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Rating: 
Summary: Not his best!
Review: I have read nearly every thing that James Lee Burke has written. I like and admire his use of descriptive words. This book, however, was not nearly as good as his Dave Robicheaux books. His discriptions were just as poetic, his intensity just as good, but I guess I just didn't like the story as much and couldn't relate to the characters as well as with his other books. But it was an interesting read and if you are a Burke fan, I would recommend this one.
Rating:
Summary: Burke's drama better than mystery, but plot still weak
Review: This book reminds us of what in music is called a "tone poem". The melodies and harmonies swirl in an entertaining, sometimes captivating, pattern; but when it's all over, it doesn't amount to much that's memorable. We wanted to read this novel to possibly cure ourselves of our disappointment with one of Burke's Dave Robicheaux mysteries. Our findings of that one ("Cadillac Jukebox") was that his imagery surely is vivid, but his skills in developing the plot and populating it with just the right number of support characters were lacking. That tends to kill a mystery, which after all must have a story with a somewhat logical structure. In "Boogie", we do feel the drama category works better for Burke. The mind pictures he draws, especially of the Montana landscape where leading man Iry heads after getting a parole transfer out of his native Louisiana, continue to exhibit's Burke's mastery of descriptive prose. Alas, the plot is still not as strong as we might like, although the sheer drama of his story doesn't require the pace and form of a mystery. We found it difficult to empathize with the beer-swilling, guilt-laden brawlers generally depicted herein. But get by the alcohol content, and there is on display a fair degree of understanding the human condition. Interesting that this book was both nominated for a Pulitzer after publication, but (according to Burke's own web site) was rejected first by over 100 publishers! After we read the Robicheaux book, we opined: Burke is probably better at drama, and he is. We think he might excel at poetry -- wonder if he's ever tried his hand at that? As with the musical counterpart, we probably wouldn't remember his "melody and harmony" per se, but would settle for the slide show he can create with words to go with our coffee and red wine.
Rating: 
Summary: A wonderful book
Review: This is a wonderful book-perhaps the best I've read in a number of years. It is powerful and tragic, yet humorous at times. Iry is likeable, in spite of his history and the fact that he has made a cuckold out of Buddy. Buddy is bent on self-destruction, and Iry is concerned with self-preservation. The conflict between Beth and Mr. Riordan is never clear to me, but that is the only weakness I found in the book. This book is haunting and exhausting. The ending is somwhat hopeful, in spite of past tragedies. I strongly recommend this book.
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