Cimarron Rose

Burke introduces a new character and a new location. Billy Bob Holland is a ex-Houston cop, ex-Texas Ranger, ex-prosecutor and currently a trial lawyer. Holland is a complex character struggling with a violent past. Holland's illegitimate son has been charged with the murder of his girlfriend. The plot is complex with a multitude of characters. This novel is an excellent read, I didn't want to put it down. I think you will like this novel as much as I do.

All right, for some reason I haven't been familiar with Burke's writing up to now. Nobody e-mailed me about him. I was surfing the Mystery Writers' Association website and I noticed that Burke has this habit of winning Edgar awards over and over, so I thought I'd check him out.This is one of the Edgar winners, and it supports my previously-expressed hypothesis that they don't give out the award by drawing names out of a hat. This is a very strong novel with a West Texas small-city/rural voice, with currents of Ross MacDonald and Dashiell Hammett, a touch of Larry McMurtry, and highlights of raspberry, chocolate, and tobacco. I'm sorry about the 'highlights', I realized I sounded as if I was describing wine and couldn't resist. I mean the other stuff, though, and it's all complimentary. By referring to MacDonald, I mean that Burke displays the same sense of complexity: of setting, of interaction. I mean, everyone has a history, everyone has secrets, and not just every major and minor character, but every place, every barn and lot and stream. And all of these secrets are liable to bubble up and confuse everyone at any moment and knock the plot into a new and surprising direction. Nobody is carrying out any one plan. Everyone has a lot of things on his/her mind. It's the exact opposite of the sense that you get with one of these serial-killer novels where the villain is omnipotent and single-minded and supremely organized and does nothing all day except perfect his serial killing plan. Here most of the people are at least somewhat friendly and at least somewhat dangerous, and the tensions seldom get resolved.However, Burke's style is not MacDonald's brooding tapestry of similes; it's much more like Hammett, spare, brisk, and violent; for example:"... [I] rode my Morgan up on the porch and through the doorway, ducking down on his withers to get under the jamb. .."'I hope you brung your own dustpan and whisk broom,' the bartender said."I rode the Morgan between a cluster of tables and chairs and across a small dance floor toward the pool table. The man eating from a paper plate looked at me, smiling, a spoonful of chili half-way to his mouth ... I whipped the loop three times over my head and flung it at the man with the blond beard ... He tried to rise from the chair and free himself, but I wound the rope tightly around the pommel, brought my left spur into the Morgan's side, and catapulted the blond man off his feet and dragged him caroming through tables and bar stools and splintering chairs, into an oak post and the legs of a pinball machine and the side of the jukebox, tearing a huge plastic divot out of the casing."Note how he uses the rhythm of the clauses to pace the action, short and simple as the action impends, then exploding along with the action into a sprawling run-on sentence. The action leaps along; the average 'scene' is a page or a page and a half long, and since something happen

James Lee Burke is perhaps the best writer in his genre working today, and he continues to improve. He combines the ability to craft taut, suspenseful crime thrillers, an eloquent voice, and deep insight into the flaws of human nature. It is our flaws make us human, and our struggles to overcome them that carry the potential for nobility, and Burke's characters strive mightily to get past their own limitations. In Cimmaron Rose, Burke may have crafted his best story to date. The characters are multi-faceted, the dialogue gritty and real, and the sense of place so strong you can smell the hot dust in the air. If you want more than a cardboard-cutout hero who remains untouched by bullets, his own emotion or the suffering of others, bet on Burke.

Cimarron Rose has many of the same elements as the Robicheaux novels, but it's a great leap for Burke. The writing is tighter and more condensed, yet magically evocative of strong characterizations and sense of place and time. More than any of his other books, there are several places where one sentence is simply perfect in its description of a place, scene, or person, bringing the entire picture together in the reader's mind. ( I can't believe the Kirkus reviewer wasn't able to figure this out). The story is satisfyingly complex, with no loose ends or "wait a minute!" suspensions of belief. Yes, Billy Bob is something of a clone of Robicheaux (and Burke might have used a less sterotypical name name for his protagonist). But every author must get sick of writing about the same character time and again. Billy Bob has great potential (no wife or kids) which will allow Burke to take the character into uncharted directions in future books. I especially love what Burke does with descriptions of not only sights but sounds and smells. Within 50 pages, the reader is simply THERE, and feels as though he/she has been there and knows these folks like they were long-lost neighbors, relatives, friends and enemies. Bravo, Mr.Burke

James Lee Burke has produced another winner, and introduces all of us to a new, compelling hero. "Cimarron Rose" tells the dual tale of Billy Bob Hollander, and his great-grandfather Sam Hollander. (Sam's tale is relayed through excerpts of his diary which Billy Bob reads during the course of the novel.) Billy Bob is a flawed hero, in the vein of Dave Robicheaux. He is a man of strong moral principles and unapologetic faith. How he balances his ideals, and seeks justice in a corrupt world, makes or good reading; and provides food for thought. I believed that the latest entries in the Robicheaux series showed some tiredness on Burke's part. He has pretty well explored Robicheaux's character and world. It was time for Burke to move on, and he has wisely chosen to do so. Still, this new novel contains what we have come to expect from Burke: an interesting protagonist, other characters with both good and bad traits, and a sense of the world in which they all live. A classic touch: Burke's descriptions of the meals his characters eay. If the Robicheaux novels left you hungry for a po' boy sandwich, wait till you read about Billy Bob's meals of steak, eggs and refried beans! It is a wise author who knows when it's time to retire a character. James Lee Burke has made a smart decision in bringing us Billy Bob Hollander. I look forward to future tales of his adventures in Texas.