Attica Locke is the author of the Highway 59 novels, which include 2018 Edgar Award winner Bluebird, Bluebird and Heaven, My Home; Pleasantville, which won the 2016 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction and was long-listed for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction; Black Water Rising, which was nominated for an Edgar Award; and The Cutting Season, a national bestseller and winner of the Ernest Gaines Award for Literary Excellence.
She is also a television writer and producer, most recently for When They See Us and the upcoming adaptation of Little Fires Everywhere. A native of Houston, Texas, Attica lives in Los Angeles, California, with her husband and daughter.
One of CrimeReads's 10 Best Novels of the DecadeWinner of the 2018
Edgar Award for Best NovelA New York Times Book Review Editors'
ChoiceA Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book PrizeA Washington
Post 10 Best Thrillers and Mysteries of 2017A Kirkus Best Mysteries
and Thrillers of 2017A Financial Times Best Book of the YearBest
book of the year from Vulture, The Strand Magazine, Southern
Living, Bolo Books, Publisher's Weekly, Book Riot, The Guardian,
Lit Hub, The Boston Globe, Dallas News, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel,
Minnesota Public Radio, Texas Monthly, The Daily Beast, and the
South Florida Sun Sentinel
"I don't read many mysteries but I'd follow Texas Ranger Matthews
anywhere."--Ann Patchett, Elle Magazine
"Bluebird, Bluebird has the impeccable pacing, memorable
characters, and deepening sense of mystery and dread we expect in
the finest noir thrillers. But this novel is so much more. Darren
Mathews, the black Texas Ranger at the story's center, is a man
caught up in the complex and at times contradictory loyalties of
geography, profession, race, and family. He is a brilliantly
realized character and in his refusal to settle for easy answers,
he leads himself and the reader toward the most elemental of
contradictions: the inextricable link between hate and love. Attica
Locke has written a marvelous novel."--Ron Rash, author of Serena
and The Risen
"a gripping page-turner with suspenseful hooks and an old-school,
cinematic feel"--The Riveter
"timely thriller about race and justice"--PureWow
"[Locke's] mystery novels are top notch...the book's hero, a black
Texas Ranger, and his fight for justice make this a page-turner
that brings Texas into sharp focus."--Bustle
"A great new book series . . . Entertaining"--Charles Ealy, Austin
American-Statesman
"A native Texan herself, Locke knows how such racial animus can
breed an atmosphere of dread, and she employs it deftly to spark
suspense."--The Austin Chronicle
"A quick course in plotting and nimble characterizations rooted in
a vividly evoked setting"--Nicole Lamy, New York Times Book
Review
"A rural noir suffused with the unique music, color and nuance of
East Texas, Bluebird, Bluebird is a timely novel about the
collision of race and justice in America."--Deep South Magazine
"A sharp crime story . . . A detective story steeped with history .
. . Locke has a wonderful grasp of how to tell a story about the
past. . . . Locke's ear for people makes seeing how the past
redoubles and affects the present a constant delight."--Nathan
Jefferson, Los Angeles Review of Books
"A spectacular novel with so much more to offer than just
mystery."--Bustle
"A tale of racism, hatred, and, surprisingly, love . . . [An]
absorbing series launch"--Publishers Weekly
"An emotionally dense and intricately detailed thriller, roiling
with conflicting emotions steeped in this nation's troubled past
and present. . . . A rich sense of place and relentless feeling of
dread permeate Attica Locke's heartbreakingly resonant new novel
about race and justice in America. . . . Bluebird, Bluebird is no
simple morality tale. Far from it. It rises above "left and right"
and "black and white" and follows the threads that inevitably bind
us together, even as we rip them apart."--James Endrst, USA
Today
"Attica Locke is a must-read author who writes with power, grace,
and heart, and Bluebird, Bluebird is a remarkable achievement. This
is a rare novel that thrills, educates, and inspires all at once.
Don't miss it."--Michael Koryta, author of Rise the Dark
"Attica Locke knows how to tell a tale, her voice so direct and
crisp that the dust from the side of Highway 59 will settle on your
hands as you hold Bluebird, Bluebird. Nothing comes easy in Shelby
County, where the lines between right and wrong blur a little more
with each heartfelt page, and love and pain live together as one
under the big Texas sun."--Michael Farris Smith, author of
Desperation Road and Rivers
"Attica Locke knows Texas, a place that has shaped both her
characters and her life. Locke's new book, Bluebird, Bluebird, is
evidence of her deep knowledge and love of her community and a deep
talent for writing hype thrillers that also manage to be timely,
relevant and keenly insightful."--Joe Ide, author of IQ and
Righteous
"Attica Locke's Bluebird, Bluebird reads like a blues song to East
Texas with all its troubles over property, race, and love. Taut
where it has to be to keep a murder investigation on its toes, this
novel is also languid when you need to understand just what would
keep a black woman or man in a place where so much troubled history
lies. This novel marks Love's (and Hatred's) comings and goings
amongst black and white, and all the shades between. Locke's small
town murder investigation reveals what lies at the heart of
America's confusion over race."--Walter Mosley, author of Down the
River unto the Sea
"Attica Locke's incisive look at racial issues reaches another
milestone in the gripping Bluebird, Bluebird. . . . The author
packs the excellent novel with believable characters whose motives
often are tied up in the complex morass of history and family. . .
. Locke's superior storytelling excels in Bluebird,
Bluebird."--Wisconsin Gazette
"Attica Locke's stupendous fourth novel is suffused with the blues.
