Bitterroot

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Summary: Billy Bob Holland in Montana
Review: James Lee Burke was raised in Texas (near as I can tell) and spent a large portion of his life in Louisiana. He teaches in Montana now, and divides his time between there and New Orleans. Since he writes about Louisiana and Texas, it's no surprise, is it, that the latest of his books takes Billy Bob Holland, the hero of two previous books, and drops him in Montana? While there he must take on self-indulgent celebrities, a gang of neo-Nazis, vacationing (or are they?) mobsters, a sociopathic rodeo clown, and assorted other characters who may or may not be dangerous.

I'm a big fan of Burke's prose. He seems unable to do two things: overwrite, or write a dull sentence. I imagine his grocery list would be a bestseller if he chose to publish it. He does have some problems, occasionally, with his plots, though the one here is sturdy and interesting enough, and the characters are frankly wonderful. I would highly recommend this book.

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Summary: Bitterroot leaves a bitter taste
Review: I am long-time admirer of James Lee Burke's books and I think I have read all of his Dave Robicheaux novels, as well as a few others set in different locales. Let's hope he soon returns to Louisiana. Montana does not seem to provide him with the same inspiration. Bitterroot reads like a bad parody of Ernest Hemingway, overlaid with a patter of homespun philosophy and pop psyschology. It is filled with tortured similes and other forced descriptive devices. Perhaps his publisher expects a new book each year, but I would prefer to wait longer rather than seeing a fine writer waste his talent..

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Summary: Bold and Ambitious
Review: In "Bitterroot", James Lee Burke leaves his familiar haunts of coastal Louisiana and tackles Montana's Big Sky country with a new cast of mostly memorable new characters. The story surrounds Billy Bob Holland, an attorney from Texas, summoned to Montana to help our old-friend Tobin "Doc" Voss, a widower living in rural Montana with his teenage daughter. From a simple premise, the story twists and winds though a series of tales of revenge, retribution, and redemption, melding the past with the present for both the characters and the state.

This novel is nothing if not ambitious. Burke takes on virtually all the issues Montana is facing today: environmentalism, Indian rights, non-nazi militants, renegade bikers, invasion from west coast yuppies and Hollywood coke heads. But the story is told apolitically, and if the author is trying to make a statement, he mercifully keeps any personal views well hidden. As typical of Burke's work, the prose is rich, descriptive, and plentiful, and the subplots so numerous that a scorecard would be handy. I found myself flipping back through the pages several times to keep track of who-was-who and with whom they were affiliated. But that is standard Burke fare, as the complexity of the story, the characters, and the issues are all part of the ride. It seems like everyone has a hidden past with some axe to grind, and Burke makes sure that every one is given ample pages to develop their case. With a less talented author, this would have been a muddled and convoluted disaster. But Burke pulls it off - barely. While this is definitely an enjoyable and compelling read, it would have benefited from fewer issues to resolve and a leaner, more focused plot.

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Summary: Another great Burke book
Review: James Lee Burke has shown over the years to be an extremely adept writer, a master of description who nonetheless keeps the story moving. Bitterroot is yet another indication that Burke is one of the top mystery writers around.

This tale of Billy Bob Holland (Burke alternates books between Texas lawyer Holland and Louisiana detective Dave Robicheaux) relocates the lawyer to Montana, where a vacation gets sidetracked by the rape of a friend's daughter and the subsequent murder of the rapists. As Holland defends his friend from the murder, he gets involved with a series of unpleasant characters, including mobsters, militia members and most particularly, a psychotic ex-con intent on revenge against Holland for an imagined crime.

Holland is not as memorable a character as Burke's other series character, Dave Robicheaux, but he is still interesting, a man who is haunted by ghosts of his own making and whose intention to do good barely holds back a tendency to do great violence.

The only flaw I could see in this novel is that Burke has a tendency to switch points of view from first person to third person without any real indication, which leads to brief confusion. Nonetheless, this is a great book and a must-read for mystery fans.

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Summary: A little flat
Review: A long-time Burke fan, I found this offering a little flat. The storyline is intact but the prose is substandard for Burke.

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Summary: a full-flavored read!
Review: In BITTERROOT Burke takes us far away from Louisiana, the land of his birth, to the high country of Montana & continues the development of his new character of Billy Bob Holland.

One thing Burke does well with his characters, is that they all have a past. I don't like characters cut from whole cloth, because when I read I want to lay my eyes upon the patched quilt that makes up a character's life, that way I truly feel like I know them.

The social content deals with some very real probelms that are ongoing in today's society, & raises questions about just where one should place one's feet when straddling the fence. It also makes it very clear that fence straddling can be a dangerous occupation.

