Sunday, December 10, 2017

Black Water Rising by Attica Locke


A Houston lawyer barely making ends meet accidentally gets involved in a murder case which is a lot more complicated than it looks

Jay Porter has a pregnant wife and struggling law practice in the booming oil town of Houston, Texas. He’s a former radical who’s joined the system and married the good girl daughter of a minister. His plan to treat his wife on their anniversary with a homemade budget river cruise goes awry when gunshots are fired from the bank and Jay jumps into the water to rescue a young white woman. He wants to forget that night, but can’t help trying to figure out the truth, especially after the boat captain disappears and Jay begins to be followed. His determination to solve the mystery reaches all the way to the top of Houston’s oil dependent society and the Mayor herself, Jay’s former lover.

I was instantly sucked into the story and Jay’s dilemma between doing the right thing and staying out of sight and making some money. The writing is “literary,” thought the somewhat unwieldy plot is not. The problem was fitting in all the different plots – the dockworkers’ strike, Jay’s wife’s pregnancy, the shooting on the river bank and then the grand scam being perpetuated by the oil companies. The book lost forward momentum and I started getting antsy and had to grit my way through to the end.

This is an old fashioned story that is pretty by the numbers. The unique and valuable thing about this novel is the black perspective. I liked the way the reader learned things about Houston and the longshoreman’s union and police brutality. The fear of being stopped by the police for a traffic infraction is effectively painted. Each one of the plots is also quietly political.









Sunday, December 3, 2017

Fourth Of July Creek by Smith Henderson


A social worker deals with the problems of his clients as well as serious problems of his own

Pete Snow, a Montana social worker who had requested to work in a remote part of the state, has a few clients he is observing. Though perhaps Pete should be keeping an eye on his own daughter. The novel is composed of vignettes alternating among Pete's colorful clients, his troubled relationship between his cheating ex-wife and his teen runaway daughter, and Pete’s relationship with a Posse Comitatus mountain man, Jeremiah Pearl, and Pearl’s dutiful son. In addition, Pete has a problem with drinking and falls into a liaison with a coworker with a screwed up past.

The novel provides a glimpse into Montana society, however, the plot, I think, proved to be too ambitious and the reader lumbers through this complicated story. Pete is an amateur detective chasing Jeremiah Pearl and interviewing everyone who ever encountered Pearl. The parts where he goes around talking to Montanans is interesting, however, in general the prose felt bloated and everything is overdescribed. I never understood why Pete is so interested in Jeremiah Pearl to the point of taking miles long hikes through knee deep snow. In general, the exposition is clumsy, and also there are some implausible happenings. Like, is it really that easy for drunks to pick up women?

Women are definitely the other here and there’s more than a faint whiff of misogyny especially when Pete interacts with his wife, girlfriend or daughter. Women are more body than soul, cruel creatures without a lick of loyalty. Every woman sexually betrays him. The ending left me cold probably because I ended up disliking deluded Pete Snow.