Pushing her classic noir plot deep into history and culture, the
Houston native sings her own unshakable, timeless lament. Streaked
with wit and hard-earned wisdom, 'Bluebird, Bluebird'
soars."--Chicago Tribune
"Attica Locke's terrific Bluebird, Bluebird (Mulholland) simmers
with racial tensions . . . a story told with Locke's crystal-clear
vision and pleasurably elemental prose."--Seattle Times
"Between the driving plot, the complex characters, and the
righteous anger, Locke's latest, Bluebird, Bluebird, has exceeded
my highest expectations."--MysteryPeople
"Brooding, timely, gripping"--Family Circle
"Few contemporary writers have portrayed black Southern life with
as much wit and heart-pounding drama as Attica Locke. . . . A
dazzling work of rural noir that throws into question whether
justice can be equally served on both sides of the race line."--Amy
Brady, Los Angeles Times
"Great...Mysterious, well written, very unusual. Fascinating
twists, moods and observations. Interesting perspective on life and
small-town racism and crime."--The Charlotte News
"Gripping, suspenseful and gut-wrenching . . . I've never bought
the notion of the Great American Novel. I think when literary
historians look back, they'll realize this time had many, but if
Attica Locke's Bluebird Bluebird isn't on the list, I'm coming back
to haunt them. . . . This is a layered portrait of a black man
confronting his own racial ambivalence and ambition told with a
pointed and poignant bluesy lyricism. . . . Locke's novel is
America 'telling on itself.' Listen up."--Carole Barrowman,
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
"I've never bought the notion of the Great American Novel. I think
when literary historians look back, they'll realize this time had
many, but if Attica Locke's"Bluebird Bluebird" (Mulholland) isn't
on the list, I'm coming back to haunt them."--Carole E. Barrowman,
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
"If I were limited to bringing only one book to you it would be
Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke and from eagle-eyed Mulholland
Books. . . . As poignant as this story is, it's Locke's elegiac
writing and her characters that make this book unforgettable, even
beautiful. Locke's feelings of being black are so fervent it makes
Bluebird, Bluebird a work of literature that will make you cry and
read slowly to delay the ending."--Jeffrey Mannix, The Durango
Telegraph
"In Bluebird, Bluebird Attica Locke had both mastered the thriller
and exceeded it. Ranger Darren Mathews is tough, honor-bound, and
profoundly alive in corrupt world. I loved everything about this
book."--Ann Patchett
"Locke creates a town that breathes blues and beats with familiar
warmth between those whose lives have been intertwined for
generations."--Las Vegas Weekly
"Locke pens a poignant love letter to the lazy red-dirt roads and
Piney Woods that serve as a backdrop to a noir thriller as murky as
the bayous and bloodlines that thread through the region. . . .
Locke shows off her chops as a superb storyteller. . . . She is
adept at crafting characters who don't easily fit the archetypes of
good and evil, but exist in the thick grayness of humanness, the
knotty demands of loyalties and the baseness of survival. Locke
holds up the mirror of the racial debate in America and shows us
how the light bends and fractures what is right, wrong and what
simply is the way it is--but perhaps not as it should
be."--Jaundréa Clay, Houston Chronicle
"Locke, having stockpiled an acclaimed array of crime novels
(Pleasantville, 2015, etc.), deserves a career breakthrough for
this deftly plotted whodunit whose writing pulses throughout with a
raw, blues-inflected lyricism." --Kirkus (Starred Review)
"Locke's latest is steeped in the blood of history but alive with
the racial tensions of today. It's a twisty, carefully plotted
thriller."--Chris Vognar, The Dallas Morning News
"Locke's mesmerizing new novel bears all the hallmarks of modern
crime fiction: the alcoholic protagonist with the damaged marriage;
the townsfolk who close rank against outsiders; the small-town law
enforcement agent with murky loyalties. But Bluebird, Bluebird is a
true original in the way it twists these conventions into a
narrative of exhilarating immediacy ... Locke has a vivid sense of
characterisation, using everything from dialect to the fabric of
one's clothes to make subtle class distinctions and depict mental
states ... Locke is building a compelling body of work. In this age
of enduring and renewed racial tensions, we need her voice more
than ever."--Esi Edugyan, The Guardian
"Locke's writing is both sharp-edged and lyrical. This is
thoughtful, piercing storytelling with the power to
transport."--Diana Evans, Financial Times
"Lyrical, elemental, and pulls no punches, exposing racial tensions
past and present while a killer blues soundtrack plays perpetually
in the background."--Boston Globe
"Powerful . . . Locke is a master of plot who's honed her craft. .
. . The deepest pleasures to be found in Bluebird, Bluebird,
though, are in her renderings of those who've loved and lost but
still want to believe in the world's benevolence."--Leigh Haber,
O., The Oprah Magazine
"Richly realized and deliciously labyrinthine."--Andrew Dansby,
Houston Chronicle
"This is Attica Locke's best work yet-and if you've read
Pleasantville you know that's saying something. Just by her choice
of protagonist (an African American Texas Ranger, tacking between
two worlds as he solves a double homicide) you know Locke is a
writer who makes bold choices, and whose fiction is powerfully
connected to our troubled world."
--Ben Winters, author of Underground Airlines
"This page-turner combines heart and heat."--Patrik Henry Bass,
Essence
"With Bluebird, Bluebird Attica Locke brings freshness and vitality
to a beloved form. Her storytelling touch is just so strong! From
the first beautifully done scene until the finale, this is a very
propulsive novel concerning old deeds that keep influencing the
present, injustice and courage--a powerful and dramatic look at
contemporary black life in rural America."--Daniel Woodrell, author
of The Maid's Version
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