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At a glance
- Condition
- New
- Format
- Paperback
- Model
- 0316363278_used
- Dimensions
- 5.5 x 0.88 x 8.38 in
- Weight
- 2.31 lb
- Publisher
- Little, Brown Paperbacks
- Publication date
- August 28, 2018
Description
A thrilling novel about the explosive intersection of love, race, and justice from a writer and producer of the Emmy-winning Fox TV show Empire. "In Bluebird, Bluebird Attica Locke had both mastered the thriller and exceeded it." —Ann Patchett When it comes to law and order, East Texas plays by its own rules—a fact that Darren Mathews, a black Texas Ranger, knows all too well. Deeply ambivalent about growing up black in the lone star state, he was the first in his family to get as far away from Texas as he could. Until duty called him home. When his allegiance to his roots puts his job in jeopardy, he travels up Highway 59 to the small town of Lark, where two murders—a black lawyer from Chicago and a local white woman—have stirred up a hornet's nest of resentment. Darren must solve the crimes—and save himself in the process—before Lark's long-simmering racial fault lines erupt. From a writer and producer of the Emmy winning Fox TV show Empire, Bluebird, Bluebird is a rural noir suffused with the unique music, color, and nuance of East Texas. "Heartbreakingly resonant" —USA Today Read more
Specs 10
| Publisher | Little, Brown Paperbacks |
|---|---|
| Publication date | August 28, 2018 |
| Edition | Reprint |
| Language | English |
| Print length | 320 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 0316363278 |
| ISBN-13 | 73 |
| Item Weight | 2.31 pounds |
| Dimensions | 5.5 x 0.88 x 8.38 inches |
| Book 1 of 3 | Highway 59 |
No specs match.
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Top Amazon Reviews
Better as a screenplay
Format: Kindle
I am an avid reader of mysteries and thrillers--hardboiled, softboiled, cozies, spy stories--so I believe I can give this book and Ms. Locke a fair review: The Good: The theme of the complex relationships between races/ethnicities in Texas was handled beautifully. In a way, it reminded me of John Sayles' iconic movie, a Texas thriller, Lone Star, which has some of the same elements. Sayles presents a murder in the past, a sheriff conflicted in his romantic life, and complicated relationships between Hispanics and Anglos. Locke's writing evokes the landscape and and atmosphere of East Texas in a way that puts the reader right there. The character of Ranger Darren is truly intriguing, and we would like to see more of him in subsequent books. The Bad: Unfortunately, some of the characters are not well developed and appear thrown in simply to advance the plot, which at times, grinds its gears. The poor African American character who sells castoffs, the simpleton barber, the evil pool-playing country-music listening Aryan nation thugs, the trashy curvaceous blonde, the suffering widow after whom Darren lusts, are thin cardboard types. When I found that Ms. Locke had written for TV and movies, I thought, aha! This book should be optioned for a movie, and a good director could give the characters more motivation and meat. The story is very good, especially for our troubling times. The Ugly: I love books that show rather than tell, and there's too much "telling" in this novel. Plenty of polemic in narrative about injustice--all accurate, but preachy. It makes the narrative feel uneven. Ms. Locke could have gotten at this in another way. Finally, I am not a big fan of cliff hangers and felt angry to be teased at the end of the story. Being of fan of mysteries, and trusting the judgement of the Edgar committee, I thought I would read a 5 star book: This was not. That said, I've only read only Book 1 of a series; Ms. Locke has tremendous talent; and, we owe it to her to give Ranger Darren another chance in Book 2.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2019 by Garance
A solid mystery
Format: Kindle
I heard about this book via Anne Patchett at Parnassus Books. Published in 2017, this 2018 Edgar Award winning book had absolutely flown under my radar. Southern fiction. Crime fiction. Jim Crow is alive and well in East Texas. The year is 2016. The Aryan Brotherhood has a stronghold down in Lark, Texas. Geneva Sweet opened her establishment years ago wanting to provide a place where black travelers could stop and rest and get a decent meal. You know, walk in the front door instead of the back. Besides the occasional long haul truck driver, she has her regular customers. “The Lord hadn’t made a soul Geneva wouldn’t feed.” She even let shy Isaac rent 50 feet of floor space and put in a barber chair. Isaac swept the place of an evening for the three square meals he ate every day. He would cut hair for ten bucks a head. When two dead bodies show up a week apart in the Attoyac Bayou that runs behind Geneva’s place, not much attention was paid to the first body which washed up down the road. Michael Wright, a black man driving a shiny rental car, who had shown up earlier at Geneva’s was body number one. He had brought her a gift from his uncle. But, when a white girl, a local mother of a young son is found washed up behind Geneva’s place, people paid attention. All hands on deck. Enter protagonist Darren Matthews, a suspended black Texas Ranger from Houston, who had just finished testifying in a Grand Jury Investigation. Darren got a tip about the two murders from an old friend who is an FBI agent looking to make a name for himself. Against his better judgment and adding fuel to his already rocky marriage, Darren drives down to Shelby County just to look around. That’s all he can do since his suspension