Title: The
Cutting Season
Author: Attica Locke
Review: Imagine
you were just beginning a game of Clue and I said to you “Hey, it was either
Mr. Green with Revolver in the Library, or Miss Scarlett with the Lead Pipe in
the Kitchen, or Colonel Mustard with the Rope in the Ballroom.” Then I let you wander around aimlessly the
whole game before apropos of nothing I said it was the last choice. Now let’s finish the game. That is the frustration I felt with this
book.
It seems the author wanted to write a great novel of modern
race relations but felt compelled to force it into a mystery format, thus
missing on both fronts. The unfortunate
problem is Ms. Locke is a very talented writer, the setting of her book was
beautiful, her characters had definite possibilities, and the crime itself was
intriguing. She had all the pieces for a
great novel but failed to put the puzzle together.
I think the plot derailed with the choice of main character,
Caren, the caretaker of the living history museum Belle Vie Plantation. While an interesting person in her own right
she never really investigated anything, nor as an ordinary citizen did she have
an avenue to. Rather like my initial
analogy, she was just a person to whom full solutions could be presented to
over the course of the book. Typically a
solid mystery would have a character dig into the threads of a solution and as
the story progresses slowly find the truth.
The side character of the investigative reporter would have had the
means to pull that off much better.
Then when we are given the big climax wherein all is
explained and it really comes as a complete package instead of a rewarding
journey. There was so much to be
explored and discussed between the two family histories, both Caren’s and the
villain’s, and the two crimes, both ancient and modern.
In the end there were the seeds of a great novel contained
in The Cutting Season that I would have loved to have read, and Attica Locke is
more than capable of writing it. This
novel was okay and worth the read, but I am anxiously awaiting her next effort
with high hopes she hits the homerun I feel is coming.
Publisher: Harper
ISBN:
978-0-06-180205-8
Copyright: 2012
Pages: 382
Quick Review:
3.25 Stars out of 5
Why I Read It: Really enjoyed her first book Black Water
Rising
Where I Obtained the Book:
Sent to me by the publisher for review, with the TLC Tour.
Synopsis: The
American South in the twenty-first century. A plantation owned for generations
by a rich family. So much history and a dead body.
Just after dawn, Caren walks the grounds of Belle Vie, the
historic plantation house in Louisiana that she has managed for four years.
Today she sees nothing unusual, apart from some ground that has been dug up by
the fence bordering the sugar cane fields. Assuming an animal has been out
after dark, she asks the gardener to tidy it up. Not long afterwards, he calls
her to say it's something else. Something terrible. …A dead body. At a
distance, she missed her. The girl, the dirt and the blood.
Now she has police on site, an investigation in progress,
and a member of staff no one can track down. And Caren keeps uncovering things
she will wish she didn't know. As she's drawn into the dead girl's story, she
makes shattering discoveries about the future of Belle Vie, the secrets of its
past, and sees, more clearly than ever, that Belle Vie, its beauty, is not to
be trusted.
A magnificent, sweeping story of the south, The Cutting
Season brings history face-to-face with modern America, where Obama is
president, but some things will never change. Attica Locke once again provides
an unblinking commentary on politics, race, the law, family and love, all
within a thriller every bit as gripping and tragic as her first novel, Black
Water Rising.
Author Biography: 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.
Attica Locke is a writer whose first novel, Black Water
Rising, was nominated for a 2010 Edgar Award, a 2010 NAACP Image Award, as well
as a Los Angeles Times Book Prize and was longlisted for an Orange Prize in the
UK. Attica is also a screenwriter who has written movie and television scripts
for Paramount, Warner Bros, Disney, Twentieth Century Fox, Jerry Bruckheimer
Films, HBO, Dreamworks and Silver Pictures. She was also a fellow at the
Sundance Institute’s Feature Filmmakers Lab and is a graduate of Northwestern
University. A native of Houston, Texas, Attica lives in Los Angeles,
California, with her husband and daughter. She is currently at work on her
second book.
Other Reviews:
Darn, I'm sorry to see that this book was so frustrating for you, but thanks for sharing your thoughts on it for the tour.
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