Series
Publication
Avon (1994), 384 pages
Original publication date
1993-04-15
Collections
Genres
Subjects
Description
Fiction. Mystery. Suspense. Thriller. HTML:The sixth in the New York Times bestselling Dave Robicheaux series delivers a heart-pounding bayou manhunt�??and features "one of the coolest, earthiest heroes in thrillerdom" (Entertainment Weekly ). When Hollywood invades New Iberia Parish to film a Civil War epic, restless specters waiting in the shadows for Louisiana detective Dave Robicheaux are reawakened�??ghosts of a history best left undisturbed. Hunting a serial killer preying on the lawless young, Robicheaux comes face-to-face with the elusive guardians of his darkest torments�?? who hold the key to his ultimate salvation or a final, fatal
User reviews
LibraryThing member wildbill
This is number 6 in the Dave Robicheaux series and is a very good mystery thriller. The Confederacy and the supernatural are more prominent in this book than in any others I have read by James Lee Burke. General John Bell Hood, or his ghost, makes multiple appearances in the story. One point of
The book begins with the brutal murder of a beautiful young prostitute who it is revealed later had connections with one of the primary villains Julie (Baby Feet) Balboni. In Robicheaux's youth Feet was the catcher on the high school baseball team where Robicheaux was a pitcher. The interaction between Balboni and Robicheaux is one of the main story lines of the book. Balboni has moved back to New Iberia where a movie he is backing is being made. Balboni is a prime suspect for the murder along with Michael Ducee who provides security for the movie. Ducee is also a suspect for a murder Robicheaux witnessed at 19 of a black man who was in chains.
The sheriff calls for the FBI who shows up in the person of a Rosie Gomez who becomes Robicheaux's strong ally. There is an incident from Rosie's past that becomes a prominent part of the story. Then another murder occurs matching the pattern of the first and now the search is on for a serial killer.
Burke keeps the action moving and Robicheaux provides the narration. It is Robicheaux's inner dialogue that separates this series from a straight forward who done it. The last 75 pages turn very quickly as the stakes are raised with the kidnapping of Alafair, Robicheax's adopted daughter.
I enjoyed the book but it does not show the depth of The Tin Roof Blowdown, the most recent book in the series. Except for Rosie the female characters, especially Robicheaux's wife Bootsie, are very shallow. It shows that Burke is a good author who has improved his craft as he goes along.
Show More
historical accuracy. Hood started the Civil War as the leader of the Texas brigade which was infantry not cavalry as stated in the book. That aside.The book begins with the brutal murder of a beautiful young prostitute who it is revealed later had connections with one of the primary villains Julie (Baby Feet) Balboni. In Robicheaux's youth Feet was the catcher on the high school baseball team where Robicheaux was a pitcher. The interaction between Balboni and Robicheaux is one of the main story lines of the book. Balboni has moved back to New Iberia where a movie he is backing is being made. Balboni is a prime suspect for the murder along with Michael Ducee who provides security for the movie. Ducee is also a suspect for a murder Robicheaux witnessed at 19 of a black man who was in chains.
The sheriff calls for the FBI who shows up in the person of a Rosie Gomez who becomes Robicheaux's strong ally. There is an incident from Rosie's past that becomes a prominent part of the story. Then another murder occurs matching the pattern of the first and now the search is on for a serial killer.
Burke keeps the action moving and Robicheaux provides the narration. It is Robicheaux's inner dialogue that separates this series from a straight forward who done it. The last 75 pages turn very quickly as the stakes are raised with the kidnapping of Alafair, Robicheax's adopted daughter.
I enjoyed the book but it does not show the depth of The Tin Roof Blowdown, the most recent book in the series. Except for Rosie the female characters, especially Robicheaux's wife Bootsie, are very shallow. It shows that Burke is a good author who has improved his craft as he goes along.
Show Less
LibraryThing member dad7455
This was the first novel I read by this author using this character. Since then I have read everything I can get my hands on. I love the setting of New Orleans. James Burke really bring out the angst of the character his battle with alcholism his relationship with those around him. I found the
Show More
character to be a lonely man always fighting his demons as he trys to solve the latest mystery that seems to fall on his doorstep. All in All I highly recommend any of James Burke novels Show Less
LibraryThing member daverollins
An entertaining enough book but to my taste rather overwritten; it could have used far fewer descriptions of the colour of the sky, for instance. Also, the ending was a bit Republican. But it did make me wish I could find some boudin or a po' boy sandwich in Sydney.