is pending based on that Grand Jury’s verdict. But Darren’s heart is tied to the red dirt of the East Texas of his youth. How can he not look around. In his heart of hearts, he knows the murders are related and race is a factor. But, the predominantly white Texas Rangers and local white Sheriff and staff, want to downplay the idea of racism. Racial tension is strong and without Darren’s Ranger status, the many guns pointed at him during the story might have claimed another victim. I loved Darren even while he struggled with his demons - which, to name a few, include a wife who wants a lawyer husband who is home every night, the bourbon he drinks too much of, and the crush he has on the first murdered victim’s wife - they all play a part in this powerful East Texas mystery. The topic is a tough. But the loyalty of the black community - who are leary of any stranger, especially one who shows up with nosy questions one day and a ranger badge the next - is strong and very careful when answering his questions. Matthews has a sixth sense about the root of the crimes and though there is an arrest made, the book leaves the reader demanding more! It is a good thing book two, Heaven, My Home, is already out. Both books have been made into movies for television. The most recent one premieres in September 2024. Bluebird, Bluebird is a solid four star read for me and I am looking forward to more from this award winning author, Attica Locke.
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Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 2024 by KWyly
Great “who done it” mystery!
Format: Paperback
I have finished the book. While it took me weeks to pick it up after the beginning focus on the traumatic event that still haunts, I am glad I finally picked it up. Locke is a very good storyteller. She didn’t sensationalize areas she could have taken advantage of… Giving details to visualize the scenes and leaving just enough suspense that ultimately helped me stick to the end. I do appreciate all the entanglements (race, gender, love, family, relationships…). Very good read for those who love to get lost in the story.
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Reviewed in the United States on April 25, 2026 by #SAMOM01
“The nobility is in the fight, son, in all things.”
Format: Kindle
Darren Matthews is a hard-drinking, black Texas Ranger. His job and his marriage hanging by a thread after a friend asked him for help and the other guy wound up dead. He is still on suspension when he takes it on himself to, at an FBI buddy’s urging, head out of town to investigate the deaths of a local white woman and a black man passing through rural east Texas. Bluebird, Bluebird is set in east Texas in the Piney Woods along Highway 59. The copy describes it as “rural noir” and it was the winner of the 2018 Edgar Award for Best (mystery) Novel. It works well enough as a mystery for me (but then I have never been a mystery fan). It is fairly classed as country noir (my preferred term for the subgenre), although it fits somewhat uneasily. But the two complement each other and make for a stronger book viewed with both aspects in mind. Darren steps into a tense situation. He is on thin ice with his bosses. The local sheriff in Lark never requested assistance from the Rangers. The “order of the killings: black man dies, then the white girl . . . didn’t fit any agreed-upon American script.” The local black community is on edge and no more interested in talking to him than local law enforcement. And the local icehouse is thick with the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas. Darren has a special interest in the ABT, but they may have a special interest in him too. The driving force behind the book and my favorite part is the dichotomy Darren represents. He is a Texas Ranger torn between two opposing views represented by his uncles—the lawman who died in the line of duty and the constitutional law professor. He was set to follow in the footsteps of the latter until Jasper. Rather than turn his head in shame from his home state, Darren quits law school at the University of Chicago and heads home to go into law enforcement. “Like his people, Matthews men going back generations, he was not going to be run off.” Darren is constitutionally inclined to not just back down from a fight but to head towards the fight that needs fighting. With local law enforcement out for blood from the local black community over a white girl's death and shrugging off a black man's death, the tension between the overpolicing and underpolicing of black communities is a major theme. The latter gets far too little attention in the public discourse. Locke’s first two books are set in Houston, and Darren is based out of Houston. Both bring a dim view of small town America that hurts the book. One, it undercuts the thread of racial injustice that runs through the book because it downplays continuing issues in our cities. Two, realism is hardly required, but it detracts from the story rather than add to it, unlike, say, the use of the blues and of the white supremacist gang. But the second half of the book starts to peel back the layers on a Lark that is a lot more complex than Darren realized. One thing that is very realistic is the way that the small town deals with secrets. Secrets aren’t really secrets in a small town. People may not talk about it, but what need is there to talk about what everybody already knows? That doesn’t stop people from guarding those secrets jealously, even where the consequences can be deadly. Bluebird, Bluebird isn’t an action-heavy book, but that scene at the icehouse? I think I held my breath through that entire scene.
