Black Water Rising [Paperback]

`[An] atmospheric, richly convoluted debut novel... deeply nuanced...' --Janet Maslin, New York Times

'What a ride! Black Water Rising is a superlative debut' --James Ellroy

'Black Water Rising is a stylish, involving literary thriller with a strong emphasis on human politics and character.' --George Pelecanos

'This is an authentic, atmospheric debut that burns with an entirely reasonable anger.'
--Val McDermid

'The most impressive crime debut I've read this year' --Marcel Berlins, The Times

`Attica Locke's first book is a winner' --Literary Review

`A truly gripping read' --The List

'The most impressive crime debut I've read this year' --Marcel Berlins, The Times

`Propels this young, African-American writer into the upper stratum of crime fiction' --Colin Fowler, FT

Serpent's Tail lead crime

Reminiscent of early John Grisham and Walter Mosley, this taut, fast-paced novel heralds an exciting and powerful new voice in fiction. Big oil and its twin, corporate corruption, meet their match with Jay Porter, a struggling personal injury attorney down on his luck, who suddenly finds himself in a situation spiraling out of control. Jay knows a boat ride on the Bayou won't measure up to his wife's expectations of a birthday celebration, but it's all he can afford. Once a man of virtuous ideals, he is now just waiting for a break. All that changes when midway through dinner, gun shots and sharp cries for help ring out. When he fishes a woman out of the Bayou, his sixth sense tells him this charitable act will lead to no good. Unraveling the woman's past, Jay finds himself enmeshed in a web that weaves together greed, politics, and corporate corruption. And the secrets of his own past come back to either haunt or save him.

Born in Houston, Texas, Attica Locke, has worked in both film and television for over ten years. She has written movie scripts for Paramount, Warner Bros., Disney, Twentieth Century Fox and most recently completed an adaptation of Stephen Carter's The Emperor of Pictures. She now lives in Los Angeles. Black Water Rising is her first novel.