Last Car to Elysian Fields: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Superb.
Review: Absolutely top of the line. Nobody does it better.

Rating:
Summary: Burke at the Top of his Game
Review: All of James Lee Burke's novels are deeply atmospheric. His words create a powerful image of the Louisiana bayou - an image that is not merely visual, but also capturing the humidity of the swamps, the grit of the cities, the smells of Cajun cooking. With Burke, you can always count on richly developed characters, moving alternatively between acts of nobility and brutality. And in all of Burke's works, there is a strong sense of societal divide, of racial tension, of Cajun culture, sensibility, sometimes and depravity. It is with a dark pallet that Burke paints his stories, and the results are consistently mesmerizing, addictive. Often, however, the plot and storyline must take a back seat, overpowered by the strength of settings and the casts of James Lee Burke's remarkable writing.

Not so with "Last Car to Elysian Fields". This is a mighty novel in all respects: a captivating and complex plot, set in the sleazy back alleys of New Orleans, a barbarous Louisiana prison work gang, the familiar backwaters of New Iberia. Think "Mystic River" with a Cajun accent. Our hero Dave Robicheaux is back, but haunted by the recent death of his wife, Bootsie. Clete Purcel, Robicheaux's one-time NOPD partner is also back, and while Purcel has always been reckless, outrageous, and irreverent, he is truly at home as the master of mayhem in this latest yarn. In a nutshell, a seemingly unrelated series of events, starting with the decades-earlier suspected murder of a black convict, to the highway death of New Iberia teenagers, a drive-up Daiquiri bar, and mob hit man, are welded together in a gripping tale of bigotry, greed, and corruption in the Deep South.

Burke is certainly at the top of the pile of modern crime writers, and "Elysian Fields" is an example of Burke at the top of his game. Dark, crude, and ruthless, but at the same time additive and impossible to forget. Don't let this one pass unread.

Rating:
Summary: Right up there with the rest of them...........
Review: Another truly great novel from James Lee Burke, on par with all of his others. What truly distinguishes Burke's novels is his gorgeous writing style--he truly evokes a sense of place and you can almost smell the bayou as he writes about it. His descriptions of people are equally good--I got a very clear picture of each character he described. If you have never read James Lee Burke, TRY HIM! You won't be disappointed. (Oh, and the story is great!)

Rating:
Summary: 3 1/2 Stars...Enthralled, But Cheated
Review: As always, James Lee Burke writes with sparkle and cynicism, hope and beauty. He juxtaposes violence and poetic narrative with sublime skill.

Once again, he takes us into the world of Dave Robicheaux and Clete Percel. A number of seemingly unrelated mysteries dovetail into an indictment of one family and their evil hold in the environs of New Orleans. From the alcohol-related death of a teenage girl, to the mythic struggle between priest and sinner, we are thrust into a world belonging entirely to James Lee Burke. We meet new characters and old, and discover the answers to mysteries old and new.

For these reasons, I can't help but recommend this novel.

On the other hand...Some major changes happen in this installment of the Dave Robicheaux mysteries, and I felt cheated out of the essential grieving process. Although Burke shows some of these changes with grace and sensitivity, he shows them after the fact. I would've preferred that he deal with them directly.

James Lee Burke is a master, and, compared to many others' works, this book still stands above. By the standards he has set, though, I found myself disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Why would anyone live in Louisiana?
Review: As usual, James Lee Burke's latest Dave Robicheax novel is a loose police procedural set in southern, rural Louisiana, although he ventures into The Big Easy occasionally. As usual, a huge, sprawling web of corruption and racial prejudice is revealed layer by layer as Robicheax investigates an assassination attempt on a priest and the death of three teenage girls in an alcohol-fueled car accident.

Robicheaux has suffered some major, surprising losses since the last book, and much of the story concerns his grieving over these losses - angst familiar to Burke's readers.

I thought the writing was better than usual - more exact poetry in his descriptions of the landscape and characters. The angst, violence and weight of an incredibly complicated plot tend to bog the story down near the end. It also rains a lot!

