My first novel by award winning African American crime novelist, Attica Locke. Set in Houston, in the 1990's, we get to follow Jay Porter, struggling attorney, former Black radical in Houston in the early 1980's. His flame in 1981, Cythia Maddow, white, just happens to be Houston's Mayor in the early 1990's. The novel opens with Jay celebrating the pregnancy of his wife Bernadine by taking a boat ride down one of Houston's rivers, with champagne and fancy foods. Unfortunately, as they begin their celebrations, they hear gun shots, then a woman staggers into the water, looking as if she is in trouble. Jay jumps in, rescues her, and they then return to the dock and Jay drops the woman off in front of a hospital, assuming she will be checked out.
She isn't and so begins this thriller set in Houston. Central to the novel is this woman, whether she's a victim or perpetrator as the next morning, a man is found dead, shot in the head by the river. There are other threads, which at times, overtake the story, a dock worker's strike which Jay gets involved in, oil companies sinister machinations, as well as the racism that Jay faces, for having been an innocent accused of inciting violence back in his college days. He gets drawn into the mysterious woman's life, is trailed by a white hit man in a 'town car,' and has to confront the mayor with choices, none of which she likes. His paranoia, however, is key to the novel, as he feels inept, out of his bailiwick most of the time and misreads and misunderstands various happenings, especially the drowning woman's fear. As you can imagine, the novel does not end well though Jay survives to live another day, in another novel just published called PLEASANTVILLE.
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