. You know, walk in the front door instead of the back. Besides the occasional long haul truck driver, she has her regular customers. “The Lord hadn’t made a soul Geneva wouldn’t feed.” She even let shy Isaac rent 50 feet of floor space and put in a barber chair. Isaac swept the place of an evening for the three square meals he ate every day. He would cut hair for ten bucks a head. When two dead bodies show up a week apart in the Attoyac Bayou that runs behind Geneva’s place, not much attention was paid to the first body which washed up down the road. Michael Wright, a black man driving a shiny rental car, who had shown up earlier at Geneva’s was body number one. He had brought her a gift from his uncle. But, when a white girl, a local mother of a young son is found washed up behind Geneva’s place, people paid attention. All hands on deck. Enter protagonist Darren Matthews, a suspended black Texas Ranger from Houston, who had just finished testifying in a Grand Jury Investigation. Darren got a tip about the two murders from an old friend who is an FBI agent looking to make a name for himself. Against his better judgment and adding fuel to his already rocky marriage, Darren drives down to Shelby County just to look around. That’s all he can do since his suspension is pending based on that Grand Jury’s verdict. But Darren’s heart is tied to the red dirt of the East Texas of his youth. How can he not look around. In his heart of hearts, he knows the murders are related and race is a factor. But, the predominantly white Texas Rangers and local white Sheriff and staff, want to downplay the idea of racism. Racial tension is strong and without Darren’s Ranger status, the many guns pointed at him during the story might have claimed another victim. I loved Darren even while he struggled with his demons - which, to name a few, include a wife who wants a lawyer husband who is home every night, the bourbon he drinks too much of, and the crush he has on the first murdered victim’s wife - they all play a part in this powerful East Texas mystery. The topic is a tough. But the loyalty of the black community - who are leary of any stranger, especially one who shows up with nosy questions one day and a ranger badge the next - is strong and very careful when answering his questions. Matthews has a sixth sense about the root of the crimes and though there is an arrest made, the book leaves the reader demanding more! It is a good thing book two, Heaven, My Home, is already out. Both books have been made into movies for television. The most recent one premieres in September 2024. Bluebird, Bluebird is a solid four star read for me and I am looking forward to more from this award winning author, Attica Locke.

I really expected to like this book. It has won numerous awards in 2018, including an Edgar Award for best novel. And it was . . . okay. The characters were cliche--the hero, a lawman experiencing some rocky times in his marriage to a woman he really, really loves, yet he is tempted by the victim's wife. Oh, and he drinks too much (haven't seen that one before). And then there is the victim's wife, who has been separated for some time from her now-deceased husband who has cheated on her in her self-imposed absence to pursue a career. And that makes her devastation at his death a little hard to believe. The hero's family relationships were complicated by circumstances that seemingly did nothing to advance the plot, and I had to keep going back to check who was who (he was raised by twin uncles, one of whom is deceased, and the surviving one marries the dead uncle's widow--why?). But the mystery itself is somewhat interesting with a surprising and not completely unbelievable solution. Finally, the ending was so unsatisfactory. I don't mind an author leaving room for a sequel, but this one demands it.

I have finished the book. While it took me weeks to pick it up after the beginning focus on the traumatic event that still haunts, I am glad I finally picked it up. Locke is a very good storyteller. She didn’t sensationalize areas she could have taken advantage of… Giving details to visualize the scenes and leaving just enough suspense that ultimately helped me stick to the end. I do appreciate all the entanglements (race, gender, love, family, relationships…). Very good read for those who love to get lost in the story.

Darren Mathews was raised by his white shoe uncles, one a law professor at UT-Austin, one a Texas Ranger. He was sent up north for his education and to make the choice, lawMAN or LAWman (trust me, they loved him, but “acrobat” wouldn’t have been a choice any of the three would have entertained.) It was looking like the law was a clear winner. Then, Jasper. I stop for a moment to say this book was published and was big in 2017, so before Ferguson (I think) and before everything going on now with the #BLM movement in 2019 and 2020. Jasper should have been the stop to all this bullshit. But then there’ve been a lot of those moments. Jasper made Darren quit law school in his second year (University of Chicago...not too shabby) and put him on a hurry up track for the Texas Rangers, still largely white in this story. Darren is kinda, sorta on suspension for helping a friend when another friend, mired in the depths of the FBI, gives him a tip in his old stompin’ ground East Texas. It’s a double murder (but are they related) back behind Geneva’s place and the dead man’s wife, Randie, comes from Chicago to see about it. It’s a good, not great story, but what elevates the book is the way Locke makes East Texas, both of the past and the present, a character, perhaps the main character. I live in as a small blue dot in a state red as blood and I see Attica Locke. I don’t know anything about the Aryan Brotherhood, but the rest, it’s sadly truly. Jim Crow is alive in the American south and Donald Trump has brought him out to play. Like mysteries and love your country? Read this book....well written and about something, too. Quarantine read.

