Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Black Water Rising
    Black Water Rising
    Black Water Rising
    Audiobook13 hours

    Black Water Rising

    Written by Attica Locke

    Narrated by Dion Graham

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Attica Locke—a writer and producer of FOX’s Empire—delivers an engrossing, complex, and cinematic thriller about crime and racial justice

    Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist (Mystery/Thriller)
    Edgar Award Nominee (Best First Novel)
    The Orange Prize for Fiction (Shortlist)

    “A near-perfect balance of trenchant social commentary, rich characterizations, and action-oriented plot.... Attica Locke [is] a writer wise beyond her years.”
— Los Angeles Times

    “Atmospheric… deeply nuanced... akin to George Pelecanos or Dennis Lehane....  Subtle and compelling.”
— New York Times

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateJun 9, 2009
    ISBN9780061901898
    Black Water Rising
    Author

    Attica Locke

    Attica Locke is the author of Black Water Rising, which was nominated for an Edgar Award, an NAACP Image Award, and a Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and was short-listed for the UK’s Orange Prize, and also the national bestseller The Cutting Season, which won an Ernest Gaines Award for Literary Excellence. She is a producer and writer on the Fox drama Empire. She is on the board of directors for the Library Foundation of Los Angeles, where she lives.

    More audiobooks from Attica Locke

    Related to Black Water Rising

    Titles in the series (1)

    View More
    View More

    Related audiobooks

    African American Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      'The Reformatory' Tells A Story Of Ghosts, Abuse, Racism — And Sibling Love

      Nov 2, 2023

      Tananarive Due's haunting, unflinching novel delves deep into the realities of the Jim Crow South and the very real horrors that took place at Florida reformatory schools in the 1950s.

      3 min read

    • Article

      ‘I Hear The Screams’: 107-year-old Survivor Of 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Testifies To Congress In Call For Justice

      May 20, 2021

      Moments after falling asleep on 31 May, 1921, seven-year-old Viola Fletcher was awakened by her family and told to leave her home in the Greenwood neighbourhood of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Outside, a white mob drove thousands of Black residents from their ho

      3 min read

    • Article

      Winter Sun

      Feb 6, 2020

      Winter Sun
      4 min read

    • Article

      Push

      Aug 4, 2022

      Push
      5 min read

    • Article

      Bear

      Sep 10, 2021

      Bear
      16 min read

    • Article

      The Man With No Name

      Oct 1, 2021

      The Man With No Name
      4 min read

    • Article

      Hardly Never in Vegas: Fat Johnny Little and Salty Salt Sue make a break for the desert.

      Jun 18, 2015

      Salty Salt Sue met Fat Johnny Little at a card game so hot it burned a girl, the sultry Louisiana night dampening her clothes, making her tingle from the waist down. She sat next to Vinnie DeLuca, who bore a passing resemblance to Dillinger—his penci

      11 min read

    • Article

      Hardly Never in Vegas: Fat Johnny Little and Salty Salt Sue make a break for the desert.

      Aug 8, 2013

      Salty Salt Sue met Fat Johnny Little at a card game so hot it burned a girl, the sultry Louisiana night dampening her clothes, making her tingle from the waist down. She sat next to Vinnie DeLuca, who bore a passing resemblance to Dillinger—his penci

      11 min read

    • Article

      Waving Not Drowning

      Aug 8, 2022

      Waving Not Drowning
      6 min read

    • Article

      Playing The Game

      Nov 1, 2019

      Playing The Game
      3 min read

    • Article

      Instructions For The Drowning

      Jun 1, 2021

      Instructions For The Drowning
      9 min read

    • Article

      In the DOG HOUSE

      May 13, 2020

      In the DOG HOUSE
      6 min read

    • Article

      ‘A Wonderful Stroke of Luck’: Featured Fiction from Ann Beattie

      Apr 2, 2019

      Why did Ben feel like these people, this place, might be the last things he’d ever see? The post ‘A Wonderful Stroke of Luck’: Featured Fiction from Ann Beattie appeared first on The Millions.

