Crusader's Cross: A Dave Robicheaux Novel

Like William Faulkner, he does it over and over again: creates delicious stories made up of poetic writing and imagery - for me, a writer - he's a "writer's writer." The only caveat: his women. His new wife, a quasi-nun (no less) goes mush-mouthed as soon as she marries Dave. Perhaps that's what it takes to live with the Louisiana Terminator. I know it happened to Bootsie. However, Helen Swallow, Dave's former partner and now the New Iberria police chief, is a woman with real character...meaning true, whole-life texture. (I loved it when she put her big hand on Dave's and said, "I don't want to have to hurt you.") I gotta say it: there are some writers who, while not "better" than Burke, get women just right, among them Wally Lamb and Stephen King (read: "Dolores Claiborne" sp?). Still, I never wanted "Crusader's Cross" to end. And that's saying a lot . There are almost no contemporary writers who score my focused attention like that, over and over again...that is, with the Dave Robicheaux novels. Can't say the same for his Texas Ranger series. For some reason, I have a disconnect with those...never can seem to get through more than a chapter...Nevertheless, he's entitled to lose a few with me, since he wins so many of my precious moments. (P.S. I don't mind it that Dave has Clete do a lot of his dirty work. Still, it's odd that I love Clete almost as much as I love Dave. But maybe that's cause I'm a Gemini.)

I've long been a fan of Burke's Robicheaux series, and have come to expect a great deal from him. Every time he writes a great book, he sets the bar higher for himself for his next work. He has done it again. The conflicted Robicheaux is, of course, an inherently interesting character. Yet Burke manages to keep him moving forward into new areas of character exploration while keeping the reader fully engaged. The character develops; experiences from previous novels are incorporated into the character (and don't disappear, as happens with some other serial novelists' characters); the character continues to age. These may seem like small points, but think about it: in the early Fleming novels James Bond was an ex-Royal Navy commander operating in post-war Europe, and fifty years later he hasn't aged a day. Burke also has a lyrical style that uniquely paints his bayou environment in an almost Southern-gothic style. There are few who can capture a setting so well; Connelly and Ellroy do it with LA, MacMurtry with nineteenth century Texas, and Ruark's Africa come to mind. In Burke's works, you can almost feel the moisture dripping from the magnolia leaves into the bayou waters. It's a rare gift. Read this book. If you're already a fan, sit back and enjoy. If you're new to Burke, this is a good place to start. Then you can go back and get all the earlier works and catch up on what you've missed.

When he was a young man, Dave Robicheaux encountered a brave young woman named Ida Durbin. Dave and his brother Jimmie were young and drunk and swam out to a rock only to be surrounded by a couple of sharks while the sun was going down. Ida arrived with a raft to save them and sparked Jimmie's interest. Unfortuately, Ida had a secret life as a prostitute and Jimmie ended up wanting to take her away from that. Instead, on the day that she and Jimmie are to go to Mexico together to escape, Ida never arrives. All indications are that she met with foul play and that has haunted Dave and Jimmie since that time. However, as with all stories told by James Lee Burke, that is merely the beginning. In the present, still grieving for his lost wife Bootsie and suffering empty-nest syndrom with Alafair away at college, Dave is confroted with a chance to find out what truly happened to Ida Durbin all those years ago. In Burke's Louisiana, everyone has secrets and they all spill out in a loose jumble. Dave's puzzle is to put them together while maintaining his own precarious hold on his life. His efforts quickly put him into the sights of crooked cops and hitmen, and draw the attention of one of Iberia Parrish's golden sons, Valetine Chalons, who is a television reporter that quickly brings everything he can to bear on destroying Dave's credibility. A serial killer is also loose in the Bayou country. Dave reassumes his job as a deputy sheriff to chase the serial killer, but his true agenda lies in what happened to Ida Durbin all those years ago. The way is tangled, and Dave has snakes of his own to face while chasing a truth no one wants uncovered. James Lee Burke needs no introduction to his many fans. For the uninitiated, though, CRUSADER'S CROSS is an excellent place to jump on. Dave Robicheaux is a complicated man, one that cannot live in the present because his past constantly remains with him and his chance at a future is always at risk. Burke has written several novels about Robicheaux and lawyer hero Billy Bob Holland as well as stand-alone books. As always in a Burke book, the prose is lyrical and majestic. The images conjured up in a sentence or two paint entire canvases in the mind. The people in the book are solidly rendered, filled with grace and guilt and good and evil. No one in a Burke novel is truly ever a hero or a villain. Every novel Burke pens centers around revelations, and CRUSADER'S CROSS certainly does that. Robicheaux's complicated relationship with Clete Purcell is at its finest in this book. The pain that Dave carries over the loss of his wife and the absence of his daughter are palpable. But it is the other characters, Valentine and Raphael and Honoria Chalons that glitter and fascinate. Secrets have been buried in the swamps for decades, and now it's time for them to see the light of day. James Lee Burke has written a truly awesome book in CRUSADER'S CROSS. Although he is chasing a serial killer to a deg

Steady, consistent, lyrical, reliable, soothing, wonderful, a distinct voice.......all ways to describe James Lee Burke's writing. For myself, while it may be an odd thought, I have always had moments when reading his prose when I felt like I was actually reading poetry, his writing is that beautiful. You just can't go wrong with James Lee Burke and his protagonist Dave Robicheaux. I highly recommend this book, and anything else he has ever written, he is simply that good. Crusader's Cross, set in the bayou country of Louisiana and the surrounding environs, relates a tale of the long-lost puppy love of Dave's brother and their search for what happened to her, weaves in a new story line revolving about a tough, remarkable nun, and features both an odd family who claim descent from Roman heroes who defeated Attila the Hun at Chalons and a depraved, sadistic serial killer who seems to be taunting Robicheaux. These separate threads are intricately woven together against the historical and ongoing backdrop of the prostitution trade in the South. In his richly drawn and finely realized protagonist, Burke has created a true hero: a complex man, with deep roots and deeper loves, heartsick for the lost way of life of his idealized youth in the Acadian bayou country. Dave Robicheaux, son of an Cajun oil rig worker, child of the golden fifties, Vietnam veteran, police detective, alcoholic, husband, father, friend, a man of violence and conscience, wondering where the beauty in his world has gone. This novel may be one of his best yet, and I was glad to see his half-brother show up again. Run, don't walk, to go get your copy of this book and prepare for wonderful experience - this is a rare one. Shut out your friends and family, grab some goodies to eat, lock the door, throw the bolt and settle in for one heck of a good read. Crusader's Cross is another wonderful installment in the Robicheaux series.

Crusader's Cross by James Lee Burke is yet another view into the seedy world of New Orleans and its environs. Burke is a master at writing gritty tales that capture the flavor and spirit of the world he depicts. I know of no other author today that is as good a descriptive writer than Burke. When Burke describes a summer thunderstorm you can smell the dampness rising off the pavement. Pure magic. Burke has included Dave's good friend and PI buddy Clete Purcell (Semper Fi), so the gangs all here. In Crusader's Cross Dave Robicheaux is alone, and unemployed. His wife is dead, his adopted daughter away at college. Robicheaux is about as low as you can get. A death bed confession takes Robicheaux back to the late 50's when he and his brother were very innocent. As Robicheaux presses into the disappearance of a young prostitute nearly 50 years ago he is "encouraged" to let it go. Factor into this story the Chalon family (brother and sister) and you have the makings of a real south Louisianna clam bake. Crusader's Cross is rich with atmosphere. The story is full bodied and the characters memorable. This is a terrific summer read.