I love Burke's work, however, for his ability to describe the souls of men and women in trouble. I tend to forgive his excesses of plot and character as he, like any gtreat crime novelist, is willing to tackle the hard, but essential, questions of good and evil.

Rating:
Summary: Bayou Blues
Review: At the heart of this newest hotbed of South Louisiana intrigue is the disappearance many years ago of up and coming blues artist, Junior Crudup. Detective Dave Robicheaux is convinced that the man was murdered, and believes he knows who did it. The question is, can he prove it after all this time?

Meanwhile, Dave has the beating of Father Jimmie Dolan to investigate, as well as a fatal car crash with lingering tragic consequences. At the same time, Dave is battling his familiar litany of inner demons.

With a cast of twisted and flamboyant characters set against the dark and seamy tapestry that is New Orleans and its environs, this is quintessential Burke. It could be said that there are perhaps too many sub-plots at work here, but this, too, is vintage Burke and, believe me, it works.

Rating:
Summary: (3.5)The past collides with the present in New Iberia
Review: Burke's latest Dave Robicheaux novel offers a cast of eccentric characters who thrive in the criminal underbelly of New Orleans and New Iberia Parrish. Officer Robicheaux is in the thick of things, as usual, tracking down the killer of a man who ran a drive-through daiquiri bar, an outraged father whose daughter died in a fiery car crash and the lost trail of a musician-convict, Junior Crudup. A friend of another blues musician, Leadbelly, Crudup's music disappeared with him, somewhere inside the Angola Prison Camps.

Since his wife's death, Robicheaux is haunted by the past, happier with his memories than the realities he faces as an officer of the law in New Iberia Parrish. Yet his old sidekick, bail bondsman Clete Purcell, worries that Dave's suppressed rage and grief will erupt at any time, sending him out of control. Of course, Clete is right. Now sober, Robicheaux knows that misplaced anger is a good excuse for a return to the bottle. But Robicheaux is such a popular character in the James Lee Burke novels because is a smart-talking, generally easy-going guy who never takes himself too seriously. Since his wife died, Dave is fighting for a reasonable state of mind and a way back to himself.

Stirring up even more trouble for Robicheaux, Burke mixes in Max Boot, a hit man. The cold-blooded killer is hired to knock off a busybody priest; instead, Boot goes after the shadowy criminals intent on earning the bounty on his head. Max is a typical Burke wild card who darts in and out of the plot when least expected.

Burke carefully dissects a prison system that uses free labor and demeans the convicts, their lives barely tolerable. Junior Crudup's trail is lost somewhere in the morass of Angola Prison Camp, where he was working on a job for Castille LeJeune, father of one of Dave's old flames. Part of the entitled aristocracy that rubs Robicheaux the wrong way, LeJeune is far from an innocent bystander in Crudup's disappearance.

In this Dave Robicheaux novel, Burke embroils people and plot in interesting combinations. The theme and sense of place is familiar, thanks to Robicheaux's character. However, in some ways, this novel is unlike the others, because Robicheaux goes to emotional extremes, unlike his usual behavior in dealing with criminals. Maybe Robicheaux is starting a new phase of his life, once he has dealt with the weight of the world. Luan Gaines/2004.

Rating:
Summary: Reread Black Cherry Blues
Review: Dark, unrelenting, hopeless - the overly abundant descriptions of Acadian weather are foils for Robicheaux's mood. Not much is going well in his life. But that doesn't necessarily make a story bad - just much darker than the previous installments. It isn't even poor because the conclusion is obvious from the start. Uncharacteristic of Burke, the story lacks soul. The characters are ambivalent. One can't even decide whether to be violent. The descriptions of weather replace the humor, observations and philosophy that enriched previous accounts. In fact, Robicheaux has a major life event which isn't developed at all. Maybe true to life, Robicheaux has become jaded and faded, but it doesn't make for interesting reading.