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Summary: BITTERROOD
Review: THIS IS BILLY BOB AT HIS BEST. BURKE FANS WILL LOVE THE LATEST INSTALLMENT IN THE "BILLY BOB" SERIES. LUCAS AND TEMPLE ARE BACK AS WELL AS MORE "INTERESTING" OLD FRIENDS. AND, AS ALWAYS, BILLY BOB PLACES EVERYONE'S WELFARE ABOVE HIS OWN.

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Summary: The point of this book is two-fold.
Review: 1. Keep visitors out of Montana.

2. Make money for the author.

Brutal.

Glad characters like that don't populate Nebraska with the same frequency as they apparently do in Montana.

To say the writing is spare is an understatement. Try leaping and jumping.

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Summary: 3* Compared to His Others 4* Compared to Everyone Else
Review: I have 1st editions of everything Jimmie Lee Burke has written and have enjoyed my impressions of this outwardly gentle and private man from his readings at book signings. Authors can't always be on target, this book isn't. Yet while the book doesn't really hit its mark like "Purple Cane Road", it's a lot better than some of the other drek out there that won't get this close on their best day. Don't waste your time with the movie of Robicheaux's early exploits. That said. . . .

Billy Bob Holland, a Deaf Smith Texas attorney visits an old Texas neighbor Doc. Voss in the Bitterroot Valley in Montana. This is the second time Burke has written about this amazingly beautiful part of the West. I preferred the previous story "The Lost Get-Back Boogie" both for the story and descriptions of Montana.

The "mystery" is who killed an undesirable biker "brain dead misogynists" that Doc Voss had recently damaged in a fight, resulting in Doc's arrest and need to go to trial. The mystery becomes less and less germane to the story as we guess early on who the murderer is.

Why Do These People Talk to Each Other This Way & why do they take it when being addressed in such offensive fashion? I live in the West and normally peaceful people would not talk this way to anyone unless armed and ready to fight, certainly not every waking moment. The characters in Dave Robicheaux's world in Southern Louisiana talk this way; it's a Burke trademark of dialogue but it's losing it's appeal. Perhaps it's meant to be abstract. Normal conversation in which people reflect a bit more beforehand, and are not trying to offend or hurt someone's feelings would be welcome. Maybe the intention towards the other person in all the book's conversations is expressed early on in the book by Cleo Lonnigan "Sometimes if you confess your real thoughts, people will be afraid of you." The protagonist, Billy Bob says to his romantic interest "With regularity I say the wrong things to you, I just don't want to do that anymore." Yet it seems until the very end, he doesn't change saying "the wrong things" to her and everyone else in the book.

The book becomes overpopulated with characters, many of whom follow Billy Bob to Montana, including Billy Bob's 18 year old son, a potential girl friend and a very well drawn villain who speaks in an amusing but unlikely fashion. Some of the superfluous characters in the story include BATF agents. Their involvement appears to be an attempt to make a connection between the Oklahoma City bombing and a militia group in the area. That plot detour goes nowhere and the three agents seem to be acting in an unlikely renegade fashion.

Doc Voss is not developed very well and just about everyone seems to have a deathwish based on their actions. The overriding current is not found where everyone wants to fish, it's made up of violence. Just about everyone is a whole lot more self-destructive than the people I've encountered in my 56 years. When I've found people like them, they sure didn't concentrate in one place like they do here. As a minor character says to Billy Bob "You must put away your violence, sir. You will never have peace until you do. Until that day comes, a minister such as I will only be a seashell echoing in the wind." "Seashell echoing in the wind"? How come I don't know anyone that talks like that?

I have to wonder if Robicheaux/Holland are just wearing out. The sheriff is well described, especially when he "walked away heavily, like a man who knew his knowledge of the world would never have an influence on it." The rest of the characters confirm Billy Bob's observation "it's presumptuous to assume a common moral belief governs us all."

In addition to beautiful descriptions of the Montana scenery and wildlife, most of which resonate & delight, there are enjoyable and startling for their unadorned clarity, descriptions of character's passage of emotions. "Eventually he would forgive Sue Lynn, not at once, not by a conscious choice or arriving at a philosophical moment, but instead one day he would look back through the inverted telescope of time and see her as possessed of the same moral frailties as himself and hence, in memory, an acceptable part of his life again." It's passages like that which will keep me going back to Jimmie Lee Burke.

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Summary: Something evil this way comes...
Review: Bitteroot by talented storyteller James Lee Burke is an intriguing story that will have Burke's loyal following swiftly turning the pages as former Texas Ranger Billy Bob Holland returns for another thrilling outing in 'big sky county.' A book not to be missed!