Heartwood (Billy Bob Holland)

I am a loyal Burke fan, particularly of his Robicheaux books, but "Cimarron Rose" was a slight disappointment. With time and forgiveness under my belt, I cracked open "Heartwood" and found myself swept away. The story has an actual plot, the characters have true struggles, and the narrative flows with sympathy and violence in incongruous dance.Let's face it, few people can write with the descriptive and allegorical power of Burke. If anything, it can be overwhelming at times, although I prefer to think of it as intoxicating. Then, to keep things in check, Burke pens some of the most forceful dialogue that you'll ever run across this side of the Elmore Leonard and Dashiell Hammett. His characters are electric with their moral conflicts and emotional hangups."Heartwood," for me, encapsulated all the things Burke does well: the dialogue, narrative, Greek tragedy themes, and eventual redemption at a price. Yes, it harkens to the Robicheaux books, but I'm warming up to Billy Bob Holland and beginning to see him as his own fictional entity. Although this series lacks the humorous sidekick of a Clete Purcell, it hits home with powerful story and truth.Mr. Burke, you're starting to convince me...spending time with Billy Bob and Temple Carrol has its payoffs. Do I sense a hint of romance even? I can't wait to read "Bitterroot," the next in the series.

Read the first book in the series first or you will find yourself slightly distracted, not because this book does not stand strongly on its own, but because the passing references to events of the first book eventually make you want to run out and read it. Burke does not reintroduce fascinating characters so much as he picks up with them where he left off, even if they happen to be ghosts. Burke is one of those authors who are able to create characters and stories with layers of doubt, ambiguity, and uncertainty about who and what is ultimately right and wrong, and then keep you reading to find out.The center of the moral conflict in this novel starts when the richest man in the town of Deaf Smith, Earl Deitrich accuses Wilbur Pickett of stealing. Wilbur is one of the town's more colorful characters, a modern day cowboy that could stay on the meanest bull on the rodeo circuit seven seconds, but according to his momma "couldn't grow germs on the bottom of his shoe." Ex-Texas Ranger and lawyer Billy Bob Holland is drawn in partly because he sense injustice in the way Earl Deitrich flexes his muscles to both show who owns the town of Deaf Smith and who owns Peggy Jean, an icon from Billy Bob's early manhood.Burke's magic is bring people and places to life with equal clarity. His clear readable prose hides the depths of the waters he charts in his good guy/bad guy novels. Warning, once you read one Burke novel, you will be a fan.

I should have purchased HEARTWOOD last year when it first came out in hardback, but I was so irritated with James Lee Burke for not writing a "Robicheaux" novel that I decided to get my revenge by waiting for the paperback to come out. I mean, it's bad enough to have to wait a year in between novels that have your favorite character in them, but two years is simply intolerable. Anyway, I just finished reading HEARTWOOD in paperback and consider it to be one of Burke's best novels to date. The story deals with Billy Bob Holland (first introduced in CIMARRON ROSE), who is an ex-Texas Ranger and assistant U.S. attorney, and who now practices law in his home town of Deaf Smith, Texas. When Wilbur Pickett, a down-and-out ex-rodeo bull rider and current employee of millionaire Earl Deitrich, is accused by his boss of stealing an antique watch and three hundred thousand dollars in bearer bonds, Billy Bob, against his better judgment, decides to take the case. Wilbur freely admits to taking the watch, but not the bonds. This makes Billy Bob wonder if Earl has set Wilbur up so that he can run a scam on the insurance company for the supposedly missing bonds. The question is why? Earl is rich. Why risk something like this? Billy Bob also has another problem to deal with. He is still in love with his old, teenage flame, Peggy Jean, who happens to now be married to Earl Deitrich. Billy Bob doesn't want to do anything which might hurt Peggy Jean, but at the same time, he doesn't want to see Wilbur get railroaded for something he didn't do. It isn't long, however, before Billy Bob has his hands full when he begins to suspect that there is something more going on behind the scenes than the apparent theft of the watch and bearer bonds. What he finds out may cost him his life, as well as the life of his son, Lucas. HEARTWOOD is the most complex novel Mr. Burke has written so far. There are so many hidden layers here that I haven't even touched the tip of the iceberg. Billy Bob will have to deal with gangbangers, ex-mercenaries, corruption in the local police department, the guilt he still harbors over the death of his best friend who he accidently killed, and the love he has for another man's wife. HEARTWOOD is a powerful novel of love, betrayal, greed, and murder. It is skillfully woven with characters that burst from the pages with a life all of their own. You won't want the book to end...it is that good! James Lee Burke doesn't just write an excellent novel, he gives you a "reading experience" that I wish other authors could duplicate. Needless to say, when the next "Billy Bob Holland" novel comes out, I won't wait for the paperback.

Great read! Burke has once again written another heartrending story that depicts many of the ills of our society. This book wonderfully illustrates the pain caused by class barriers and bigotry while showing the complexity of human relationships. As in his other books, Burke paints a vivid picture with his pen in his descriptions. He makes you see the sights, smell the smells, and feel the pain and throws in a touch of the supernatural for added flavor. He has once again proven what a great storyteller he is.

Somehow, and it's largely through his terrific prose style, Burke manages to write "mysteries" that transcend the genre and even get the reader to accept a nonrational aspect to books that depend on reason. As everyone has noted, this is the second of his "Texas" books, Burke having left, at least temporarily, Dave Robichaux and Louisiana behind. Protagonist Billy Bob Holland, exRanger and present attorney in a wonderfully crafted small Texas town is, typical Burke hero, caught in a present but captive of his past, in this book an early (VERY early)love for a woman now married to the rich man of the town, who is also a scoundral of the worst kind. But Holland is also captive of his more recent past, in which he feels responsible for the death of his best friend. The plot unfolds against a backdrop of those feelings, the involvement of Billy Bob's own son, as well as others of that generation, wonderful odd characters pure Texan in nature, and requisite death and danger.But the aspect of the book which impresses me most is that Burke manages to get the reader not merely to accept but to participate in conversations that Holland holds with his dead friend. It's a gambit that could fail utterly, become silly and sentimental. But Burke pulls it off, and the result is much the same as when he used this quite effectively in Into the Electric Mist with the Confederate Dead, to me the best of the Robichaux books. This is a fine book, the best in this genre I've read in a very long time.