The Cutting Season

Description

Just after dawn, Caren inspects the grounds of Belle Vie, the historic plantation house she manages. Back at her office, the gardener calls to tell her she missed something. Something terrible. At a distance, she didn't see. A young woman lying face down in a shallow grave, her throat cut clean. So there will be police, asking questions. The family who own Belle Vie will have to be told. There's a school group on the way to visit. Where is Donovan, the member of staff no one has seen? And all the time, Caren is thinking that there are only so many keys, only so many ways in to Belle Vie with its six foot high perimeter fence. And as she lives on site with her daughter, she wonders: how much danger are they in? A thriller with as much heart as it has pace, Attica Locke combines a riveting mystery with a shattering story of how our history is never just the past.

Attica Locke's first novel Black Water Rising was shortlisted for the Orange Prize, nominated for an Edgar Award, an NAACP Image Award and a Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Attica is also a screenwriter who has written for Paramount, Warner Bros, Twentieth Century Fox, HBO and Dreamworks. A native of Houston, Texas, Attica lives in Los Angeles, with her husband and daughter.

Rich in atmosphere, strong in story, hinges on human complexity -- Val McDermid * Guardian * Genuinely unnerving ... interested in subtle, complex questions of identity, family and history * Daily Mail * Locke was shortlisted for the Orange prize for her debut. This is even better * Observer * Far more than a crime novel, covers the fallout from divorce, regret, poverty and bitter family secrets * Psychologies * An intelligent and beguiling mystery that examines how our past haunts our present, told by a unique voice in contemporary crime fiction -- Stuart Neville Attica Locke 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 -- Dennis Lehane Attica Locke is a stand-out in every way -- James Ellroy Attica Locke's work raises searingly important questions that demand to be answered. The Cutting Season is about the dark possibilities that lie within us all. A thrilling read -- Esi Edugyan A good crime novel on its own, but Locke has woven through it an engrossing exploration of freedom in all its trickiest aspects ... an involving and moving novel -- N J Cooper A well-crafted warning about the damage wrought - generational, social, romantic - when the past is distorted or denied * Financial Times * Beautifully conveys the atmosphere of a sad past haunting a benighted present * The Times * This is a highly engrossing and genuinely thought-provoking piece of crime fiction: one that reminds us of the genre's potential to go well beyond simple entertainment * Independent * A subtle thriller with real historical heft -- Fachtna Kelly * Sunday Business Post *