Heaven, My Home

By: Attica Locke

Narrated by: J. D. Jackson

In this thrilling crime novel, Texas Ranger Darren Mathews is on the hunt for a missing child—but it's the boy's family of white supremacists who are his real target.

9-year-old Levi King knew he should have left for home sooner; now he's alone in the darkness of vast Caddo Lake, in a boat whose motor just died. A sudden noise distracts him—and all goes dark.

Darren Mathews is trying to emerge from another kind of darkness; after the events of his previous investigation, his marriage is in a precarious state of re-building, and his career and reputation lie in the hands of his mother, who's never exactly had his best interests at heart. Now she holds the key to his freedom, and she's not above a little maternal blackmail to press her advantage.

An unlikely possibility of rescue arrives in the form of a case down Highway 59, in a small lakeside town where the local economy thrives on nostalgia for ante-bellum Texas—and some of the era's racial attitudes still thrive as well. Levi's disappearance has links to Darren's last case, and to a wealthy businesswoman, the boy's grandmother, who seems more concerned about the fate of her business than that of her grandson.

Darren has to battle centuries-old suspicions and prejudices, as well as threats that have been reignited in the current political climate, as he races to find the boy, and to save himself.

"Captivating" —People

A Best Book of the Year:
New York Times • Houston Chronicle • NPR • Wall Street Journal • Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel • Book Page • Financial Times • Kirkus • SheReads • Sunday Times • LitHub • Guardian • Book Riot • South Florida Sun Sentinel

Longlisted for the Orwell Political Fiction Book Prize

Critic reviews

"Timely and evocative."—NPR "Fresh Air"

"Captivating."—People

"Bewitching story and luscious language . . . . The story has legs, the characters have character, and the dialogue has a wonderful regional tang. But it's Locke's descriptive language that gets me."—New York Times

"Atmospheric . . . Ms. Locke, a canny storyteller, ties up enough strands to satisfy readers, while leaving enough loose ends to make us eager for Ranger Mathews's next adventure in the Lone Star State."—Tom Nolan, Wall Street Journal

"Locke's beautifully written crime fiction (which also includes "Pleasantville," "Black Water Rising," and "The Cutting Season") have a remarkable immediacy--you breathe with the characters and walk in their paths."—Seattle Times

"Pulse-pounding."—Chicago Tribune

"Locke skillfully packs Heaven, My Home with realistic and, at times, uncomfortable situations as she depicts complicated characters. In Darren, Locke has fearlessly shaped a character that constantly walks a tightrope of being a good man with a quest for justice and being an extremely flawed person. . . . [Locke] once again excels in her superior storytelling."—Oline Cogdill, Associated Press

"With her usual aplomb, Locke tackles history and its all-too-real emotional fallout in this splendid follow-up."—Boston Globe

"[Locke] has proved that there's demand for stories about black characters. . . . Her books, categorized as mystery or crime, are also unabashedly about black experiences, examining the legacy of black history in the context of modern politics and culture. The crime she really concerns herself with is an existential one: the legacy of America's original sin. The protagonists in her novels are mostly black men, and she writes with the authenticity of a lived experience."—Madhulika Sikka, Washington Post

"Riveting."—Philadelphia Inquirer

"Attica Locke has gained a reputation as a marquee literary chronicler of Texas and the South, particularly the parts and people that usually go unnoticed, and one of the hallmarks of her fiction is the insightful way she explores how black and white people can live almost entirely different experiences inside the same time and place. . . . [Heaven, My Home] is a thrilling mystery, yes, but it's also a powerful meditation on what it means to be human in these frightening times."—Texas Observer

"In this scalp-prickling encore to her Edgar-winning Bluebird, Bluebird, Locke brings back intrepid Texas Ranger Darren Matthews . . . a gumbo of race and class prejudices captured in vivid detail."—O Magazine

"Attica Locke's novel is masterful. It's a quick read, not in the sense that it is short, but that it goes - and goes fast. It's a page-turner in every way."—San Francisco Chronicle

Perfect!

It takes an amazing writer to evoke compassion for characters that you know you should hate. A great read with a twist that I didn't see coming...and I always see them coming. Can't wait for the next book in this series.

Great story

Continuing story of Texas ranger Darren with interesting sub stories re race, relationships and friendships.

Easy read. continues from first book. Book club

Easy read. Book club selection. Enjoyed by all. Story well told by the main character.

A tougher start, but I couldnt put it down

This has a tougher start than the first book, but if you like reading about making bad decisions...this is the book for you. The character and performance make up for a few areas in the story that felt contrived. I do recommend this book.

Hastily Written, Poorly Performed

I have listened to Attica Locke's three previous books, which were wonderful, and I mean WONDERFUL. I'm not a fan of this narrator, but Bluebird, Bluebird was so well constructed that I could overlook his delivery.
This book, however, her second in this series, feels hastily written, and could not help me forget how much I disliked the voice reading it. The ideas are all there - waiting to be better organized and delivered- but the story doesn't do them the justice they deserve. I don't know if Ms Locke switched editors or if they all decided that getting this book out fast was more important than doing a good job. Whatever the reason, this book doesn't hold a candle to her others, and it's a shame because it has at least as much to say.