The Cutting Season

A Novel

By: Attica Locke

Narrated by: Quincy Tyler Bernstine

Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

In Black Water Rising, Attica Locke delivered one of the most stunning and sure-handed fiction debuts in recent memory, garnering effusive critical praise, several award nominations, and passionate reader response. Now Locke returns with The Cutting Season, a riveting thriller that intertwines two murders separated across more than a century.

Caren Gray manages Belle Vie, a sprawling antebellum plantation that sits between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, where the past and the present coexist uneasily. The estate's owners have turned the place into an eerie tourist attraction, complete with full-dress re-enactments and carefully restored slave quarters. Outside the gates, a corporation with ambitious plans has been busy snapping up land from struggling families who have been growing sugar cane for generations, and now replacing local employees with illegal laborers. Tensions mount when the body of a female migrant worker is found in a shallow grave on the edge of the property, her throat cut clean.

As the investigation gets under way, the list of suspects grows. But when fresh evidence comes to light and the sheriff's department zeros in on a person of interest, Caren has a bad feeling that the police are chasing the wrong leads. Putting herself at risk, she ventures into dangerous territory as she unearths startling new facts about a very old mystery - the long-ago disappearance of a former slave - that has unsettling ties to the current murder. In pursuit of the truth about Belle Vie's history and her own, Caren discovers secrets about both cases - ones that an increasingly desperate killer will stop at nothing to keep buried.

Taut, hauntingly resonant, and beautifully written, The Cutting Season is at once a thoughtful meditation on how America reckons its past with its future, and a high-octane pause resister that unfolds with tremendous skill and vision. With her rare gift for depicting human nature in all its complexities, Attica Locke demonstrates once again that she is "destined for literary stardom" (Dallas Morning News).

©2012 Attica Locke (P)2012 HarperCollins Publishers

The Past Doesn't Go Away Nor is it Past

This is an interesting book from several angles. I do believe I'm not really in a position to judge it correctly. I am neither black or southern, and I would think you would need to be both for it to honestly make sense.
The past mystery is quite wonderful, and makes historic sense. And is in it's own way, agonizing. The current one is less so in both regards. But either way, it's a good read.

Excellent read

Great storyline. The narrator's voice took some getting to. Definitely worth a listen. Happy listening.

Engaging Crime Novel

Beautifully narrated story that captivates the reader/listener from the start. The writing is perfection with wonderful descriptions of all things Southern. I felt "comfy" within the pages of this novel.

Slow and steady

I liked this book, but didn't love it. The writing is colorful in description, but not clever or suspenseful story telling. It is very slow and the plot isn't strong. The daughter comes off annoying and the mother as a law breaking lawyer is a bit unrealistic.

Compelling and Fresh

Would you listen to The Cutting Season again? Why?

I would listen again and have recommended the book to friends. This is a fresh take on the mystery. You are never quite sure where you are being lead. Love the protagonist - very real, not a cookie cutter hero by any means.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Oh my yes, it also convinced me to take the long way home.

Great read

Not sure what it meant, but I like the book and will discuss at bookclub

Phenomenal

Complex plot and characters. Part mystery part social commentary on race relations in the American south. Tight story (until the very end when it stretches the imagination). Excellent narrator.

I ALMOST bought this book several times...

I wish I hadn't hesitated. This story was a wonderful blend of mystery, love lost, culture and history. Truly a delight. The authors detailed descriptions really brought southern Louisiana to life. I also liked the narrator.

Another great book by author

Entertaining from the beginning. If you like this author the book will not disappoint. awesome

LOVED THE STORY, LOVED THE NARRATOR

Enjoyed the Gothic feeling of the plantation and the spooky feeling I got in the pit of my stomach every time Caren had to race across the plantation in the dark. I thought Quincy Tyler Bernstine did a good job with the narration, especially Caren's internal dialogue. Might have wished for a better outcome for Caren and Eric, but then it would be a romance novel. It's well worth a listening.