      3 min read

    • Article

      Such a Nice Guy

      Feb 1, 2021

      We call them The Smugsons. Or we used to, before one of them was found dead on the Astroturf at the cricket club. Because it’s difficult to look smug when you have landed face down after falling from the balcony of a bar, blood spilling out from your

      6 min read

    • Article

      In The Dog HOUSE

      Jan 26, 2021

      In The Dog HOUSE
      6 min read

    • Article

      Winter SUN

      Oct 4, 2022

      Winter SUN
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Glove

      Mar 4, 2024

      The Glove
      8 min read

    • Article

      Brace YOURSELF!

      Dec 21, 2021

      Brace YOURSELF!
      6 min read

    • Article

      The heartbeat OF PARIS

      Apr 10, 2024

      The heartbeat OF PARIS
      9 min read

    • Article

      The Duplex

      Jun 9, 2020

      I moved to Los Angeles to sing. When was this? August? June? I was twenty-nine, and those were shapeless months, when the days blended together and I refused to pull them apart. My landlord was unusually close to her adult son. His name was Jeffrey,

      21 min read

    • Article

      The July War

      Sep 8, 2020

      In summer, our neighborhood quiets in phases. The quieting begins in May. Schools give their older kids, the seventeen- and eighteen-year-olds, a month off to prepare for the baccalaureate exams. Following a ritual as old as our parents, the students

      21 min read

    • Article

      Death’s Plus-One

      Sep 8, 2017

      Death’s Plus-One
      4 min read

    • Article

      Picking Through The Bones

      Nov 1, 2019

      Picking Through The Bones
      6 min read

    • Article

      Lev’s Pawn Shop

      Dec 10, 2022

      In days gone by, it might have been said that Lev had had a vision, that he had been struck from his horse by the voice of God and seen the error of his ways. As it was, people said that he had gone a bit nutty in his old age, though it was unanimous

