by Attica Locke
First published 2009
Jay Porter takes his wife out on the Houston bayou for her birthday celebration. The night turns dark when he hears a woman screaming. He pulls her from the water, saving her life. This rescue drags Jay into a murder case that threatens everything he has built. Jay left his radical past behind years ago and buried his worst mistakes. He never became the lawyer he once dreamed of being, but he found peace with that compromise. Now his good deed on the bayou puts his law practice at risk. It endangers his family and his own life. The investigation reaches into the upper levels of corporate power. Jay must face the sins he thought he had escaped. He struggles to solve a mystery that could destroy him while confronting the demons that still haunt him from his activist days.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, african-american-historical-fiction
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: redemption, secrets
Setting: Houston, Texas
Period: Contemporary
430 pages · Hardcover · Amistad