The Cutting Season

( 30 )

Overview

In Black Water Rising, Attica Locke made one of the most stunning fiction debuts in recent memory. Now she returns with The Cutting Season, a riveting thriller that intertwines two murders separated by over a century.

Caren Gray manages Belle Vie, a sprawling antebellum plantation-turned-tourist attraction where the past and the present coexist uneasily. Outside the gates, an ambitious corporation has been snapping up sugar cane fields from struggling families, replacing local ...

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The Cutting Season

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More About This Book

Overview

In Black Water Rising, Attica Locke made one of the most stunning fiction debuts in recent memory. Now she returns with The Cutting Season, a riveting thriller that intertwines two murders separated by over a century.

Caren Gray manages Belle Vie, a sprawling antebellum plantation-turned-tourist attraction where the past and the present coexist uneasily. Outside the gates, an ambitious corporation has been snapping up sugar cane fields from struggling families, replacing local employees with illegal laborers. Tensions mount when the body of a female migrant worker is found in a shallow grave on the property, her throat cut clean.

The police zero in on a suspect but Caren fears they're chasing the wrong leads. Putting herself at risk, she unearths startling new facts about the long-ago disappearance of a former slave that has unsettling ties to the modern-day crime. In pursuit of the truth about Belle Vie's history—and her own—Caren discovers secrets about both cases that an increasingly desperate killer will do anything to keep hidden.

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Editorial Reviews

The New York Times Book Review
As she managed to do so well in her first novel, Black Water Rising, Locke draws on the past to remind her characters how much it has shaped their identities and how much it continues to shape the choices they make…the language of her storytelling is sturdy and absorbing.
—Marilyn Stasio
Publishers Weekly
Locke follows her debut, Black Water Rising, with a convoluted tale about the Louisiana antebellum plantation Belle Vie and two multigenerational families that have occupied it for more than a century. Caren Gray, whose great-great-great grandfather was a slave, manages the entire staff for Belle Vie, which caters weddings and parties and stages shows about plantation life in the old days. The Clancys trace their lineage back to William Tynan, who acquired the plantation after the Civil War. Patriarch Leland Clancy’s wife restored the mansion now run by her son Raymond. The discovery of the body of a cane field worker from the adjacent farm on Belle Vie property triggers a chain of events that embroils Caren, her nine-year-old daughter, the Clancys, and others in an investigation that finds its antecedents in the two families’ entwined histories. The murder and its solution take second place as Locke charts the South’s troubled progress since slavery through a surfeit of subplots. Agent: Richard Abate, 3 Arts Entertainment. (Oct.)
Library Journal
Caren Gray faces down the ugly history of slavery daily—she manages the Belle Vie plantation for its owners, the Clancy family. For generations, her family worked for the Clancys, and she and her nine-year-old daughter found refuge here after Hurricane Katrina. Caren's routine of coordinating school tours, weddings, and banquets is interrupted by the grisly discovery of a migrant worker's body on the property. The police zero in on a suspect, but Caren is unconvinced they have their man. Her investigation unearths more than she bargained for—and she realizes how widespread the repercussions of slavery still ripple. VERDICT Locke's second novel (after 2009's Black Water Rising) is a layered, nuanced mystery with a social conscience. Weaving legal, social, historical, and economic elements into the story of a changing family, it's a good choice for readers who enjoy multifaceted mysteries with a strong female protagonist and that blur genre distinctions. [See Prepub Alert, 4/23/12; author Dennis Lehane picked this title as his first selection for his eponymous imprint at HarperCollins.—Ed.]—Amy Brozio-Andrews, Albany P.L., NY
Kirkus Reviews
A lush plantation is the scene of what could be the perfect murder. As manager of Belle Vie, an antebellum estate 50 miles south of Baton Rouge and an equal distance from New Orleans to the east, Caren Gray burns the candle at both ends. She supervises the staff and produces weddings and parties at the plantation while trying to raise her preteen daughter, Morgan. Also under her supervision is a historical play called The Olden Days of Belle Vie, which keeps the memory of 19th-century Louisiana alive for better or worse. Currently in a rebellious phase, Morgan plays her father, Eric, who's estranged from Caren and has moved to Chicago for a job, against her mother. Fieldworker Luis' discovery of a body facedown in a shallow, makeshift grave complicates an already challenging day for Caren. The victim is a young woman, her throat slit. Local police swarm Belle Vie as Caren confronts the problem of missing actor Donovan Isaacs, unwelcome freeloader Bobby Clancy and Morgan's customary moods. After she finds blood on her daughter's blouse, Caren goes into defensive mode when Morgan's explanations are iffy. As Detective Jimmy Bertrand and his team dig deeper, everyone at Belle Vie gets edgier. Locke's second novel (Black Water Rising, 2009) is written with fluidity and elegance, evoking the uniqueness of her setting and the nuances in the relationships of her characters, complicated by race, class and history. Her whodunit plot often seems like a MacGuffin but could well strike readers as a bonus.
New York Times
"The impressively astute Attica Locke writes . . . in much the same way that Mr. Lehane [does]. . . . Each is willing to use the murder mystery as a framework for much more ambitious, atmospheric fiction."
Booklist
“[An] atmospheric . . . nuanced look at the South’s tragic past and one strong woman’s stand against ingrained cultural and economic oppression.”
USA Today
"Dripping with southern Gothic atmosphere. . . . Equal parts murder mystery and family drama, the novel also draws readers in through its considerations of African-American history and life in post-Katrina Louisiana."
Dennis Lehane
"I was first struck by Attica Locke’s prose, then by the ingenuity of her narrative and finally and most deeply by the depth of her humanity. She writes with equal amounts grace and passion. . . . I’d probably read the phone book if her name was on the spine."
Dolen Perkins-Valdez
"The Cutting Season is a rare murder mystery with heft, a historical novel that thrills, a page-turner that makes you think. Attica Locke is a dazzling writer with a conscience."
Tayari Jones
"The Cutting Season is a novel about the shifting definitions of family, the persistent pull of history, the sterling promise of home, and the stunning power of love. It pulled me in and held me close to the very last page."
Los Angeles Times
"Compelling. . . . A mystery that expands the whole idea of the mystery, reaching from the present deeply into the past. . . . Great writing, the kind that gives you goose bumps."
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"One of the most engaging and gifted new voices in the genre. . . . The Cutting Season does more than exhume a body—it rattles the bones of slavery, race, class, and power to examine a crime that reverberates from more than a century ago."
Financial Times
"Although The Cutting Season succeeds as a thriller, above all it is a well-crafted warning about the damage wrought—generational, social, romantic—when the past is distorted or denied."
Minneapolis Star Tribune
"A thoughtful, well-written and absorbing read with a surprising ending."
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780061802058
  • Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
  • Publication date: 9/18/2012
  • Pages: 384
  • Sales rank: 50,199
  • Product dimensions: 6.42 (w) x 9.14 (h) x 1.24 (d)

