Bitterroot

Rating:
Summary: Billy Bob in Montana
Review: Billy Bob gets a call for help from old pal Doc Voss who has relocated in Montana; I would say "remote" except the farm is only about a half hour from Missoula. In Montana terms, that is almost urban. Billy Bob closes up shop in Deaf Smith,TX for a three-month visit to the Big Sky Country. He does not explain how an attorney with an active practice can do this, but ours is not to question.

It seems Doc has offended every segment of society in his new home: corporate types, bikers, militia leaders, mobsters and the local law. Billy's arrival is the catalyst that sets off brutal rape, murder and mayhem. There are so many differing situations and motivations; it is difficult to keep score. As usual, Mr. Burke is lyrical in his scenic descriptions, though in this particular book, I could have done with a little less. There is hardly anyone to like or root for; Billy Bob is carrying such a load of anger and angst, it is hard to accept and sometimes even sympathize with many of his actions. But there is no one like James Lee Burke to capture an emotion and crystallize it:

"I knelt in the back of the church and prayed to be relieved of the anger that still throbbed in my wrists and left my mouth as dry as paper and my thoughts like shards of glass."

There are many characters and Burke makes each one memorable, if not likable. The only member of the cast that had my wholehearted support was the local sheriff who retained his sanity throughout.

I was drawn to buy "Bitterroot" because I enjoyed Billy Bob's first outing in "Cimarron Rose." This book does not have the centeredness of the latter. There are too many angry people.

Rating:
Summary: same old same old
Review: Robicheaux/Holland are now the same person. The stock characters are all the same. The sheriff is a decent and kind man wishing all the various criminals would go back home and leave him alone while also being annoyed by the psychopathic level of violence perpetrated by the "good guys". There is a stock Mafia character that served in Nam and is only sort-of evil. There is the one super-villain that is nearly unstoppable. The "rich and famous" of course have various types of evil lurking in the background.
All the characters seem utterly unable to speak to each other normally or carry on a decent conversation. For example, when the local sheriff warns Holland that a bad guy is after him, Holland just gets annoyed with the Sheriff. Holland also can't see any reason why his son shouldn't camp in the yard while Holland and Company are in the middle of being beset by murderous psycho cases. The book is good if you have never read Burke, but it is the SAME good as his last few other books.

Rating:
Summary: More Like 3.7 Stars
Review: I liked this book one whole heck of a lot but it also disturbed me on many levels as well. There are 4 main heros pitted agienst an equal number of bad guys. Billy Bob, his son, Doc and his daughter I also enjoyed the characte1r of the sheiff in the town but I guess he really doesn't count as a "Good Guy" because he is just doing his job.

The three bad guys are Clayton Dixon(the most menicing charcter in the book), Terry Witherspoon his annoying psychopath in training and a mobster who is about as stereotypical as they come.

Barring all of these it's a great book for what it is, there are good guys you can root for and bad guys you can hate. People familiar with a few James Lee Burke books will also take note there is also a ghost and several crazy people rounding out the cast something that no self respecting James Lee Berke book would be without.

Overall-I loved the character development, the thing that killed this book was the many plot threads and that its villains were disposed of much too easily and conveniently I almost felt cheated when the book was over. This is a book that will be perfect for long distance driving, because it keeps a listener or reader interested but not OVER interested.

Rating:
Summary: Battle against evil in beautiful Montana
Review: Billy Bob Holland has his own troubles. He's torn up over accidentally killing his Texas Ranger partner and talks to his partner's ghost. When his friend Doc Voss asks him to come to Montana to help out, though, Billy Bob can't say no.

Voss has taken unpopular stands against mining the mountains and has earned himself some enemies--enemies dangerous enough to rape his young daughter. When Voss is accused of murdering the lead suspect in the rape case, Billy Bob (a lawyer) takes on the case. Yet he knows that Voss could have killed--he, like Billy Bob, is definitely morally complex.

