Set in an tiny town in East Texas, this novel follows Darren Mathews, a Texas Ranger, as he investigates a pair of homicides that he suspects are racially motivated. Wrestling with his own restrictions as a Black law enforcement officer as well as the skewed application of justice in Shelby County, Darren unearths the intertwined stories of the townsfolk as tensions come to a head. 

This was my first book by Attica Locke and I thought it was great. The story is well-written and engrossing, gripping without being frenetic. In some ways, Darren reminded me of NCIS’s Jethro Gibbs, justice-oriented and yet dealing with his own demons.