Meet the Author

Attica Locke

Attica Lockeis a screenwriter who has worked in both film and television. A native of Houston, Texas, she lives in Los Angeles with her husband and daughter.

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Customer Reviews

Average Rating 3.5
( 30 )
Rating Distribution

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(6)

4 Star

(8)

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(7)

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(7)

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(2)

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See All Sort by: Showing 1 – 20 of 30 Customer Reviews

  • Posted September 18, 2012

    more from this reviewer

    I have a mental list of authors that I faithfully follow and I p

    I have a mental list of authors that I faithfully follow and I pick up everything they write. I know what I like and I have a good idea of what I'll be reading. But on the other side of that coin - picking up a book by an unfamiliar author is an adventure.

    The Cutting Season is Attica Locke's second book. I missed her debut novel - Black Water Rising - it won numerous prize nominations and lots of praise. But, after reading The Cutting Season, I can see why. Attica Locke is good -really good.

    Caren Gray and her young daughter have returned home to Belle Vie - the Louisiana plantation Caren was raised on. Her family history with Belle Vie stretches back to the days when her ancestors were slaves in the sugar cane fields. Now the plantation is a tourist attraction and Caren is the manager. It's not the path she wanted to pursue in life and she has mixed feelings about returning to the plantation.

    When an migrant worker is found murdered on the grounds, old and new wounds are opened - long buried history and new controversy. And Caren puts herself in the middle....

    Locke drew me in immediately. I was of course caught up in the present day whodunit. There are lots of suspects and the path to the answer is winding. But, at the same time, Caren is caught up in the disappearance of her ancestor Jason, one hundred years ago. Locke skillfully weaves the unravelling of both narratives together.

