Bluebird, Bluebird is the first book of a new series called Highway 59 by Attica Locke. This was one of my online book club picks and the first book that I have read by this author.
Bluebird, Bluebird is a detective mystery story that takes place in East Texas. The main character is Darren Mathews, who is a black Texas ranger. He has some of his own personal struggles with his marriage, with alcohol and he has been suspended from his job. There has been two murders so Darren decides, since he has time off of work, he will head down the highway to see what he can find out about these cases.
The main theme of the book is racial tension and racism so it is definitely relevant to our times. I had to keep reminding myself that the book takes place in the present so this is not racism from decades ago; the author's message is that this racism exists now.
Here's the thing, I didn't connect with any of the characters and there were a lot of them. But I didn't care about them enough to feel engaged in the story. Darren's relationship with his mother is sad and there were holes missing in that part of the story that might have made me more interested, but I felt like there were holes in a lot of places.
It seems that the author was trying to make connections to music throughout the novel too. But I couldn't figure that out and after a while, it was just distracting and seemed like an added, unnecessary detail.
In the end, there are a couple of twists, but I didn't find them to be jaw dropping, mostly because, like I said, I didn't care about the people enough. So it was more like finishing a puzzle and thinking, so that's done - NEXT! And, it won't be next in the series for me, unfortunately. I have no desire to hear more about any of these characters.
I had heard good things about Attica Locke so I'm hoping if I try some of her other novels, I might have better luck.
Bookworm Rating: đđ
I talk about this book in my YouTube video below:
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