      11 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Black Water Rising

    3.5/5

    286 ratings43 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      From my blog...In her thrilling debut novel Black Water Rising author Attica Locke takes the reader on a fast paced literary thrill-ride deep in Houston. Jay Porter is down, but not out, when he opens up a law practice in Houston, Texas and with few clinetns. He is working a case with a prostitute who claims she was injured in a car accident as well as promising his father-in-law Reverend Boykins that he would help the longshoremen working in the Ship Channel by speaking with the mayor about fair wages and safety if they strike. Uncertain how to achieve these two goals is difficult enough and then Jay reads the paper about a shooting and the events of the night of a fateful boat ride catch up with him. Locke delivers an exceptional suspense thriller novel that will keep the reader engaged and guessing until the very end. Locke's detailed and at times twisty plot, dedication to capturing the essence of the decades, Jay's past and the present, along with the sentiments regarding race, oil, and government prove to play out exceedingly well in Locke's debut novel Black Water Rising. Rich in tone, voice, and excellent character development Locke expertly weaves all the parts together to create a suspense filled novel that will keep the reader engaged and turning pages long into the night. I highly recommend Black Water Rising to anyone who enjoys a good mystery/ suspense novel.
    • 5/5
      This book is very well written. I loved Jay and Bernie! The plot was so thick! This writer can write!
    • 4/5
      Interesting and relaxing read without the intensity of my other Orange reads. I liked it.
    • 5/5
      Such a pitch-perfect book. She captures the setting exactly, and everything rises from the setting. I would have liked a little more solve-it mystery, but she is clear that is not what it is--it is straight-ahead noir. Jay Porter and Bernie are vivid, as are the supporting cast. She makes it matter at the personal and societal levels. That opening scene, and the ending--wow. Cannot wait to read more.
    • 4/5
      This book tells a complicated, interesting story through a very specific lens. The early '80's, Houston Texas, a former black radical turned small time lawyer
      There's a lot to take away from this narrow piece of recent American history. I won't dive into the details but it's a very ambitious book, while still being very personal.
      My few quibbles with the book are around the pace - it starts slow. Slow enough that I put it down a couple times before I got into enough to see the potential. Then, about 2/3s of the though it's suddenly going at such a clip, it's hard to keep up with. The sense of how much time has passed is unclear and that's occasionally disorienting.
      These minor issues aside, it's a great novel, telling a compelling piece of American history .
    • 4/5
      Terrific first novel. Set in Houston in the 80s Locke is razor sharp on racial politics and fear that comes from the gut. There's also some nifty actual politics which hold the story up long enough to delve into some classic noir tropes. I really enjoyed this.
    • 4/5
      Nice crime fiction mystery story that includes narratives about the African-American experience vis-a-sis the criminal justice system in the USA. I enjoyed the story line and learned about the perspective of victims and lawyers. I'd recommend this book; and I'll try an locate other books by this author.
    • 4/5
      This novel, set in 1981, introduces Jay Porter, an African-American defence attorney based in Houston, who will reappear in as protagonist of Pleasantville, set some quarter of a century later in Dallas. As the book opens, Porter and his heavily pregnant wife Bernie are about to board a rather dilapidated boat to sail down the bayou while having a romantic dinner to celebrate her birthday. Money is tight, and Porter has arranged the trip on the cheap through a recent client, although he hadn’t been prepared for the boat to be quite so run down.Still, the trip goes well and Bernie seems to be enjoying herself until, as they are nearly back at the dock, they hear a woman scream, and then two shots ring out in the night, followed by the sound of running and then someone plunging into the water. Jay and the boat owner are reluctant to become involved, but Bernie persuades them to turn around to investigate. Having done so they find a white woman in an elaborate ball gown swimming in the bayou. They pick her up, and, after they have disembarked, jay drives her to the nearest police station where he lets her out, but does not offer to accompany her inside. Indeed, he drives away before even checking that she has gone in herself.We learn that Jay is nervous of any contact with the police because he had previously been a prominent figure, at least locally, in the Civil Rights movement, during the 1960s, and had encountered the rougher side of law enforcement all too closely. Through some extended flashbacks we learn that he had faced trial The novel is set in 1981, although it offers frequent flashbacks to periods in Porter’s past during which he had been on the periphery of the Black panthers, and had arranged for Stokely Carmichael to speak to groups at his university. During that time, he had become friendly with a white woman who was herself prominent in several politically active groups. She is now the Democrat mayor of Houston, now a thriving city riding high on oil wealth, and is struggling to maintain peace and order as the city’s docks are faced with the threat of concerted trade union agitation, although there is fierce rivalry and bitterness between the separate unions representing low paid (and predominantly black) longshoremen and the mainly white stevedores and middle management. Against this backdrop, Porter finds himself representing an African-American woman ‘with a looser understanding of social responsibilities’ (a rather gentle euphemism for prostitute) who is seeking damages from a leading white businessman. As that case proceeds by fits and starts, Jay finds himself being followed by a threatening-looking man perpetually wearing dark glasses.Like Pleasantville, 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 supporting his family.
    • 3/5
