Guide Me Home, Locke - B+

                 Darren Matthew's life has completely unraveled. He hands in his gun and badge and resigns from the Texas Rangers, where he was only the second Black in its history. He's drinking too much, his girlfriend has left him, and he's about to be indicted. On top of this mess, his mother with whom he's had maybe two conversations with in his life, shows up, and encourages him to look into a Black girl missing from a white sorority house. He makes a connection with his mother,  and unearths a great deal of unpleasantness behind the community the missing young girl is from. His indictment falls apart and he's offered a chance to return to the Rangers. And, his girlfriend is now his fiancee. The excellence of these novels is the brilliant exposition of Black life in East Texas. The author does an excellent job of laying before us the steps and pain of poverty, hopelessness, and desperation, along with some biting criticism of right wing hatred.