Jolie Blon's Bounce

Rating:
Summary: Read, don't listen
Review: This review is about the Mark Hammer audio tapes. I agree that he was not a good selection as reader. I listen as I go to sleep and usually get in at least one tape; I fell asleep the minute I heard Mark's voice. The content of the book is exceedingly exciting, but whether the protagonist is in conversation or being beaten to a pulp, the orator's voice never changes. He's just plain BORING while the story never is. Buy the book and read it yourself; I did and found it most enjoyable.

Rating:
Summary: A Must Have
Review: This is one of the best books I have ever read! It's a very well written mystery novel that intertwines characters and their stories. I just couldn't put it down. It would make a great movie!

Rating:
Summary: Born on the Bayou
Review: I would probably read anything written by James Lee Burke simply because I enjoy his style. The vivid details in his descriptions of the deep South, as well as his ability to capture the kind of racial dynamics that have somehow managed to make it into the 21st Century, are remarkable. The writing is often poetic and insightful, and Burke seems to recognize just what it is that separates the truly bad characters from the rest of us. That said, at some point the reader is forced to suspend reality within the pages of Jolie Blon's Bounce, which in my opinion, ultimately becomes more of an allegory about good versus evil than a murder mystery.