LibraryThing member JBreedlove
Another good Robicheaux novel. The ending was rushed but the build up was a page turner. Some Stephen King-esque ghosts of Confederate solders haunt Dave Robicheaux in his dreams as he attempts to two some gruesome murders and deal with the New Orleans mob.
LibraryThing member dlgoldie
No one writes mysteries like James Lee Burke. The most beautiful writing, the best plotting and the most unforgettable characters.
LibraryThing member mazda502001
This is the 6th in the Robicheaux series and once again a good thriller. Burke is a fine crime writer - very imaginative and powerful.
Back Cover Blurb:
When a movie crew arrives in New Iberia to shoot a Civil War epic Detective Dave Robicheaux finds that it's not just the bayou's living inhabitants
Back Cover Blurb:
When a movie crew arrives in New Iberia to shoot a Civil War epic Detective Dave Robicheaux finds that it's not just the bayou's living inhabitants
Show More
who are being disturbed. As he hunts for a sadistic killer targeting young prostitutes, evidence of an earlier murder is brought to light. The skeletal remains are the last echo of a crime Robicheaux himself witnessed as a college freshman almost forty years ago..... Show Less
LibraryThing member andyray
This was given to me by a friend and i said to myself: "sure. like i will find someone who writes as good and as sucks me in as well as JDM. Well, this guy Burke does it, at least with the Devereux character. Maybe it's because my blood is french and indian, and i speak french, and I love the cajun
Show More
music and cooking, and of the four kinds of terrain, i like the swamp the best, but no, it's more than that. i shall read more of his work. Show Less
LibraryThing member soniaandree
I did enjoy this book very much - the bayou environment is not something I am familiar with, so it lends an air of fantastic genre to the novel. What's more, the virtual presence of a Confederate ghost does remind me of the short fictions of Ambrose Bierce (there usually are some uncanny elements
Show More
in a damaged post-civil war environment). The characters are brought to the foreground, they are outlined against a quiet, Louisiana, background, and they seem more alive than what it would be for normal characters, as if they were the ones that mattered, not the plot. In any case, this book is a very good one, and I'd recommend it to anyone wanting to read about bayous and villains, or to have a taste of Ambrose Bierce's fantastic atmosphere. Show Less
LibraryThing member tymfos
In my ongoing reading of the Dave Robicheaux series -- all of them, in order this time -- I've been looking forward to re-reading this installment of the series, which I read for the first time when it was new. The final third of the book, I simply read straight through and refused to put it down
Show More
for something so mundane as going to bed at a reasonable hour. I was caught up in the mystery -- or mysteries. There are several -- that of a lynching which Dave witnessed as a youth, the remains of which have finally surfaced on the bayou; that of the murder of at least two prostitutes in modern-day New Iberia and environs; that of the phantoms Dave and those around him encounter. Ghosts? Dreams? Delusions? Hallucinations? All of the above? Burke is careful not to explain everything, but leaves room to explain away enough that the "ghost story" doesn't dominate the crime story, even while it illuminates issues involved. This is a great book -- gritty and grisly and beautiful by turns, giving lots of room for thought. Show Less
LibraryThing member ChrisConway
I really liked The Neon Rain, the first Robicheaux novel, but this one, with its supernatural element, did not quite work for me. Burke is clearly doing something ambitious and historically relevant to the modern south in this novel, but I could not suspend disbelief enough. And I'm into
Show More
supernatural stuff. Show Less
LibraryThing member mikedraper
This story, written in 1996, shows the compassionate and spiritual side of Det. Dave Robicheaux of the New Iberia, sheriff's department.
As the story opens, there has been a murder and mutilation of a nineteen-year-old prostitute. Later, Dave tells the sheriff, he's seen the body and he won't stop
We also see a childhood friend of Dave's return to New Iberia. This man, Julie Balboni, is now with the mob and wants to invest into a movie being shot in the area about the Civil War.
The sheriff wants Dave to encourage Julie and his mob followers to leave the area.
As the movie is being made, Dave meets the star, Elwood Sykes who has a problem with alcohol and Dave's attempt to help Elwood is an interesting aspect of the story.
Another unique part of this story is that there are times when Old Civil War figures appear to Dave to give words of philosophy or advice.
The story is well written as is the setting and once again, James Lee Burke has demonstrated why Dave Robicheaux is one of the most popular characters in detective fiction.
As the story opens, there has been a murder and mutilation of a nineteen-year-old prostitute. Later, Dave tells the sheriff, he's seen the body and he won't stop
Show More
the investigation until her killer is brought to justice.We also see a childhood friend of Dave's return to New Iberia. This man, Julie Balboni, is now with the mob and wants to invest into a movie being shot in the area about the Civil War.