Attica Locke won an Edgar Award for Best Novel for this book. She deserved it. Darren Mathews is a black Texas Ranger with a load of personal troubles. He is struggling to hold on to the job he loves and his marriage when he's tasked to investigate two murders in the tiny east Texas town of Lark. The first victim is a black male attorney visiting from Chicago and the second is a white local woman who died two days later. The two were seen in a rundown watering hole frequented by members of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas. When the wife of the victim shows up racial and family tensions begin to ignite. Darren's wife wants him to return to his pre-Ranger law career while his bosses and family members want to control him. He feels a personal obligation to Michael, the murdered man, and won't rest until he finds the killers. Locke weaves a beautiful backstory of the Mississippi blues and a famous Les Paul guitar into the mystery. This is a great read that provides insight into many important issues facing modern society.

This was a pretty convoluted story with lots of characters to remember and family lines to keep straight. It had some interesting twists and turns, and the solve was surprising. However, I dislike a book that leaves you hanging and makes you feel like you have to read the next one, so there's the reason for 4 stars. Not sure if I'll ever read the next book. The characters I liked the most probably aren't in it.

I never saw the ending coming! This is one of the best crime novels I’ve ever read. Not only is the plot well-developed, but the setting, dialogue, mood and character development are all excellent. I rarely give a book 5 stars, so be assured that this is superb writing. I enjoyed it much more than the 1st Attica Locke book I read, “The Cutting Season”, and I look forward to reading her other books now.

This is the kind of crime novel that cares about people. The story is full of understanding about place, history, and what it costs to belong somewhere complicated. Small details do a lot of work. You feel the weight of family, land, and memory without being told how to feel. Darren Mathews is a rare crime protagonist, thoughtful, conflicted, and shaped by forces much bigger than the case he is trying to solve. It’s a murder story, but it’s also about power, loyalty, and the rules people learn in order to survive. Smart, humane, and confident, Bluebird, Bluebird is crime writing that respects the reader and trusts the silence between the sentences.

Super

This novel resonates with the times but it’s much more than that. Locke writes believable and sometimes unlikeable characters but as a reader one cares what happens to all of them. The plotting is deft, as they say. Recommended reading.

Texas Ranger Darren Matthews is under the cosh both at work and in his personal life. Waiting on a Grand Jury to see if they indict a friend, his part in the situation has put his job on the line. This and the pressures of his job are affecting his marriage. His career in the Rangers was not the one he’d initially pursued and that hasn’t helped. Still, Darren loves what he does, it’s important to him. So, when he gets a call from a friend in the FBI, he sees it as an opportunity to show he’s worthy of remaining a Ranger. The call is about Michael Wright, a black lawyer from Chicago, found drowned in the bayou behind a local cafe in the small town of Lark. A week later local white girl, Missy, is also found dead. The local police seem to have written off Wright’s death as an accident. Matthews sets off to investigate. Lark, not unexpectedly to Darren, is a town openly prejudice and with it an inherent violence where crossing racial lines or digging up secrets can get you killed. This is the first Attica Locke book that I have read. She has woven racial tensions into her story of crime incredibly well. Lark’s white population is in the main openly racist and Darren, a black ranger, attracts a lot of attention. The racial conflict in Bluebird, Bluebird gives a real sense of tension right up until it’s final pages. Lark is a small town, everyone knows each other’s business and this brings added danger to Darren with every interaction especially, as to investigate the case properly, he must engage with Lark’s racist, violent white population. The scenes when Darren enters the Icehouse, a local bar, frequented by members of the Aryan Brotherhood, not only demonstrate this perfectly they are truly terrifying. Locke writes very well about what Texas, in particular east Texas, and law enforcement mean to Darren personally. That he can still be a proud east Texan whilst knowing that there is still even today such deep, racial unease in there. He had originally studied law in Chicago but after hearing news of an horrific hate crime knew that he had to become a Ranger. He believed and still does that it is possible for black Texans to live peacefully alongside white Texans indeed it is their right to do so. Locke’s understanding and ability to get across the complexities of living in the South, the relationships between black and white, between black southerners with their hometowns is remarkable. The crime is at the heart of Bluebird, Bluebird and whilst it is a vehicle for Locke to explore what life can and is like for black Americans it is not sidelined. You may make work out some of what happened but there is enough complexity to keep the reader busy and surprised. It is the atmosphere and sense of place that Locke fills her novel with which gives a rich depth to the book. Darren is a good character and I liked Geneva but some of the characters did not have a great deal of depth, although well drawn, and really I’m not sure it mattered. Bluebird, Bluebird is a really good, solid start for Attica Locke’s Texas Ranger and the small, bitter twist at the end neatly sets up the second book in the Highway 59 series. I enjoyed Bluebird, Bluebird and I have my copy of Heaven, My Home on my shelf already. Whether you read this book, this series or other books by Attica Locke I do think this writer is a must for all readers and not just crime fiction lovers. Book: purchased.

Brilliantly written with awesome narrative.