Swan Peak

In my humble opinion, James Lee Burke is a national treasure. His ability to turn a few words into vivid and complete descriptions is without parallel. Just ask his peers, like Michael Connolly, an amazing writer himself. Having read everything Mr. Burke has published at least twice, I recommend Swan Peak without hesitation. I would say it is my favorite, but Mr. Burke is so skilled that all his works are among my favorites. His opening pages often bring me close to tears with the artistry he demonstrates; as a professional musician for over 40 years I can best liken his writing to a fine piece of music.

All that said, I think he would be appalled at the number of typographical errors in the Kindle edition. I haven’t counted them, but I am sure there are in excess of 100. Stupid stuff, too, like not spelling a person’s name the same way for several pages. I have the hardback edition-no such errors are present in that. Which begs the question-Mr. Bezos, do you really think we should have to pay for something so flawed? Frankly, it’s worse than many galleys I have read. For the price you charge, you should be ashamed of the lack of quality editing.

The story, Mr. Burke’s writing, excellent. Five stars, no question. Mr. Bezos’ crappy editing (it comes back to you, Jeffrey!) deserves no stars-it’s a travesty. Amazon, Bezos, get it together.
Please. This is unacceptable.

It had been a few years since I read a Robicheaux novel. You know how it is, you find new authors and get busy with them. Then I saw Burke’s name and wondered what I had missed since my last, and found quite a few just waiting to be purchased. The Kindle edition must have been updated because I did not notice typos, and that’s something I definitely would notice.

I am a writer of technical materials, but if I could create poetry in words the way James Lee Burke does, I would be all over that. It’s hard for me to describe, but I absolutely fall into a Robicheaux novel and feel that the words and emotions they evoke are beautiful, true, and fulfilling. Even though the content is often violent and the stories sometimes hard to bear, there is something quite satisfying in consuming Burke’s stories. For as long as these novels have been around, I never quite picture Dave or Clete as old, although they surely are getting up there. And I will always love Dave, but Clete, oh man, Clete…I am getting a bit tired of him. I know he’s a good soul, but he is hard to take.

Anyway, Swan Peak is a purely intoxicating novel with rich characters that you love and hate. You are on the edge of your seat, hoping that everything works out for the “nice” people, who are not always so nice, and that the “bad” people get their due too. And mostly that happens. If you like Burke, you’ll like this novel. As for me, I read this novel right after Pegasus Descending and will have to take a break before starting another Burke story. My brain can’t take that much excellent writing and imagery in three books in a row. 🙂

As usual, Mr Burke delivers a spell-binding story from start to last word. He creates visual pictures; his descriptions of sites makes them real. Philosophy, psychology, literature, social issues and comments, with history thrown in for good measure. Always hard to put down once begun. Much to be learned.
Now, the editing. NEVER have I read a professional publication so full of typos. Unbelievable. Was no human available to correct the word app? The mistakes popped out with only casual reading. Someone can and should do better.

If you’ve ever seen the movie, Heaven’s Prisoners, starring Alec Baldwin and Eric Roberts, then you’re already familiar with the character of Dave Robicheaux, an ex-Vietnam veteran and ex-NOPD Homicide detective who now runs a bait shop in New Iberia, a parish outside of New Orleans, and in the later novels, also works for the local police department, giving them almost as much grief as he did the NOPD in putting down the bad guys. Author James Lee Burke has been writing this series since the late eighties and has developed a large fan base of avid readers who literally crave a “Robicheaux” six every year. I know because I’m one of them. All the books in this fantastic series are good, while some are truly excellent and have a literary quality that will make them classics in the years ahead.

Now, we come to the newest and perhaps the best book in the series, Swan Peak. Robicheaux, his wife, Molly, and his close friend and ex-NOPD partner, Clete Purcel, are vacationing in Montana this time around, wanting to get away from the chaos of New Orleans after its destruction by hurricane Katrina and the slow rebuilding by the U.S. Government. Trouble is the last thing that they’re looking for, but it finds them nevertheless when Purcel discovers an out-of-the-way stream to fish in, only to be run off by employees of the Wellstone Ranch. This starts a chain of events that will not only include a battle with the Wellstone family, but the search for a serial killer who has been murdering for decades. Not only that, but the story includes a Texas gumball who travels to Montana in search of an escaped convict, who stuck a handmade knife into him after being sexually abused, plus the possibility that Sally Dios (the mobster that Pucel thought he’d killed in an arranged airplane crash) might actually be alive and seeking revenge. Before the ending is reached and nearly a dozen people have died, both Robicheaux and Purcel will find themselves on their knees beside an open grave, waiting to be executed and wishing there was a better way to die.

Swan Peak is perhaps the most complex of the “Dave Robicheaux” novels with the author juggling several sub-plots around and managing to bring them all together into a perfect ending. There are characters you’ll like and some you’ll hate, and even a few you will change your mind about before the final pages are reached. I’ll state right now that James Lee Burke is the most literally of the authors I read, and his prose is like the soft touch of velvet across one’s skin, creating images that bring alive the beauty and essence of Louisiana, or in this case, Montana. His words have a way of capturing and captivating the reader, luring them into a scene as if they were living it to the fullest extent. His characters are always true to life, rather than caricatures that are generally found in other books by different authors. For me, Dave Robicheaux isn’t a fictional creation, but rather a friend that I get to visit with once a year and play some catch-up with. In another sense, Robicheaux is “everyman” with his strengths and weaknesses, attempting to live a good life while battling the evil that seeks to erupt from just beneath the surface of humanity and envelope those within its reach.

The “Dave Robicheaux” series is probably the best in its genre, giving new authors a look at what it takes to master the written word and to tell a damn good story. Swan Peak will grab you in the first few pages, offer you strong characterization, tense plotting, prose that will have you reading out loud, and an ending that will take your breath away. James Lee Burke has done what most series authors never achieve: he’s written a novel that surpasses the previous books in the series. Highly recommended!

This novel finds Dave Robicheaux and Clete Purcel, the two detective anti-heroes of James Lee Burkes imagination, in Montana, trying to find some peace of mind and quiet respite from the submerged streets of New Orleans that they normally inhabit. Peace and quiet? If these novels were set in Harrogate, then Bettys Tea Rooms would be full of hookers, pimps, drug crazed biker gangs, ex-Mafia contract killers, crooked FBI agents and a paedophile priest who had a pet Doberman trained to attack your gonads. And Dave and Clete would serve their measures of justice to them all, sadly lamenting the demise of society and lack of divine retribution as they ram a cream scone down an ex-cons throat while gouging out his eyes. This act would then throw Dave into acres of regret and depression and would inevitably lead him to killing about ten scumbags in consequence. Clete would again drink himself senseless, address Dave as Noble Mon and drive his Cadillac into the legs of a corrupt sheriff. Seriously, these two could turn up at a nursery and find it populated with Mexican drug dealing death squads. I have loved most of James Lee Burke’s novels in this series, but I tired of the formula here. There’s only so many eccentric psychopathic hoodlums two men can meet, surely, and these two have met them all as far as I’m concerned. Time to find something new and Swan Peak, I fear, has become Swan Song for me and James Lee.

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