Not morally complex at all are the band of sociopathic suspects that Billy Bob faces. These include white supremicists, bikers, and old-fashioned Mafia types as well as an emotionally disturbed woman Billy Bob finds himself attracted to.

In BITTERROOT, the battle is not between good and evil so much as between black and gray. Only those who adopt something of the evil they face can beat it, yet who do they become in the battle.

Author James Lee Burke grabs you and drags you through the mud in this powerful novel. I didn't like everything I read, but I couldn't put it down. At the end, I felt like I'd been taken through a beating myself.

BooksForABuck

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Summary: JAMES LEE BURKE IS ONE OF THE BEST WRITERS IN AMERICA TODAY!
Review: I made a promise to myself after reading HEARTWOOD last year that I'd buy the next "Billy Bob Holland" novel in hardback when it came out, rather than waiting for the paperback edition. It's a promise I'm glad I kept. In James Lee Burke's newest novel, BITTERROOT, ex-Texas Ranger Billy Bob Holland is back in true form, ready to protect his family and friends, and to put down anyone who gets in his face. When Billy Bob goes to Bitterroot, Montana to visit his old friend, Tobin "Doc" Voss, he expects to have a nice, relaxing vacation with maybe a little "fly" fishing thrown in. It turns out, however, to be anything but relaxing. It seems that a local mining company is polluting the rivers around Bitterroot with cyanide and Doc Voss is trying to put a stop to it. The mining company decides to fight back by hiring some hard-nose bikers and members of a certain white supremacist group (led by Carl Hinkel) to try and intimidate Doc. Since Doc is a former SEAL and did his fair share of killing in Vietnam, he's not the kind of guy who generally backs down. When Doc's sixteen-year-old daughter, Maisey, is brutally raped by three bikers, everything takes a turn for the worse. The men suspected of the crime are released from jail due to a lack of evidence and then are murdered, one by one, by an unknown assailant. Because of evidence found at the crime scenes, Doc is the number one suspect for the murders, and he has to ask Billy Bob to represent him as his lawyer. As if Billy Bob doesn't have enough to deal with, an ex-con by the name of Wyatt Dixon shows up in Bitterroot, seeking revenge against the former Texas Ranger for the death of his sister (a woman who killed all of her children). Then, there's a mobster by the name of Nicki Molinari, who's trying to retrieve some stolen money from a woman Billy Bob happens to be sexually involved with. All of this is just the tip of the iceberg. Before the novel is over, the body count is going to be sky high, and Billy Bob is going to have to answer some tough questions about love, family, friendship, and his violent nature. Not even the ghost of his late friend and partner, L.Q. Navarro, will be able to help him with this. In BITTERROOT, James Lee Burke shines at his brightest as he juggles a dozen or more subplots, spinning and weaving them into a gripping tale of violence, suspense and redemption. The character of Billy Bob Holland will have to delve deeply into his heart and examine his feelings for his close friend, Carol Temple, while at the same time, acknowledging that his son, Lucas, is now a man and must be allowed to make his own decisions, right or wrong. Billy Bob must also find a way to deal with his violent tendencies, understanding that he only feels alive when putting down men who deserve to be killed. This is especially true for the character of Wyatt Dixon, a man who's as deadly as a rattlesnake and is determine to teach Billy Bob a thing or two about revenge by going after the people he loves the most. Though the book is filled dozens of main and secondary characters, Mr. Burke manages to breathe life into each and everyone one of them through the use of individual quirks and nuances. Few authors have the skill to do this. The writing, of course, is sheer poetry to read. Mr. Burke has a finely tuned ear for dialogue and a vivid eye for description, bringing words together that reach into the reader's heart and soul, making him or her at one with the story. I have to say that, after three novels, the character of Billy Bob Holland is beginning to remind me more and more of Dave Robicheaux. Both men are filled with guilt at the lost of a close friend or wife. Each one also has a strong loyalty to friends and family, not to mention a strict code of honor that enables them to do whatever is necessary in order to protect the weak and innocent. There's even a rumor floating around that Mr. Burke will eventually bring both characters together in one book. That is definitely something all of Mr. Burke's fans would happily die for. Read BITTERROOT and find out why James Lee Burke is now considered to be one of America's best writers, then check out the "Dave Robicheaux" novel, PURPLE CANE ROAD, and discover why millions of people are addicted to this great author.

