A Mystery Steeped in History

The Cutting Season by Attica Locke
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Cutting Season is not the typical genre of book that I read. I was enticed into reading this because of the reviews on Goodreads. As a bonus, I could borrow it for my kindle from my local library so decided to give it a try. I'd call it mystery and suspense, although I see some descriptions call it a "thriller". I don't know why, but I typically veer away from those types of books.

Caren Gray is an African American woman who manages a plantation in the South. What's fascinating about this is that her grandparents were slaves on this plantation, and her mother brought her up there. Caren had been determined to escape from the past, and left to pursue a law degree. The birth of her child and a sorrow pulled her back home. I would say she has a love/hate relationship with the plantation and it's owners. The prejudices that follow Black-Americans can't be understood by me, a white woman, but you can feel the tensions in the story.

Caren finds a body on the plantation and the story revolves around who committed this murder, as well as the disappearance of a slave ancestor from her family history. In the meantime, her failed love story, her failed dreams and her daughter's isolation all collide--will she find a way to get back to those dreams and start life anew?

I was always eager to get back to the book to find out what was going to happen next (I read this while on a cruise so I didn't have uninterrupted reading time) and will be trying more of Attica Locke's books.


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