books:

	Pegasus Descending: A Dave Robicheaux Novel (Dave Robicheaux Mysteries) James Lee Burke Simon & Schuster, 2006 - 368 pages average customer review:based on 105 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

In Pegasus Descending, James Lee Burke again explores psyches as much as evidence, and tries to make sense of human behavior as well as of his characters' crimes. Richly atmospheric, frightening in its sudden violence, and replete with the sort of puzzles only the best crime fiction creates, Burke's latest novel is an unforgettable roller coaster of passion, surprise, and regret.

The twists begin when Trish Klein -- the only offspring of Robicheaux's Vietnam-era buddy -- starts passing marked hundred-dollar bills in local casinos. Is she a good kid gone bad? A victim's child seeking revenge? A promiscuous beauty seducing everyone good within her grasp? And how does her behavior relate to the apparent suicide of another "good" girl, an ace student named Yvonne Darbonne, who apparently participated in a college frat orgy before her death?

Can Robicheaux make his peace with the demons that have haunted him since his friend's murder so many years ago? Can he figure out how a local mobster fits into all the schemes and deaths? Can Robicheaux's life be whole again when it has been shattered by so much tragedy?

Once again, Burke proves why he is the virtual poet laureate of southern Louisiana, and why his novels, especially those featuring Dave Robicheaux, stand as brilliant literature and entertainment for our time.

for more information click here

Burke is simply one of the best writers around

Mr. Burke's use of language, the descriptions of his characters and settings are remarkable. And, most importantly, a joy to read.



Harry Bosch's psychological baggage ain't got nothin' on Dave Robicheaux!

Twenty-five years ago, deep in his cups with a keg's worth of beer and accompanying chasers under his belt, an alcoholic Dave Robicheaux witnessed the gangland execution of his friend, Dallas Klein. Swearing off the sauce and finding a good woman who accepts and loves him for what he is, Robicheaux has spent the remainder of his life in recovery attempting to live down that unforgivable inability to stand and help his friend so long ago. What most rankles Robicheaux is that he is certain of the assassin's identity - Whitey Bruxal, a mobster with a lengthy well-documented gangland jacket - but, with no proof, he is unable to act on the knowledge!

Now, out of nowhere, Dallas Klein's daughter, Trish Klein appears in town. In a set-up remarkably similar to Baldacci's Camel Club story of Annabelle Conroy's vendetta against mobster Jerry Bagger (both were published in 2006 so it's hard to say who beat whom to that plot-line punch), it looks like she's gunning for revenge against her father's murderer. Of course, as with any police procedural or psychological thriller worth its salt, James Lee Burke has expertly upped the ante with multiple plot lines that weave in and out of one another throughout the novel - a young girl's suicide after a drunken fraternity debauch and a brutal gang rape; the hit-and-run death of an aging drifter that, on the evidence of the post-mortem, has much more sinister overtones; and the complex life of the local black dope dealer.

Although this is the apparently the 14th novel in which Burke has placed Robicheaux on center stage, this is the first time I've had the pleasure of sampling Burke's craftsmanship. And what an experience that was - his depiction of both the psychological mindscape and the physical landscape of a storm torn, poverty stricken Louisiana is outstanding. Any page opened at random will reveal Burke's masterful command of the language and his ability to create the most jarring and colourful metaphors and similes:

"The recycled air was like cigarette smoke that had been trapped for days in a refrigerator full of spoiled cheese."

On dealing with his own inner demons, for example:

"But the succubus I had tried to exorcise by marrying a woman of peace still held title to my soul. I saw the room distort and the faces of the people around me turn into Grecian masks, and I heard a sound in my ears like the steel tracks of armored vehicles wending their way across an unforgiving land."

The dialogue was creative, realistic, down to earth with a full, rich vocabulary of appropriate street lingo. The depth of characterization was wonderful (even though I was stepping into Robicheaux's world 13 novels after he was first created). The only "but" for me was the tortuous, almost Byzantine complexity of the plot. Don't let your attention drift or you may not find your way back.

I'll be hunting the second hand book stores for the Robicheaux canon starting from the beginning tomorrow.

Highly recommended.

Paul Weiss

for more information click here

Pegasus Desending

I have been a fan of Burke for a very long time, however I have cooled to his last few novels. They have become repetitive, and more importantly he has endeavored to interject politics into the fabric of his work. This has disappointed me in a huge way.


reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

products you might be interested in