Rating:
Summary: Wondrous landscape,....terrifying tale..........
Review: James Lee Burke brings an amazing cast of characters together in a story about good and evil. Bitterroot takes place in the beautiful lands of Montana. Doc Voss, a friend of Billy Bob Holland's asks for some assistance in his dealings with a mining company. What happens is a lot more involved than a little political action. What starts out as one concern quickly escalates into a situation that teeters on the brink of death and disaster In this story, the "bad guys" are truly evil and their interests become very personal when they target the family and friends of both Doc Voss and Billy Bob Holland. James Lee Burke brings his realistic and thoughtful style of dialogue as well as his spellbinding descriptions of the land into this gripping novel, creating a wondrous landscape as a backdrop to a terrifying tale.

Rating:
Summary: Never thought I'd find myself giving him writing tips...
Review: 1. You don't need to repeat the entire name "L.Q. Navarro" every time you use it. The readers get it. "L.Q." will suffice after the second round.

2. "Sure" isn't an interesting word. It makes the speaker sound dull. I think one reviewer here used the word "tedious" to describe Billy Bob Holland (whose name in-sures tedium, I might add).

3. Alert your editors to the fact that you will possbily be over-using expressions like "baby fat on her upper arms" "a mouth like a flower," "purple garters on his upper arms" and "lantern-jawed." Ask them to edit you more rigorously so the reader does not have to suffer this, er, tedious - repetition.

4. If you are going to go in a new direction with your writing, how about something really new? As Moseley did with his Socrates series. Right now, the Texas Ranger thing is just Bad Robicheaux.

5. Robicheaux is rippin'. But we know that artists need to change...again...change to something that is better, not duller.

6. Someone mentioned that the poetry makes up for the dull prose. No, it doesn't. In fact, the dull prose makes the poetry sound cornball. Icky. Billy Bob gives no indication from his personality that he is in any way a poetic man. He's like James Garner on a "cute" day. You love to watch him perform, but if he should start spouting deep wisdom and poetry you'd groan and shout "Shaddup, stupid!"

7. Leave Texas rangers to Mr. Lonesome Dove. Now THERE'S a buncha rangers!

8. Avoid speechifying, preaching and endless purple prose at all costs! Some parts of this novel are like a musical in which the characters burst into sentimental song and you want to cover your ears and say, "Not now!" It's not that poetic prose doesn't have its place. The Robicheaux novels are wonderful because of this feature. However, that was "loose" writing. This is not. It's aw shucks gee golly writing, interspersed with purple prose.

I know I'm repeating myself, but please - give us something truly unique, Mr. Burke. You can do it!...

Rating:
Summary: Waiting for the airplane to leave the runway
Review: ...any shortcoming in the dialogue portion of a Burke novel is made up in the poetry of his prose...Billy Bob Holland, somewhat similar to Dave Robicheaux in the "other" series, drives to Montana to visit his friend, "Doc" (from his medic days) Voss, now up to his armpits in bikers, pacifism, deadly kick boxing, the EPA and the American Nazi Party. Well, to start, that's confusing. The embryo for Billy's "I'd take a bullet for my friend" friendship is extremely vague, exacerbated by the trouble that we all go through, readers included, for the next several hundred pages.

But then Doc's teenage daughter is raped and things get dicey. Doc is charged with the torture-murder of the lead biker-suspect and Billy Bob sets out to defend him.

I'm troubled by using the rape of a child to further a plot. Certainly the violation of a human in such an unspeakable fashion is an oft relied upon explanation for revenge, guilt, remorse, retribution and passion. I just don't see the need to use children as victims.

