Review
WL Rating
This is the second book in the J. Shepard series by surfer/former attorney John Decure. As we saw in his first book, Reef Dance, Decure’s protagonist still has a self-destructive tendency to blindly help people in need. Noble? Yes. But this time Shepard blunders into a significantly more dangerous situation that puts his life, livelihood and relationship in serious jeopardy. Helping out a seemingly washed-up attorney, Shepard uncovers an extremely complicated confidence game that involves attorneys, thugs and senior level public servants. Decure does a good job drawing the characters, but the plot take a long time to unfold, and requires some commitment and faith from the reader. Decure also manages to more deftly weave the surfing theme into his second book, smoothing the transitions from courtroom to line up. While the story itself isn’t that gripping, I did enjoy Decure’s freewheeling attacks on the failings of the California legal system, as well as his obvious disdain for the role of localism in surfing. While it’s not my favorite piece of surf themed fiction, Bluebird Rising is an easy for a patient reader. (October 2009)
Bluebird Rising - John Decure
