Heaven's Prisoners

Rating:
Summary: The best way to start the Robicheaux series.
Review: "The Neon Rain" is the first book in the series, but this is the book to start with. I had actually seen the movie first, and liked it so much that I decided to give the book a try. As is normally the case, the book is even better. Burke has done a great job in creating a realistic hero in Dave Robicheaux. Rather than your typical perfect, mistake-free protagonist, Robicheaux is clearly flawed but you want to root for him. The heart of the Vietnam vet, retired homicide detective, and recovering alcoholic comes through particularly well because of Burke's exceptional first-person writing style. This is truly a work of art, and it sets the tone well for the rest of the series.

Rating:
Summary: The best way to start the Robicheaux series.
Review: "The Neon Rain" is the first book in the series, but this is the book to start with. I had actually seen the movie first, and liked it so much that I decided to give the book a try. As is normally the case, the book is even better. Burke has done a great job in creating a realistic hero in Dave Robicheaux. Rather than your typical perfect, mistake-free protagonist, Robicheaux is clearly flawed but you want to root for him. The heart of the Vietnam vet, retired homicide detective, and recovering alcoholic comes through particularly well because of Burke's exceptional first-person writing style. This is truly a work of art, and it sets the tone well for the rest of the series.

Rating:
Summary: The bayou comes alive!
Review: After reading most of Mr Burke's books, I finally got around to reading this book because a movie was coming based on it. This book tells how Dave comes about "adopting" Alafair and how she got her name and how he lost his first wife which he alludes in his other books. His black helper is here also and other assorted denizens of the parish. Some may find our hero's constant fighting of his demons depressing, but this only adds to the humanity of the protaginist. The movie was credible but ending left a little to be desired as it was changed from the bok's finale

Rating:
Summary: Dave wants serenity, but our tragic hero finds nightmares.
Review: Dave Robicheaux is a classic, tragic hero. He has retired to the Bayou to find serenity, but trouble falls from the sky and brings him a blessing and a curse. Dave's weakness for poking bullies in the eye with a sharp stick starts a chain of events that costs him his wife and a trip into Hell. James Lee Burke paints beautiful, cruel pictures of Dave's Bayou world, and he has created a noble, battered character that fights his internal demons as hard as he fights the monsters in the real world. Heaven's Prisoners is one of Burke's best.

Rating:
Summary: Heaven's Prisoners - touchs the heartbeat of the South
Review: I grew up in Mr. Burke's Lousiana and know the cities he writes about. This book was like a visit home. This is a murder mystery novel for those, like myself, who usually don't read murder mystery novels. This book is about the inward struggles with the dark side of humanity as well as the public issues that we face. Mr Burke puts his reluctant hero in the middle of a murder and captures the esscence of Cajun culture.

Rating:
Summary: Takes you right down to the bayou, Podna!
Review: I have finally found a new character to be completely facinated with. I read this book because of the movie and was surprised to find that the movie was a fairly faithful representation of the novel (much moreso than "The Lost World" and other movies). Dave Robichaux is a facinating character and you really get a feel for his world. James Lee Burke pulls no punches as he drags his hero through the depths of the sleezy underworld of the lower Louisiana Parishes. This book is facinating fast read and I couldn't put it down. I have to pull out the Visa and buy the rest of the Dave Robicheaux books. I suggest you do the same

Rating:
Summary: 5 stars until the end
Review: I really like the dave robicheaux novels. A truly flawed character without a doubt, but one who is easy to sympathize with. This novel did not disappoint, and having been to the area, gives an accurate picture of bayou life. I loved it until the end, and without giving away the ending, Dave was much to gracious than what would be true to my picture of his character.

Rating:
Summary: 5 stars until the end
Review: I really like the dave robicheaux novels. A truly flawed character without a doubt, but one who is easy to sympathize with. This novel did not disappoint, and having been to the area, gives an accurate picture of bayou life. I loved it until the end, and without giving away the ending, Dave was much to gracious than what would be true to my picture of his character.

Rating:
Summary: Worth Reading Twice
Review: I've read most of Burke's Dave Robicheaux series, and enjoyed them quite a bit. Heaven's Prisoners is one of the two best, the other being In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead. Mist is Burke at his most exotic--Dave's on an acid trip for a substantial part of the book; Heaven's Prisoners is Burke at his darkest. I'm unwilling to go into the plot; in fact I strongly urge you not to read further reviews as there are substantial spoilers in many of them that will ruin the experience for you. Suffice it to say there's plenty of action, plenty of suspense. Of course, most any thriller or action novel today promises that; where Burke is unusual is in his ability to handle language. He writes like he's in love with language, and it's a pleasure to read him. Mickey Spillane once said about himself that he didn't write novels, he wrote books; Burke definitely writes novels, and extremely literate ones at that. He's one of a generation of novelists, along with Michael Connelly, James Hall, and Dennis Lehane, who have inherited the mantle of Raymond Chandler and wear it with pride; in Burke's case, he seems also to draw inspiration from William Faulkner. Robicheaux's a complex man, tortured by his own inadequacies and yet immensely strong simultaneously, and he's a prisoner of the dark, decaying Southern environment he was raised in. If you prefer simple action, plots, and characters like Mike Hammer or Robert Parker's Spenser, you'll surely think Burke is overwritten. But for a real literate treat, with an electric story, fantastic dialogue and descriptions, and characters you'll want to revisit, read Heaven's Prisoners. I almost never reread a fiction book, except by accident--there's just too much new stuff out there; but I deliberately read this one again, and enjoyed it just as much the second time.

Rating:
Summary: Worth Reading Twice
Review: I've read most of Burke's Dave Robicheaux series, and enjoyed them quite a bit. Heaven's Prisoners is one of the two best, the other being In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead. Mist is Burke at his most exotic--Dave's on an acid trip for a substantial part of the book; Heaven's Prisoners is Burke at his darkest. I'm unwilling to go into the plot; in fact I strongly urge you not to read further reviews as there are substantial spoilers in many of them that will ruin the experience for you. Suffice it to say there's plenty of action, plenty of suspense. Of course, most any thriller or action novel today promises that; where Burke is unusual is in his ability to handle language. He writes like he's in love with language, and it's a pleasure to read him. Mickey Spillane once said about himself that he didn't write novels, he wrote books; Burke definitely writes novels, and extremely literate ones at that. He's one of a generation of novelists, along with Michael Connelly, James Hall, and Dennis Lehane, who have inherited the mantle of Raymond Chandler and wear it with pride; in Burke's case, he seems also to draw inspiration from William Faulkner. Robicheaux's a complex man, tortured by his own inadequacies and yet immensely strong simultaneously, and he's a prisoner of the dark, decaying Southern environment he was raised in. If you prefer simple action, plots, and characters like Mike Hammer or Robert Parker's Spenser, you'll surely think Burke is overwritten. But for a real literate treat, with an electric story, fantastic dialogue and descriptions, and characters you'll want to revisit, read Heaven's Prisoners. I almost never reread a fiction book, except by accident--there's just too much new stuff out there; but I deliberately read this one again, and enjoyed it just as much the second time.