The Cutting Season

A Novel

De: Attica Locke

Narrado por: Quincy Tyler Bernstine

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

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.

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.

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

Lackluster second novel

After enjoying Attica Locke's first novel, Black Water Rising, I expected another fast-paced, tense, and action-filled story. The Cutting Season was a disappointment in all three areas. Aside from the finding of a body in a shallow grave, everything else in the first 3/4 of the book seemed like background or side-story. Very little happened to advance the plot.

As I started to listen, I groaned aloud at the narrator's voice. She sounded like a cranky child. But within a few minutes I got used to her, and appreciated her clear diction and the appropriate emotional content of her reading. Quincy Tyler Bernstine's narration actually improved the story.

A romantic scene seemed to be added for no purpose at all; it gave little insight into the characters beyond making me like them a bit less for their questionable encounter. As with much of the text, it had nothing to do with the plot.

I have already recommended Black Water Rising to many friends, and will continue to do so, but I've also started adding "but avoid Locke's second book."

Well done!

The narration was excellent! I enjoyed the storyline and the plot. The characters were fully formed. It was as if I could see them.

Brilliant

One of the best mysteries I’ve listened to and I listen to a lot of mysteries. The author weaves together so many themes as well as atmosphere and symbolism, complex and likable. And the performance is excellent. Thank you for the gift, Attica Locke. You rock!

Annoying narrator, good story

Quincy Tyler Bernstine's voice is a little too squeaky for me. It took me awhile to get used to it enough that I didn't want to constantly turn the book off.

I got this book because I heard an interview with the author on NPR. I love it when you can get the background story of a book straight from the author. Attica Locke explained how she was addressing the issue of a successful black woman moving up to the big house and the guilt that comes with her success.

The story was a bit contrived, but well told. I rolled my eyes a couple of times, but never lost interest.

loved it!

Great murder mystery weaving a past into a present murder, setting to rights a terrible, historical wrong done to past slave family. A story that very well could have been many a family in post civil war times...

Great! Could not stop listening.

Would you listen to The Cutting Season again? Why?

Yes I really enjoyed it.

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

You just could not anticipate what would happen next.

What about Quincy Tyler Bernstine’s performance did you like?

Love the voice inflections and changes.