BLACK WATER RISING.

BLACK WATER RISING by ATTICA LOCKE.

On a dark night in Houston, Jay Porter hears a scream. Saving a woman from drowning in the bayou, he opens a Pandora's box.

As activist in his youth, now a lawyer and expectant father, this small act of heroism becomes a threat to his work, his family and even his life, yet he can't walk away from the corruption he glimpses. But before he can untangle the mystery that stretches to the highest reaches of corporate power,he must confront the secrets of his past.

..... From the outer back cover.

FIRST SENTENCE: The boat is smaller than he imagined. And dingier.

MEMORABLE MOMENT: Years earlier, Jay had stumbled on his first sit-in on the way to class and decided then and there he'd rather be a part of history than study it.

My first thoughts on this novel being if I wasn't hooked in the first few pages, I was by the time I reached page 80 or thereabouts.

A wonderful debut novel by Attica Locke, it's no surprise it made it onto the Orange Prize short-list. Story-telling at its best, Locke layers layer upon layer to create a story full of suspicion and paranoia.

It is also that very same suspicion and paranoia that, to me, is the book's downfall as it all gets rather tedious and, towards the end, rather implausible, the author seeming to lose her way just over half way through.

Overlong and perhaps too political for my taste, I lost interest in both the plot and the characters, no longer really caring what happened to them.

Sadly lacking a good, strong female lead, I felt that for a women author the two main female characters (Bernie and Cynthia) were pitifully inadequate and poorly written.

A disappointing ending which is a shame as the novel started on such a high note.

Black Water Rising was purchased from Book People.

A good friend of Pen and Paper see HEATHER'S THOUGHTS on Black Water Rising. Oh and do let me know if you have read it, I'd love to hear your views.