Rating:
Summary: Brutally Brilliant Book
Review: Dave Robicheaux is a recovering alcoholic, who has lost his beloved wife and his adopted daughter is away at school. With his support system gone, he's coming close to becoming a practicing alcoholic again. After all, his best friend, the sometimes out of control and sometimes very violent Clete Purcell, is not averse to indulging in excessive drinking on occasion.

Robicheaux, now a police officer in New Iberia, learns that his old friend, Father Jimmie Dolan, a Catholic priest, who always seems to be in trouble in the name of social justice, has been brutally assaulted. He returns to New Orleans to investigate, even though he knows he's unwelcome in the city by the NOPD, the FBI and even the DEA.

Assisted by Purcel, Robicheaux confronts the man who beat Dolan, a drug dealing porn star named Gunner Ardoin. The confrontation, however, doesn't turn out as Robicheaux would have liked, as Clete ends up in jail and Robicheaux is warned to keep out of the case.

Meanwhile, Robicheaux has other investigations on his plate, he's been investigating the murder of a black convict, a folk singer, which occurred about a half century ago. He also has to investigate the alcohol related death of three teenage girls in a car accident. Robicheaux traces the source of the liquor to one of New Iberia's daiquiri windows. Then the owner of the drive-through liquor operation is murdered and Robicheaux suspects the father of one of the dead girls, who also seems to be involved in the death of the black blues singing convict.

Max Coll, a brutal, brilliant, and deeply haunted IRA gunman turned hit man comes to New Orleans to finish the job on Father Dolan. Once Coll shows up, Robicheaux knows he's going to have to ignore the warning to stay out of town.

As usual Mr. Burke has written a character driven novel with twists and turns galore. The story is dark, almost a horror story, replete with sex, violence, drugs, drink, bodies and the ghost of memories better not remembered. And as usual Mr. Burke has delivered a book that is unforgettable.

Haley Lawford, S/V Cheerleader Too

Rating:
Summary: Investigating criminals who operate "with public sanction."
Review: Describing New Orleans as "an outdoor mental asylum located on top of a giant sponge," Burke makes the city itself a character in this study of power and justice, murder and mayhem. Once again, Dave Robicheaux is the local homicide detective who tries to sort out crimes and bring evil-doers to justice, as he has done in previous Burke novels. This time, however, we see Robicheaux as a darker, more vengeful investigator, a man willing to do whatever is necessary to bring guilty parties to justice within this notoriously corrupt political and judicial system. Alone in the city, and without the family support system which previously "humanized" him, he is now a man with nothing to lose.

Accompanying Fr. Jimmie Dolan though Toxic Alley, a wetlands area where waste disposal contractors have poisoned the groundwater and sickened dozens of young black children with their illegal dumping, Robicheaux visits the granddaughter of Junior Crudup, a blues singer and guitarist from the 1950s, who disappeared in Angola Penitentiary. Determined to discover what happened to him, Robicheaux also wants to know who is responsible for the recent beating Fr. Dolan, the Catholic priest. While this plot is unfolding, three seventeen-year-old girls die in a car crash, shortly after stopping at an illegal "drive-by daiquiri store." The manager of the store soon shows up dead, and his connections to other, supposedly legitimate local businessmen come under scrutiny. The business of pornography and drugs bring Mafia hitmen into the city, and soon bedlam breaks out, as the local police, county police, state undercover agents, and the FBI all lay claim to investigation.

Successfully incorporating a great deal of historical background into the action, Burke shines a spotlight on the criminal activity, showing the reader its scope and giving some perspective on how and why the social problems we observe in the novel came into being. Marauding white street gangs of the 1950s, the systemic sadism of the penitentiary and its Red Hat Gang of the '50s, virulent racism, the rise to power and wealth of men engaged in dishonest businesses, the collusion of police and their reward of lucrative payoffs, the activities of organized crime syndicates, and the ability of those in power to manipulate both the political and legal systems are all shown to be contributing factors in the corruption we observe in these plot lines. Descriptive but sometimes brutal in its action, the novel gives us a darker, more cynical Robicheaux, a man taking dangerous chances in a dangerous city, with seemingly little to lose. Mary Whipple