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Reviewed in the United States on August 26, 2018 by H. P.
“Bluebird, bluebird, take this letter down South for me....”
Format: Kindle
Darren Mathews was raised by his white shoe uncles, one a law professor at UT-Austin, one a Texas Ranger. He was sent up north for his education and to make the choice, lawMAN or LAWman (trust me, they loved him, but “acrobat” wouldn’t have been a choice any of the three would have entertained.) It was looking like the law was a clear winner. Then, Jasper. I stop for a moment to say this book was published and was big in 2017, so before Ferguson (I think) and before everything going on now with the #BLM movement in 2019 and 2020. Jasper should have been the stop to all this bullshit. But then there’ve been a lot of those moments. Jasper made Darren quit law school in his second year (University of Chicago...not too shabby) and put him on a hurry up track for the Texas Rangers, still largely white in this story. Darren is kinda, sorta on suspension for helping a friend when another friend, mired in the depths of the FBI, gives him a tip in his old stompin’ ground East Texas. It’s a double murder (but are they related) back behind Geneva’s place and the dead man’s wife, Randie, comes from Chicago to see about it. It’s a good, not great story, but what elevates the book is the way Locke makes East Texas, both of the past and the present, a character, perhaps the main character. I live in as a small blue dot in a state red as blood and I see Attica Locke. I don’t know anything about the Aryan Brotherhood, but the rest, it’s sadly truly. Jim Crow is alive in the American south and Donald Trump has brought him out to play. Like mysteries and love your country? Read this book....well written and about something, too. Quarantine read.
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Reviewed in the United States on August 26, 2020 by Southern reader
Highly recommend!
Format: Paperback
I saw a recommendation for this book and I had never heard of this author before, but she did a very good job and I will continue reading the series. I highly recommend this book.
Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2026 by Joseph Sams
Interesting
Format: Kindle
This was a pretty convoluted story with lots of characters to remember and family lines to keep straight. It had some interesting twists and turns, and the solve was surprising. However, I dislike a book that leaves you hanging and makes you feel like you have to read the next one, so there's the reason for 4 stars. Not sure if I'll ever read the next book. The characters I liked the most probably aren't in it.
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Reviewed in the United States on September 22, 2025 by MMB
A great mystery with an important message
Format: Paperback
Attica Locke won an Edgar Award for Best Novel for this book. She deserved it. Darren Mathews is a black Texas Ranger with a load of personal troubles. He is struggling to hold on to the job he loves and his marriage when he's tasked to investigate two murders in the tiny east Texas town of Lark. The first victim is a black male attorney visiting from Chicago and the second is a white local woman who died two days later. The two were seen in a rundown watering hole frequented by members of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas. When the wife of the victim shows up racial and family tensions begin to ignite. Darren's wife wants him to return to his pre-Ranger law career while his bosses and family members want to control him. He feels a personal obligation to Michael, the murdered man, and won't rest until he finds the killers. Locke weaves a beautiful backstory of the Mississippi blues and a famous Les Paul guitar into the mystery. This is a great read that provides insight into many important issues facing modern society.
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Reviewed in the United States on April 17, 2022 by Thomas Kelso