    The mysteries are intriguing, but I enjoyed Locke's exploration of race, politics, business, history and yes, love, just as much. The juxtaposition of abolished slavery and the plight of migrant workers today provides much food for thought.

    The character of Caren came across as 'real'. Her own uncertainties, her relationship with her daughter, her ex and her coworkers all rang true. All of the supporting characters were just as well drawn. Having worked as a historical interpreter I enjoyed the descriptions of the cast and their dialogue.

    Locke's prose are wonderfully rich and atmospheric and brought her settings to life.

    "That beneath its loamy topsoil, the manicured grounds and gardens, two centuries of breathtaking wealth and spectacle—a stark beauty both irrepressible and utterly incapable of even the smallest nod of contrition—lay a land both black and bitter, soft to the touch, and pressing in its power. She should have known that one day it would spit out what it no longer had use for, the secrets it would no longer keep.”

    For this reader, a winner on all fronts. (And I'll be hunting down that first book!) Locke has been added to my 'list'.

    Dennis Lehane has picked The Cutting Season as the first book for his new imprint for Harper Collins.

    "I was first struck by Attica Locke's prose, then by the ingenuity of her narrative and finally and most deeply by the depth of her humanity. She writes with equal amounts grace and passion. After just two novels, I'd probably read the phone book if her name was on the spine

    26 out of 29 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 10, 2012

    Perfect Atmosphere

    The South and the complicated emotions those words connate come alive in this engrossing tale whose characters and way of life come to true life. This tales not hard to belive and neither is Bel Vie.

    5 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted November 7, 2012

    Oh how I love the South; the plantations, the people, the myster

    Oh how I love the South; the plantations, the people, the mystery, the landscape, the politics and the history. The Cutting Season has all of those things and more. This novel has a two -for-one mystery that keeps you so intrigued that you don't want to put it down.

    The characters are real and I loved how the author explored their emotions, personal demons, love for one another, their home and their sense of belonging. I found it very interesting how Ms. Locke compared some of the struggles of yesterday's slaves to today's migrant workers, and society's ignorance in treating them as though they were/are less the human. In one word - Shameless!

    Great story and I look forward to reading Ms. Locke's other work.

    3 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 22, 2012

    Loved it!

    I bought this after seeing it in a list of recommended books for Christmas gifts. I am so glad I did. Caren, Mogan and the rest of the characters will draw you into the world of Belle Vie and the mysteries hidden there. Will definitely look forward to future books by the author.

    2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted October 30, 2012

    more from this reviewer

    It was okayyy...

    This book is okay. It has a really good plot.. But it just seems like a murder mystery where you keep looking and looking and looking... Typical.. Slightly boring.

    2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 26, 2012

    Holds your attention

    Really enjoyed this book. Good ending

    2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 16, 2013

    Loved the book. Looking forward to more by this author.

    Loved the book. Looking forward to more by this author.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted December 27, 2012

    more from this reviewer

    I loved the setting: a restored plantation in Louisiana and the

    I loved the setting: a restored plantation in Louisiana and the bits of real history woven into the story. The characters, especially Caren & her daughter, are not well developed. I think that each book by this author will get better, with time and experience.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted April 12, 2013

    This was bad and I couldn't wait to be finished.

    This was bad and I couldn't wait to be finished.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 15, 2013

    slow read for one who likes drama

    I like drama.. at first it started out slow, but eventually it picked up. don't really care to much for how it finish..

    0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 5, 2013

    Just Okay

    This story is part mystery part a historical novel; however never achieving either, always wishy washy in-between. The story kept me interested, so I guess it is okay. However, the characters are flat, the story line offers little surprises , and the end is a little strange.

    This book was recommended to me by someone who grew up around plantations. She love to revel in the memory. However, if you want to read a good book about plantations I would recommend 'The kitchen house'.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 1, 2013

    Good read

    Good read. I enjoyed the setting of the story especially after seeing the movie Lincoln. It is a mystery but somewhat a historical novel too. Just different setting for a change of pace.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 9, 2012

    Great book!

    Loved it.

    0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 22, 2012

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted April 17, 2013

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted November 28, 2012

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted May 2, 2013

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted January 5, 2013

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted February 26, 2013

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted March 7, 2013

    No text was provided for this review.

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