The Neon Rain

The Neon Rain is the first installment in the Dave Robicheaux series. I have read all of the books in the series as they were released but recently decided to return to the well and reread the first installment. JL Burke evokes New Orleans and the old south with all of its depravity and beauty in lyrical prose that is pure poetry, while still turning out a first class suspense-crime novel. This book has all Robicheaux’s demons on display, a corrupt New Orleans Police force, his booze-addled, violent partner, Clete Purcell, the downtrodden sharecroppers and minorities, the criminal and political elite who Dave despises, and Dave’s own personal demon: alcoholism. His relationship with Purcell is far more confrontational than in the later books, and his relationship with Annie is just beginning. The violence is there but not as prolific as in later books, and the booze genie comes out of the bottle one more time with a lot of action and degradation to follow. A pair of great psychotics that don’t compare with some of the later creations, but still rack the tension up to 11. One of the best series going in my opinion and it was a treat to revisit these characters in the formative year.

Terrible novel from a pure hack. The people talk the entire story into existence. It’s 270 pages of endless, unrealistic dialogue where people don’t act naturally but exist purely for exposition. Plus, it’s racist too. Here’s an early line that shows the author’s lack of ability: “The second man was short and olive-skinned, with elongated Semitic eyes and a hawk nose.” Didn’t know eyes could be a racial identifier? They can if the author is racist.

None of this has the ring of truth. You won’t believe the narrator is a cop, or that the author knows anything about law enforcement. You won’t believe any of the people in the story, they don’t act like humans but like words on a page. The people in the story exist for another old white guy to express his Thoughts. The New Orleans setting is as cliched and fake as they come. None of the Vietnam War stuff rings true, either. The real mystery is how is this stuff still in print? Hack work from a career hack.

Had never heard of James Lee Burke until I read about him in Gardens & Guns. Ordered this book first, to give him a ‘trial run’. Wow! Proceeded to order the next five in the series. Love Burke’s writing. He expresses what he sees better than anyone I’ve read in a long time. His descriptions of the bayou, the streets of New Orleans, the people of every ilk that populate Louisiana, are eye-opening. He captures emotions and situations with such clarity. The opening scene in Neon Rain, when Robicheaux is speaking with a convict he knows and who is scheduled to die in the electric chair in a few hours – you can smell the sweat of fear, the desperation and stale smoke, the accused’s last grasp for some kind of absolution. I have hours of good reading ahead and can hardly wait to start the next book.

I just read New Iberia Blues and was enthralled. So I decided to begin at the beginning, to go back to this, the first of the Dave Robicheaux series. Its riveting stayed up all night reading it yes, its that good. Its blues-jazz New Orleans, a steamy swirl of Southern Gothic, its detective-crime fiction at its very finest. As William Faulkner aged, he claimed only Shakespeare and the King James Bible…. and Detective novels. Im sorry he didnt live to read James Lee Burke. I think he would have recognized his own influence on Burke: the Southern settings that are more than settings, that is backgrounds for the plot, but are characters themselves; theres marvels of description, lyrical language and nature poetry that will take your breath away with frequent representations of death and degradations, of corruptions of bodies and souls that will make you gasp, even gag; theres a cast of vivid, memorably depicted characters. None are angels, few are Faulkners Popeye like pure embodiments of evil, but they still go bump in the night; and there are complicated plots to follow. And while Faulkners scope and grandeur of vision is forever likely to remain unsurpassed by any modern writer, Burke does, with his hero-anti-hero, traditionalist-rebel Detective Dave Robicheaux achieve something that Faulkner thought that all great art must do: show the human heart in conflict with itself, the demons that lurk and darken every soul and the angels like flickering street lamps, stars above the gutter. Robicheaux is unforgettable, flesh and blood as believable as the guy sitting behind you in a traffic jam who honks futilely with his frustration and with yours. I think Faulkner would have loved this novel. I know I sure did. I think you will too. Very Highly Recommended.

In this novel, the first featuring Det Dave Robicheaux, the author captures the grimy, misty, steamy, lush characteristics of New Orleans and surrounding areas. Robicheaux, ex-Vietnam vet and ex-alcoholic, fights a losing battle against an entrenched criminal element, as well police depts that turn a blind eye to it all.

In this case, a young girl had been found dead in a bayou and the local sheriff has no interest. But once Robicheaux gets involved in such a matter, he cant let it go. He soon finds himself imposing on the territory of some very ruthless types, whose capacity for inflicting harm on intruders knows no limits.

Robicheaux is a gritty, interesting guy, who cannot abide punks. He almost has a death wish. Fortunately, he finds a girl Annie who brings some sanity into his life.

The authors ability to capture the rawness of this environment is reason enough to read this series.

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