The sheriff wants Dave to encourage Julie and his mob followers to leave the area.
As the movie is being made, Dave meets the star, Elwood Sykes who has a problem with alcohol and Dave's attempt to help Elwood is an interesting aspect of the story.
Another unique part of this story is that there are times when Old Civil War figures appear to Dave to give words of philosophy or advice.
The story is well written as is the setting and once again, James Lee Burke has demonstrated why Dave Robicheaux is one of the most popular characters in detective fiction.
Show Less
LibraryThing member AliceAnna
I liked this one better than the last one I read by him. Dave Robicheaux grows on you. A good story, but it bothered me that he totally dropped a character instrumental to the conclusion for about 200 pages and then expected me to remember who the hell the character was. That was a little annoying,
Show More
but other than that, the characters, atmosphere, etc. felt right on the money. Show Less
LibraryThing member john.cooper
Six books and five years into the Dave Robicheaux series, James Lee Burke decided to do something different. Ex-detective Cletus Purcell doesn't appear in this one. Movie stars do (you can attach your own mental images to the stars in the novel: for me, Elrod Sykes took the form of Dennis Quaid).
For the first time in the series, Burke uses the elements of his thriller to explore a theme--the twisted legacy of racism and idealism that makes the South what it is today. The result is entertaining and thought-provoking, but not entirely convincing. It's unfortunate that familiar, realistic characters such as Dave's wife and daughter and his friend Batist are given little authorial attention, while over-the-top temporary appearances like director Mikey Goldman, mobster Julie Balboni, and even the dead general are given lots of page time. I hope that for the next book in the series, Burke returns to the rich characterization of ordinary people--something he's unusually good at.
Show More
Elrod sees dead people. So does Dave's daughter Alafair. And so does Dave, although it's "explained" first as a side effect of being drugged and later as dreams; but nothing explains how Elrod could have known the name etched onto the butt of the antique pistol that's been undisturbed in a shoebox for forty years, or how all these people see a Confederate general matching a very specific unique description. This mysticism is an entirely new element of Burke's storytelling. So is the relative clarity of the interwoven plots. You probably won't get confused in this one.For the first time in the series, Burke uses the elements of his thriller to explore a theme--the twisted legacy of racism and idealism that makes the South what it is today. The result is entertaining and thought-provoking, but not entirely convincing. It's unfortunate that familiar, realistic characters such as Dave's wife and daughter and his friend Batist are given little authorial attention, while over-the-top temporary appearances like director Mikey Goldman, mobster Julie Balboni, and even the dead general are given lots of page time. I hope that for the next book in the series, Burke returns to the rich characterization of ordinary people--something he's unusually good at.
Show Less
LibraryThing member jepeters333
When Hollywood invades New Iberia Parish to film a Civil War epic, restless specters waiting in the shadows for Louisiana detective Dave Robicheaux are reawakened - ghosts of a history best left undisturbed. Hunting a serial killer preying on the lawless young, Robicheaux comes face-to-face with
Show More
the elusive guardians o his darkest torments - who hold the key to his ultimate salvation. . . or a final, fatal downfall. Show Less
LibraryThing member TobinElliott
This one never quite clicked with me. The Robicheaux series has always been firmly rooted in reality, so for him to start talking to ghosts? Simply didn't work for me.
Strip the ghost portions away—and the awful, cliched part they played at the end—and this is a fine Robicheaux story.
Hoping for
Strip the ghost portions away—and the awful, cliched part they played at the end—and this is a fine Robicheaux story.
Hoping for
Show More
better things moving forward. Show Less
LibraryThing member laytonwoman3rd
This is one of Burke's best efforts, in my opinion. Robicheaux is on a fairly even keel, his family life is stable, his personal demons harnessed and put to good use, his crusade against evil aided and encouraged by the ghost of General John Bell Hood (it works, it really does), and Clete Purcel
(First read shortly after publication, and re-read in 2009, prompted by having watched the movie with Tommy Lee Jones twice in one weekend.)
Show More
nowhere in sight. By turns poetic and brutal, as always. Burke can almost make me nostalgic for Louisiana mosquitoes. (First read shortly after publication, and re-read in 2009, prompted by having watched the movie with Tommy Lee Jones twice in one weekend.)
Show Less
Language
Original language
English
ISBN
038072121X / 9780380721214
Physical description
384 p.; 4.19 inches
Pages
384