      Do you ever just pick up and book and realize that while there is nothing really wrong with it, you just don't like it? This is how I felt reading this one. It has all the elements that I normally enjoy in a crime novel but I found my mind wandering while I read it and the pacing was a little slow. I've heard really good things about this author's most recent novel and I've really wanted to try her stuff. This was her first novel and I still intend to try that one and give her another chance. 2.5?
    • 4/5
      A mystery involving race, power, politics, oil, money and death in early 1980s Houston that grabbed me on several different levels. I picked up this book to meet challenge 21 in Book Riot's 2018 Read Harder Challenge: a mystery by a person of color or LGBTQ+ author.
    • 5/5
      Can not put this down!
    • 2/5
      I couldn't finish this. For some reason, it just would not hold my attention.
    • 3/5
      A somewhat straightforward mystery novel with a keen slant on being black in America during the 80's
    • 3/5
      A decent legal thriller with a heavy dose of political corruption and civil rights. It’s set in 1980-81 and struggling lawyer Jay and his wife Bernadine are in the wrong place at the wrong time and witness a crime. On the surface it appears the woman Elise has been attacked and they drive her to the police station. He combs the newspapers for more information, but no story appears on the police blotter about a soaking wet woman being nearly killed. Instead he finds an item about a white man being shot on the same night as the rescue and the fingerprints of a woman being found at the scene. From this tiny tidbit, Jay puts himself into the thick of a corruption scandal involving a large oil company, unions, political big-shots and an old friend. A lot of it goes where you’d expect; Jay is bribed, warned and then his pregnant wife is used as leverage when neither of the first tactics work. A couple of bodies turn up and they’re just the ones you’d expect. The wife is a ninny about guns until a certain scene. At first, I wondered if Jay would remain friendless for the whole book, then an ally turns up and of course he’s not covered in moral rectitude. I just wish he had done the action hero bit instead of Jay constantly trying to be physical; it was just ludicrous and he never learned no matter how many times he banged the hell out of himself and ruined another suit. It kind of got to be funny.Jay’s past is interspersed with the present storyline; how he went from civil rights activist to nearly criminal to lawyer. It’s a fascinating story that is entirely plausible. Real people are inserted into the narrative to boost the verisimilitude. Leaders fighting against racial prejudice and the new Jim Crow laws were often removed and railroaded with illegal tactics by the US government. It’s shameful and disheartening and this part of the story makes it apparent we haven’t come that far. In terms of the corruption angle; I could buy it. I was a little older than the author was at the time the novel is set and I remember (vaguely) the oil crisis of the 1970s and what the government tried to do to thwart it should it happen again. The stockpiling and the oil reserve program. It was a system crying out to be gamed.
    • 5/5
      Ms. Locke has created a masterpiece, merging a mystery/crime novel with an era of social history at a level rarely obtained. Neither aspect comes across as subservient to the other. Highly recommended. I was so impressed that I have already begun Attica Locke's second novel, "The Cutting Season"
    • 5/5
      This is one of the best mystery/ thrillers I have read in some time. I liked everything about te book- story plot, characters, writing style, even the ending. My hope is to see more written by this author.
    • 3/5
      The book reminded me of A Time to Kill by John Grisham. I could visually see Denzel Washington as Jay Porter. The story followed the same pattern as all the rest of the lawyer mysteries, with the family of the lawyer threatened by the "bad" man. The language and setting flowed as well as the muddy river waters. So many points or stories were left unresolved. I actually finished the book as the momentum picked up speed as the book progressed.
    • 4/5
      The character of Jay Porter is fully realized and deeply felt. The setting, Houston 1981, is so clear that it seems Locke must have been there, but she was only 7 years old and couldn't have known the story her book tells of the Civil Rights Movement in Houston at that time. Carefully researched and extremely well told.
    • 4/5
      I was initially drawn to this novel as a debut suspense novel, yet it truly is so much more than that. Set in the Texas bayou outside Houston, a fluke of circumstance leads to a tale of corruption, murder, attempted murder and all of the machinations one would expect. However, this is also a well told story of a man on the verge of fatherhood who must find a way to resolve the crime, his past, and his future. it is a tale of integrity...doing the right thing when no one is looking. Well done!
    • 4/5
      The first word that came to mind when I finished the last line of Black Water Rising was WOW! This book, which takes place in the 1980's, gave me an education on union politics, race relations, and the more militant civil rights movement of the late 1960's and 1970's. Attica Locke, not nearly old enough to have experienced these events first hand, nevertheless presented what felt like an insiders view into a dark and complicated world where oil was king in Texas. Even more amazing was that she did so through the eyes of a black MAN as her main character. Jay Porter is a new lawyer working out of strip mall making very little profit and representing the desperate. He is an angry, bitter man who knows he should have more and be more. His background, his race, and his anger hold him back. I lived out his experiences via Attica Locke and walked in another man's shoes. This is why I read. To experience life through the eyes and heart of another person. Only a strong writer like Locke could help a white woman who was a teenager in the 1980's understand and empathize with the life of a strong-minded black lawyer in the Texas of that same decade. The book grabbed me from the start with a murder in the middle of the night, dragged a bit in the politics here and there, but captured me in full at the climax, holding my undivided attention all the way to its beautiful conclusion. A conclusion that actually made me pause and reflect with the word "wow" the only thought I could conjure in that moment.