I see the real problem in that Billy Bob is like a James Crumley character. As the reader, I spend a lot of time in the company of a man I'm not sure I like. He's promiscuous in his bed partners. He doesn't seem to have been a good father, and continues to remind us of that at every juncture. He's infuriated by the Sheriff in the town, who's kind of a soothsayer or narrator, but never tells us why. He tries to murder one of the protagonists and doesn't understand why this should trouble his friends...

Ultimately, the plane never gets off the runway. Lots of turbine noise, lots of baggage handlers, good flight attendants, but we never get anywhere.

Dave Robicheaux is a fantastic character, loyal husband, confused yet sacrificing and vulnerable parent, relentless in his code. Billy Bob is kind of tedious. Tedious for 500 pages is, well, tedious.

Rating:
Summary: Once upon a time, you were a Texas Ranger.
Review: "You were a Texas Ranger." Well, this line has repeated itself almost every 2 or three pages. It seems to me that Burke has lost it completely as a tourist in Montana, aimlessly walking around even fooling around, seeing some bikers, militia guys, red necks one lousy sheriff, one teenage girl and one lonely woman. The story just dragged along and never took off. It just seems that Burke has lost it totally but not realizing it and just want to put out product ragularly with the same formula, chip in or cashing in or whatever in his mind during this production. To and fro, to and fro, so tiresome and boring. If there is no big deal to tell, just don't write it, OK? Please don't fool one of your once loyal readers not only lost money but also his preciou time. Writing is kinda biz like restaurant biz, once you lost a customer, you lost it forever. So, if there is not enough ingredients to put together a good enough dish, just don't bring out and put on readers table. Don't make me lose my 401K twice, please.

Rating:
Summary: Misfits Portrayed in Elegant Prose
Review: Burke's eye sees details few of us would ever notice, and he finds words that will make you feel that you're looking at a photograph of what he just saw. His characters come to life shaped by descriptions that are both sharp and flowing and always on the mark. I still like the Dave Robicheaux stories better (not wild about Billy Bob Holland in "Heartwood"), but "Bitterroot" proves that Burke can build a winner around either character.

Burke develops more than a dozen characters well enough for his audience to feel what each is about. While the characters themselves seem real, their collective baggage and violent tendencies do take the story down a peg. Think about how the following characters might interact in a story, then discover how Burke weaves their lives together when they converge in the Bitterroot Valley:

Billy Bob Holland, lawyer from Deaf Smith, Texas now in Montana to help his friend Doc Voss. Billy Bob frequently talks with the ghost of L.Q. Navarro, the partner he accidentally killed when they were both Texas Rangers, L.Q.'s voice often warning him of peril ahead. Son Lucas and investigator Temple Carroll from prior novels show up about halfway through this one.

Doc Voss, a quiet, brainy boy from Deaf Smith who was a Navy Seal in Nam and is now a single father in Montana with strong environmentalist beliefs.

Lamar Ellison, an ex-con scum of the earth biker who's working undercover for the ATF.

Wyatt Dixon, a psycho rodeo clown just out of prison who's not afraid of anything.

Terry Witherspoon, a kid from NC who's great with a knife, was Wyatt's punk in prison and is still under his spell.

Carl Hinkle, a white supremacist who supports and manipulates Ellison, Dixon and the like.

Some ATF and FBI types looking for a group behind Oklahoma City whom they will nail at any cost.

Sue Lynn Big Medicine, the Indian girl with a dark past who is being squeezed by the ATF on an overblown robbery charge.

Cleo Lonnigan, cold hearted sharpshooting widow of an investment guy who was working with the mob and got himself and their son killed.

Nicki Molinari, the Arizona mob guy with a branch in Montana who loves baseball and peppers his victims with balls from his pitching machine rather than break their legs with a bat.

Xavier Girard the big time author writing a book about Nicki; Girard's actress wife Holly who grew up with Nicki and is still openly intimate with him.

Finally Sheriff J.T. Cain, who is often hostile to Billy Bob and Doc but may be the only other fair-minded man in the Valley.

Net, net - I love the way Burke writes and the characters he creates, but there's just a little too much evil and depravity in the plot to give it 5 stars.