Jolie Blon's Bounce

Burke outdoes himself this time. As always you could pick this book up without reading any others and enjoy it. The story line is different in a good way than others.

To categorize this book as a mystery is like clumping Haagen-Daz in the same category as cheap sherbet. Sorry. Not the same thing. These characters are alive and fresh and memorable. The settings resonate with sights and sounds and smells. The beauty of Louisiana juxtapositioned with the evil of the criminal world is a heady mix. As always, I'm impressed by Burke's ability. I feel like I'm repeating myself: James Lee Burke is a master of imagery, be it violent and dark, or moving and poetic. I can't help myself. To read his work is to fall in love with the language. With this in mind, it's true that I tend to overlook his meandering plots and psychological side-trips. For me, they make his books much more real and down to earth than the general formulaic mysteries.In this particular story, we see Dave Robicheaux dealing with his inner demons, as always--this time in the form of pills. But it's the same white worm eating at him and driving anger to the surface. As usual, his emotions boil over into his job and cause trouble. The difference this time is that Robicheaux is dealing with other demons than his own. He's dealing with Legion, an old man, hard as nails and full of darkness. The supernatural aspects that come into play, particularly at the conclusion were, for me, very satisfying and remarkably well handled. Other reviewers have derided these elements; I found them to be the original touch this series needed. Others complained of sexual situations that were unnecessary; I was moved to tears by Bootsie's tenderness to her man in need of assurance. Robicheaux, behind his tough exterior, is a man of flesh and blood and emotion. Thankfully, James Lee Burke is too. It's the reason I keep reading his stuff. After "Purple Cane Road," I'd rate this near the top of the series.

"Jolie Blon's Bounce" is an intelligent and ambitious novel of intricate sub plots and complex characters. James Lee Burke's widely recognized talent for creating rich setting is in top form: the Louisiana gulf coast back woods and bars are easily visualized, the smells of the oil rigs and shrimp boats waft from the pages. The English language is Burke's toolbox - as a blunt object hammering the reader with raw brutality, or as a scalpel in unlayering the subtleties of race and social strata. Few villains have been created as foreboding and ominous as the mysterious "Legion", casting an aura of nearly biblical good vs. evil and an unexpected, almost "King-like" surrealism.This latest in the Dave Robicheaux series is built around the rape and murder of a local teenage girl, followed by a string of apparently related homicides. But the story is virtually void of the usual crime scene forensics and criminal investigation. Instead, Burke introduces a full cast of deeply developed characters and settings, slowly building tension and mystery as not only the murders, but also a dark history, gradually unfold. Burke is clearly not in a hurry in getting to the punch line, winding through passages of time and place, connecting the past with the present and reality with a vague sense of the supernatural. But while Burke's prose meanders, it is not without purpose, as the reader is sucked deeper and deeper into the intrigue. The reward is not in reaching the climax, but the journey in getting there.In summary, Burke is about as good as writer as there is today in American fiction, and "Jolie Blon's Bounce" displays his craft at its peak. This is a dark and brooding tale with a surreal twist that will linger long after the book is finished, leaving the reader anxious for Burke's next installment.

This is the darkest of the Dave Robicheaux series to date---but also one of the most riveting. Dave's demons come back to haunt him---literally and figuratively---in this story of good vs. evil. No other author on earth can personify evil like Burke. The poetic, lyrical language of South Louisiana and Mr. Burke's lush descriptions of the Louisiana landscape are quintessential Burke. If you've enjoyed the other books in the Robicheaux series, you'll love this one...I highly recommend it!!

When teenager Amanda Boudreau is murdered in New Iberia, Louisiana, the evidence points to Tee Bobby Hulin, a gifted musician but a crackhead and general ne'er-do-well. Detective Dave Robicheaux is not convinced, though. Then there is another murder, this time of the drug-addicted daughter of a local Mafia figure, and Tee Bobby is again implicated. Robicheaux still doubts the evidence and continues to investigate when he crosses paths with the mysterious and malevolent Legion Guidry, an elderly former plantation overseer. Robicheaux questions his own sanity when his instincts tell him that Legion is pure evil in human form.Meanwhile, Robicheaux's sidekick, Clete Purcell, is having woman troubles, and competition in the person of cracker ex-con Bible salesman Marvin Oates. Even Robicheaux's own attorney, Perry LaSalle, is behaving strangely in the wake of the two murders. They all have secrets and present different faces to different people, and it's up to Robicheaux to navigate the labyrinthe, pick out the necessary pieces, and put it all together.And who better than James Lee Burke to throw it all out there, knead it and meld it with his dark and menacing poetry, and then pull it all together with brilliant finesse. This may be Dave Robicheaux's darkest voyage yet but, boy, what a ride. The atmosphere, rife with human suffering and the nature of evil, is very intense and roiling with preternatural undercurrents, with an ending that is both shocking and just.

Burke's mix of local color and great plotting, served up with a style that is crisp and vivid, have made him a favorite of readers and fellow mystery novelists. And he keeps getting better, a dozen novels into a series. The new book presents us with two violent crimes against women. Serial killer? The prime suspect is a brilliant young musician, the man you want to be the killer is a rich white kid. Hovering in the background is Burke's sleaziest, nastiest villain in years.Burke never deals in cliches, though his characters might. The second victim is the daughter of a Mafia hit man, and one of the most startling and engaging elements of the story is the humanization of the grieving father. When the crimes resolve into solutions, we lose some people we care about. And one villian gets justice in a form we can only shake our heads over.Robicheaux suffers a disgusting humiliation in this book, and his family is rocked by the result. I listened to another mystery writer recently ascribe the appeal of his books to the fact that his hero is a nice normal guy with a nice normal family. Well, maybe so, but Burke has gotten tremendous mileage out of something a bit more challenging. Watching Alafair grow, seeing the strength of Bootsie's love for her scarred man, feeling their pain as they cope with the literal scars of her incurable illness, have made this series the best around for a decade. Let's hope for a few more.