      My favorite words:

      Dashiki-a loose, often colorfully patterned, pullover garment originating in Africa and worn chiefly by men.

      Pecuniary-consisting of or given or exacted in money or monetary payments.

      Dulcet-pleasant to the ear; melodious.

      Dais-a raised platform, as at the front of a room, for a lectern, throne, seats of honor, etc.

      Stevedore-a firm or individual engaged in the loading or unloading of a vessel.

      Quote from which comes the title (p.367): "The strike, therefore, made it impossible for the company to hide its crime, which was, by then, starting to come up in plain sight, like black water rising in the streets."

      Favorite quote (p.404): "And standing now in a urine-stained corner of this jail cell, where he paid a toll of six cigarettes to be left in peace, he strikes a new bargain with himself. There is a way out of here, he knows, out of this prison in his mind. It requires only the courage to speak."

      Before I was even finished with Black Water Rising, I was online ordering Locke's second and highly acclaimed book, The Cutting Season. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is a Dennis Lehane, James Ellroy, or Greg Iles fan. I was also reminded of John Grisham at times. Just note that many of the characters use salty language, and the plot contains some violence and sexual situations.
    • 4/5
      I don't often read crime fiction, but this book was excellent - great characters, complex historical background. This author is unafraid to wrestle with the big issues of our time - race and class - but she never lectures, and neither do her characters. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
    • 4/5
      Endearing underdog Jay Porter always endeavors to do what's right, but he makes some gargantuan detours on the way. Readers learn tantalizing bits and pieces of information, just as he does, and must tolerate unanswered questions along with him. Locke structures the tale as a mixture of present-day and past anecdotes, and gradually ties events and people together. The book was very hard to put down, and I was sorry to see it end. It left me with a few unanswered questions, and thus the haunting uncertainties of Porter's life and future will stick with me.My only complaint is that this author's work deserves better editing. One particularly perplexing sentence, for example, says "Jay grabs the shotgun from his wife, slides a bullet into the chamber, and points the barrel of the rifle at the intruder."
    • 4/5
      Jay Porter, a struggling, young black lawyer in Houston, Texas, in 1981, rescues a white woman from a bayou after hearing gun shots and inadvertently becomes unwillingly drawn into a murder investigation and criminal conspiracy. In his youth Jay was a civil rights activist, but his mantra now is “This is not my fight . . . This ain’t my deal.” He was framed and almost convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, so “He knows firsthand the long, creative arm of Southern law enforcement” and is reluctant to be in any way involved with police. Unfortunately for Jay, small lies and deceptions become big mistakes which even prove to be dangerous.This book includes many of the conventions of a typical thriller: a menacing stranger, a ransacked home, threats to his family (including his pregnant wife). What makes the book exceptional is character development, especially that of Jay. His past is detailed through numerous flashbacks which serve to explain how his mistrust of police was formed and shapes his present.Jay is a dynamic character and that, for me is always a sign of better-quality fiction. At the beginning, Jay speaks of “His own racialized disposition, his sensitive, almost exquisite sense of the world as black and white,” but gradually he realizes that “it’s only your mind that can’t move out of the prison of its past.” He grows as a person and loses his paranoia and finds his voice again. The book is really about corruption; on a personal level, people are put in positions where their morality is tested; on a business level, the ethics of organizations and corporations are similarly tested.Most readers will probably identify the guilty party early on, although it takes Jay a while to figure things out. Jay’s past experience blinds him and in the end the reader comes to understand why he cannot see the obvious. In this regard, the epigraph is noteworthy: “If we are blinded by darkness, we are also blinded by light.”This is an enjoyable read, an exceptional book considering it is the author’s debut novel.
