heaven’s prisoners

This is the third Dave Robichaux book I have read, and several times in each book I have almost given up on reading. I start to feel as though I need to take a shower because of all the violence, sin, and tardiness. So what makes me keep reading? I care about Dave Robicheaux. He is constantly fighting his inner demons: his alcoholism, his nightmares of fighting in Viet Nam, his entanglement with mob bosses, drug dealers, prostitutes, and pimps, his failed marriage. But he struggles to make sense out of life, to bring order to this disordered world, to grasp the ideals of justice, goodness, and meaningless. Burke’s masterful writing holds me there. It is poetic and magical, and brings Louisiana bayou country to life. There was one part of the story that puzzled me. The ease with which Dave and Annie rescued a little girl from a plane crash and just took her home and made her theirs…really??

Have never read a mystery writer who has such a vivid voice. He captures the sights , sounds, smells, temperature and emotions of each setting so you feel you’re there as you’re reading. The same can be said of his construction of Streak. You read Streak’s view of the world in technicolor as he waxes philosophical in a poetic voice that weaves his past into how he views the world today. The depth of those expressions is mesmerizing. Leaves you in awe as you read passages two or three times. Highlighting them. Tagging the pages for ease of finding them later to read again.

After reading first two books in the series, I decided not to read anymore. The writing is wonderful and I love the descriptions of southern Louisiana scenery and culture. What I didnt like was the main character story, second book was same story as first book – guys – ignores everyone else and just has to go play macho tough guy. Except in second book, it costs him big time. I like to see characters in a series evolve, not make same mistakes over and over – and this very flawed character has plenty of room to improve- could have been good reading to watch it happening.

This is the second book I’ve read in the Dave Robicheaux series by Burke. This book and the previous one have interesting local characters and background on Cajun history and traditions. Burke does a good job of creating tense situations and plausible outcomes, but he devotes too many pages, in my opinion, to Robicheaux’s introspection and his dealing with his alcoholism. I don’t usually skip pages when reading, but I did it often while reading this book.

Recently I told an author friend of mine that I was numbed by the poor quality of recent thrillers I had read and he told me to “read something by James Lee Burke – the man’s a master”. That was great advice. Burke doesn’t write your normal type of crime thriller, he is a fabulous storyteller and a master of prose who writes stories of literary quality full of great characters, violent emotions with almost poetic descriptions of the landscapes where the action happens.

Dave Robicheaux has retired from a long career as a homicide detective and is running a boat, bait and food business catering for tourists to the bayou area of southern Louisiana. He is very happy in his new marriage to Annie and is winning his long and hard battle with alcohol. Dave and Annie are on their boat one day trawling for shrimp when a small plane crashes nearby. Dave saves a six-year-old girl’s life but her mother and three other people in the plane perish. Annie looks after the small girl who can only speak Spanish and names her Alifair, after Dave’s mother.

When the police search the plane they only find three bodies. One man was missing. Dave remembered him clearly, he wore a pink shirt which had been ripped in the crash to show a tattoo over one nipple and his neck was broken. As usual Dave couldn’t leave this alone and it unleashes the devils of gang vengeance which strike at Dave and his family.

This is a dark story which is sometimes violent and faces up to the despair of loss and the demons of alcohol. It is also very philosophical about life and its dangers and weaknesses, which is rare in a thriller. I found parts of the book both compassionate and tear-jerking.

I strongly recommend this book as one of the most compelling and intelligent thrillers I have read for some time. This is the first of Burke’s novels that I have read and it won’t be the last. I will especially remember his vivid descriptions of the Louisiana bayou where I could almost smell the water, the moss, the trees and the flowers that Burke so loves. Another author who does this so well is the great Pat Conroy with his landscapes of the Carolina wetlands.

While this book was written in 1988, well before Hurricane Katrina, Burke may have had a premonition of the future when he felt a big storm building up and quoted the lyrics of this song – “Don’t come `round tonight, it’s bound to take your life. A bad moon’s on the rise, I hear hurricane’s a blowing, I know the end is coming soon, I feel the river overflowing, I can hear the voice of rage and ruin.”

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