by Attica Locke
First published 2018
Darren Mathews became a Texas Ranger despite his complicated feelings about his home state. The black lawman once fled Texas entirely, seeking distance from the racial tensions he grew up navigating. Now duty has pulled him back, and his loyalty to his origins threatens his career. He drives Highway 59 to the small town of Lark, where two recent killings have inflamed old wounds. A black attorney from Chicago lies dead. So does a white local woman. The murders have awakened bitter resentments that simmer beneath Lark's surface. Mathews must untangle both crimes while the town's racial divisions threaten to explode. East Texas operates under its own version of justice, and Mathews knows these unwritten rules intimately. He faces pressure from multiple sides as he works to solve the case. His investigation becomes a fight for his own survival in a place where law enforcement follows different codes than elsewhere.
Genres: american-fiction, african-american, mystery, crime, thriller, police
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, suspenseful
Tropes: divided-loyalties, fish-out-of-water
Setting: Texas, Lark
Period: Contemporary
1 pages · Audio CD · Hachette Book Group