I gave up reading James Lee Burke years ago because of the unrelenting depression of his works. I had forgotten how beautiful his writing is. In this installment, Dave find himself squaring off with a hitman who is truly a memorable character. ( )

Between his recurrent nightmares about Vietnam, his battle with alcoholism, and the sudden loss of his beloved wife, Molly, his thoughts drift from one irreconcilable memory to the next. Images of ghosts at Spanish Lake live on the edge of his vision.

During a murder investigation, Dave Robicheaux discovers he may have committed the homicide he’s investigating, one which involved the death of the man who took the life of Dave’s beloved wife. As he works to clear his name and make sense of the murder, Robicheaux encounters a cast of characters and a resurgence of dark social forces that threaten to destroy all of those whom he loves. What emerges is not only a propulsive and thrilling novel, but a harrowing study of America: this nation’s abiding conflict between a sense of past grandeur and a legacy of shame, its easy seduction by demagogues and wealth, and its predilection for violence and revenge. James Lee Burke has returned with one of America’s favorite characters, in his most searing, most prescient novel to date. ( )

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Dave Robicheaux, a detective and Vietnam veteran, is battling alcoholism and is trying to get to grips with the sudden loss of his beloved wife, Molly. He makes living in a Louisiana town, dong his best to keep up with life and work and keep peace in the town he serves. As it happens, he finds himself to be a suspect in his own homicide investigation. The victim so happens to be the man that killed his wife. As he continues his own investigation on the matter, trying among others ti clear his own name and find the real killer, he comes across a number of different characters who very much describe the very dark and different part of america.

His boss, Sheriff Helen Soileau, is doing her best trying to figure out exactly what might have happened the night of the murder. At the same time, Dave and his best friend Clete Purcel, try to figure out Dave’s whereabouts on the time of murder. His anger about his wife’s loss is not small and the two men are wondering whether Dave’s melancholy could transform him to a person capable of such violence. His alcohol problem does not help, as at that night, Dave was not as sober as he would like to be.

So many different characters come up in this story and each one of them is representing one of the many different stiff characters one may find in one of those God forsaken towns at nowhere’s end. In many a cases, there are characters with a fair amount of good qualities, which tend to be outweighed by their flaws. It’s only what one would expect on the corrupt and damaged soul of Louisiana. A state full of poverty and inequality. A state that was hit by Katrina and it made thinks even worse that they once were. Katrina is also mentioned in the book, as a means to describe more of the current state of the towns mentioned in there.

“It’s a phenomenon that seems unique to South Louisiana, like a sea change, as if the natural world is reversing itself and correcting an oversight. The barometer will drop unexpectedly, the bayou will swell and remain placid at the same time, and suddenly, rain rings will dimple the surface from one bank to the other.”

Racism makes its way through the book. As well as faults of the past, from the times that the French occupants took the land from the Indians. What happened those days and how the ancestors of some of the characters were involved in all this. It’s a land with many wounds that are not easy to heal. The fact that many people are trying to recreate their history through novels or movies does not really help. It only stirs the waters that have never calmed down.

This book is part of a long series, but i was able to read it as a stand alone. It was not hard for me to become part of the story and understand the balances between the characters.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. The views expressed are my personal and honest opinion. ( )

James Lee Burke is a prolific and very highly regarded American author who specialises in crime fiction of which more than twenty books feature Detective Dave Robicheaux and are set in the criminal and poverty-ridden underbelly of Louisiana.

In this book Robicheaux and his best friend, private investigator Clete Purcel, have hit rock bottom and risk being overwhelmed by the dark forces of the New Orleans and Louisiana underworld. Robicheaux is accused of murdering the man who killed his wife in a car accident, but has no recollection of the event. He knows that, drunk, he might well have committed the crime. Meanwhile, Clete Purcel goes completely off the rails and a professional hit man arrives in town killing people that may or may not be close to Robicheaux.

In this book, perhaps more than in any other, blurs the lines between good and evenly, right and wrong, legal and criminal. Every character presents the worst part of themselves revealing morally degenerate motives. In the end torture, murder, assassination are all just extreme manifestations of the human condition.

Burke writes like a dream. The lower his plots go into darkness the more highly literate is his language. His depth of understanding of character, of place and Southern ambience are a marvel. Burke and Elmore Leonard are the best writers about the gothic darkness of society in the world. ( )

Robicheaux. James Lee Burke. 21018, Dave is suffering deeply. His wife was killed in a freak accident by a freak. He is having a tough time dealing with if along with all his other demons he fights from his abusive childhood, Vietnam, and his life as as cop in New Orleans. He falls off the wagon one night and gets so drunk he has no idea memory of what he has done. When he finally revived he is told that the man who killed his wife in the car accident has been murdered. Dave is a suspect. Dave has no idea if he killed the man or not. Clete is around and fighting his own demons and worrying Dave. Alafair come home and gets involved with several unsavory characters so the entire crew is around. Very typical Robicheaux. Lots of violence and lots of really gross people. Maybe I am a little tired of Robicheaux. I’ll still read him, but… ( )