This is a truth that I must face: I do not like murder mysteries, detective novels, or police procedurals. I have so seldom read one that pleased me or was memorable that I should know going in that I am wasting precious time. It does not matter if the author can write. This one can and I gave her a point for that. It does not matter because I hate the cliche of the missing girl, the sexual predator, the clever cop/lawyer/whatever, the last minute save, the slang language.

No, I am an Austen girl, a Dickens girl, a lover of the language of Edith Wharton. I do not belong in the seedy, underbelly, heaven forbid realistic world that peoples these kinds of novels. I cringe and want to finish so I can get out of there. I already think there is evil enough in this world without dwelling on girls who are snatched from dark, deserted street corners, pregnant teenagers or middle of the night break-ins.

The political undertones of this novel did not improve it for me. Unfortunately, I had issues with that part as well. No use in going into those.

I am sorry. There is probably nothing wrong with this novel, the problem no doubt lies in me. But, please (self) stop doing this.
( )

ALL BLACK TOWN, SUBURB OF HOUSTON HAS A MAN RUNNING FOR MAYOR OF HOUSTON. LOT OF SKULLDUGGERY DURING THE RUNOFF VOTE.
TURNS OUT THAT 3 MURDERS ARE SOLVED, AND A SETTLEMENT INVOLVING POISON IN WELLS FROM NEARBY FACTORY. ( )

I must be honest and say that I found this book very heavy going. Despite the fact that it had rave reviews it just never clicked with me. Why? not really sure, perhaps that the reader needed to know a great deal about the American electoral system, and the Texan system in particular; perhaps because so much of the plot linked back to an earlier book by the same author. I never really related to the characters who seemed quite formulaic. ( )

It's a fine legal procedural, but the fact that it was on the Bailey's longlist made me expect it to be more than that. ( )

Attica Locke’s novel opens on 5 November 1996, when Americans were in the process of returning President Clinton to serve his second term at the White House. The Presidential contest is not, however, the only election holding the attention of the people of Pleasantville, which is a real area in Houston, Texas. The locals there are being canvassed by rival candidates for a mayoral election which has split the local community. There are a lot of burning issues around Pleasantville. Jay Porter, the novel’s principal protagonist, has fought a number of class actions for the community over pollution caused by a number of large businesses, and has established himself as a thorn in the side

Alicia Nowell is a young woman about to graduate from high school and has been helping the ‘get out the vote’ push for one of the candidates, delivering leaflets and fliers throughout the neighbourhood. With less than an hour to go before the polls close she decides to head for home, but as she waits on a street corner someone is watching her. She never makes it home, and her badly beaten corpse is found five days later, provoking a massive murder investigation. Shortly after her body is discovered the police arrest a prominent member of one of the electoral teams, and the case becomes a political football, drawing massive attention from the media. Reluctantly Porter bows to unwarranted personal pressure and agrees to represent the accused man.

This book is a fascinating blend of political intrigue, courtroom confrontation and whodunit, with a fair sprinkling of the history of the civil rights movement thrown in. Locke crosses genres with ease, and manages the story with great dexterity. Jay Porter is a good man, and an empathetic character, grappling with
self-doubt, money worries and the pressures of raising his children as a single parent, still wracked with grief over the death of his wife a year ago. ( )