Rating: 
Summary: Dave is a charmer...
Review: I have read just about everything James Lee Burke has written, but my favorite character by far is Dave Robicheaux. This was actually the first of the Burke books I "read" (this one I actually listened to in audio as it was a gift to me -- and that alone was wonderful as the narrator had a fabulous Louisiana accent that brought the words alive). JLB's style is poetic, and the scenes he sets for you bring you right there to the Bayou with his words. He is a master at setting the scene and making you see the characters and hear their voice. His ability to spin a crime story with twists and turns, while getting you into Dave's head, his history and his love of his family are unsurpassed. Best advice regarding the Dave series: try to read them in the order written -- it helps to get a sense of time in Dave's personal life -- there are changes that occur and I was blind sided by a couple of them because I read out of order.
Rating: 
Summary: Like a trip back to Louisiana.
Review: I spent my early adolescent years in southeastern Louisiana and have a lot of fond memories of this uniquely charming piece of America. Burke's Dave Robicheaux never fails to transport me back to the gumbo restaurant in a trailer, the trek through a Morgan City swamp that brought me awfully close to an alligator, and Pete Fountain's jazz club at the Hilton. Simply put, Burke knows Louisiana and how to evoke it.Cadillac Jukebox is overall a good read. It's basically a tale of the dark motives that drive people across the line from good to bad. Unfortunately, Burke let the story get too complicated. I wish I had made a chart of the characters as I read the book, because keeping track of who's who got confusing. The storyline also spreads out to the point that staying on top of it becomes a chore. I thought the story got formulaic at points. The mythological symbolism in the fate of the husband-and-wife antagonists was over the top, like a classical bass drum roll at the end of a Warren Storm tune. But Burke didn't miss a beat with his characters. I was scared by Aaron Crown and Mookie Zerrang, I felt sympathy for Buford LaRose and enmity toward his wife, and I felt like I'd known Batist for a long time. Dave Robicheaux was as polite, resolute, and conflicted as ever.
Rating: 
Summary: Half-Way Through, He Just Lost Me
Review: I've heard such good things about Burke, so I was pretty enthusiastic about reading Cadillac Jukebox. But for all my enthusiasm, this book just didn't do it for me. Burke's natural writing talent is obvious, and he grabbed my attention right away. The characters are all very human and real, it's a great setting, and things click along at a brisk pace. I found myself zipping my way through this book eagerly awaiting the next surprise. And then, about halfway through the book I just got lost. A thousand different things had happened to Dave Robicheaux, his cohorts, and his enemies, and though each scene was written well, it just wasn't coming together as a whole. I realized that I either didn't know enough because I hadn't read any of the previous books, or Burke was just all over the place. Over all a disappointment, but since this is my first Burke book, I plan to give him another chance by reading the first of the Dave Robicheaux series.
Rating: 
Summary: Jargon Jungle
Review: Interesting book, but there was SO much jargon -- cop talk, drug slang, and cajun words, that some of the time I didn't even know what they were talking about. The book should provide the reader with a glossary of terms.
Rating:
Summary: Another satisfying delivery by an outstanding writer
Review: It isn't often that I have to interrupt my reading and find my companion so I can read passages to him to "share," but this happens a lot with James Lee Burke's books. He has an absolutely beautiful way with descriptions and emotions that go right to my heart. I finished this book in about a day of reading, and even now, two weeks later, can't get the picture of Bootsie standing at the kitchen counter drating potatoes. How's that for memorable writing! Please, please don't abandon this series, Mr. Burke. I want to see Alafair (sp?) grow up!
Rating:
Summary: word candy for crackers
Review: James Lee Burke's Cadillac Jukebox is a fine piece of suspense fiction, but it trades on rough language and violent situations. It is a sort of word candy for crackers, because it portrays Southern macho men the way they would like to think about themselves. In some ways it reminds me of the old John D. MacDonald mystery novels of the 1980s or Sam Spade. The language in Burke's novel is colorful, the characters are rich in local color, and the plot is totally blasted. I guess you don't need to bother yourself to read a novel if all you want is reality.
Rating:
Summary: word candy for crackers
Review: James Lee Burke's Cadillac Jukebox is a fine piece of suspense fiction, but it trades on rough language and violent situations. It is a sort of word candy for crackers, because it portrays Southern macho men the way they would like to think about themselves. In some ways it reminds me of the old John D. MacDonald mystery novels of the 1980s or Sam Spade. The language in Burke's novel is colorful, the characters are rich in local color, and the plot is totally blasted. I guess you don't need to bother yourself to read a novel if all you want is reality.
Rating:
Summary: Burke, as usual, has that wonderful flair for imagery.
Review: James Lee Burke, once again, brings his characters vividly alive. Dave is once again fighting the bad guys plus his own problems and, once again, Clete Purcell is there to back him up and pull him up by the emotional bootstraps when needed. You just cannot beat Burke's writing when it comes to the imagery of everything that is happening in his novels. Wonderful!!
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful characters, great plot, great writing.
Review: One of my favorite top five writers. This book was outstanding. You do not want to skim books written by James Lee Burke
Rating:
Summary: leaner, truer than his last book
Review: The sensual strength of the prose here is tense and powerful.
His last book, Burning Angel, felt loose and undisciplined,
relative to this book and to Black Cherry Blues, which is, in
my opinion, his best. Burke's detective, Dave Robicheaux, questions, wonders, risks, leaps, gets involved here - life
happens *to* him. This is one of Burke's gifts, allowing the
chaos to touch his characters, instead of concentrating on showing how his characters touch the chaos. This is a good
read.
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