    • 3/5
      Similar to the works of Dennis Lehane, Black Water Rising is about a man's struggle with his past and the future he's trying to create. Jay's legal practice is struggling, the bills are piling up and he has a baby on the way. When he gets involved in a murder that's none of his business, he gets in way over his head, but his past prevents him from doing the obvious - going to the police - until it's too late and he has to find his own way out of a very dangerous situation. A crafty plot with an interesting, well-rounded main character set in a serious, despairing atmosphere.
    • 4/5
      Attica Locke's debut novel tells the story of Jay Porter, a down-on-his-luck attorney. The novel begins with Jay treating his wife Bernie to a dinner cruise, a deal through a cousin of a client, which turns out to be a ride on a run-down fishing boat. He is disappointed and angry at his station in life but grateful that Bernie eventually decides to make the best of the "cruise" with him. On the way back, they hear a woman screaming for help, gunshots and someone rolling down a hill and splashing into the water. Both the boat captain and Bernie look to Jay to do something, so he jumps into the river and pulls a woman from the water.Since a run-in with police during his college years, Jay has avoided law enforcement as much as possible. He is so intimidated that he won't even go into the police station. He drops the woman off at the station entrance.Later, his father-in-law asks him to provide legal assistance to black union workers who are being paid less than white workers. Jay doesn't want to get involved, but can't say no to family. Locke does an excellent job with setting the scene, providing details to put the reader in the 1970s and 80s. After a sluggish beginning, the story picks up about halfway through and gets really interesting. The characters needed to be developed a little more, in my opinion. Jay's character was pretty weak in the beginning, but you could tell he would have to get a backbone in order for the story to continue. If his character had been more consistent or his change from weak to persistent had been more logical, I would have rated the book with 4 stars. The ending was a little abrupt as well.I think this was an excellent debut novel and I look forward to reading more from Attica Locke!
    • 3/5
      I guess Harper Lee has made it hard for me to appreciate debut novelists who don't emerge perfectly formed. Attica Locke's first effort offers an intriguing premise and competent writing, but fails to deliver as a thriller. I found the subplot about union infighting on the Houston docks really tedious - it slowed the pace down and detracted from the more interesting chapters about Jay's past entanglements with the civil rights movement and with the city's ruthlessly ambitious mayor. I didn't love this, but I think Attica Locke will write better books in the future.
    • 4/5
      A little confusing but overall a thoughtful read with thriller components. Set in 1981, the book features Jay Porter, a young-ish black lawyer who reluctantly rescues a white woman from drowning while he & his wife are on a creaky boat ride down the bayou in Houston. He's none too keen on getting involved, as there were shots fired and the woman has strangulation marks on her neck. He drops her off at the police station without going in, and hopes that his involvement ends there, but no such luck. The book delves into Jay's past as a black power activist, his bitterness and distrust of the feds and police, and a murky plot involving racial relations and shady activities by oil businessmen, politicians, and unions. Two thumbs up.
    • 3/5
      Attica Locke succeeds in creating a noirish atmosphere in Black Water Rising. The book is highly readable and her plot is no more over the top than most thrillers. I did find that the lawyer protagonist was difficult to care much about. We know that he is not going to be a fumbling milquetoast forever and that at some point he will be galvanized, "man up", and make some good decisions, but it takes almost unbearably long for this to happen. Next time Ms. Locke should give her readers a protagonist that they can hold on to, believing in Jay Porter was just a hard way to go (apologies to John P).
    • 3/5
      A good thriller mystery --- edgy and suspenseful. Set in Houston in 1981 with flashbacks to the early 70s, it' has a Social Justice theme, appealing characters, and a complicated-enough plot. Recommended for followers of Dennis Lehane, etc.
    • 4/5
      Good plot but ended with no conclusion