Customer Reviews

Pegasus Descending: A Dave Robicheaux Novel (Dave Robicheaux Mysteries)

5 star:		(82)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Last summer, I discovered James Lee Burke and ended up reading all 14 Dave Robicheaux mysteries in quick succession. Thank goodness Burke just came out with Pegasus Descending as it's been a long 8 months without a fix.

Dave Robicheaux is still a detective, working for the Iberia Sheriff's Department. The year is 2005 and three unsolved deaths are on Robicheaux's plate. First, a young co-ed getting ready for college is found with a gunshot wound to her head. It looks like a suicide, and the detective can't figure out why this apparently happy, well-adjusted girl would have taken too many drugs, had sex with more than a few men and then shot herself. The skeletal remains of a homeless man (nicknamed Crustacean Man) are found in a drainage ditch and seem to have sat there for 12 months. His injuries are not consistent with a hit and run. And a college student, Tony Lujan, is killed with a shotgun. Robicheaux suspects that all three deaths are related, but can't find the pieces that will tie this puzzle together. He keeps coming back to the same names: Bellerophon Lujan and Whitey Bruxal, two men who have mob ties and are in the casino business. Unfortunately, the politically ambitious DA, Lonnie Marceaux, wants to pin the crimes on a small-tine black drug dealer, Monarch Little. How Pegasus Descending plays out is riveting and I was completely surprised at the end.

Many of Burke's characters that we have grown to know and love are back. Cletus Purcell is always there for Robicheaux and is always good for a few belly laughs. Robicheaux seems a little more grounded with his new wife, the former nun Molly Boyle. The women in Robicheaux's past tended to be victim-types. So it's refreshing for Robicheaux to have two strong women in his corner, wife Molly and Sheriff Helen Soileau. There is a new female FBI agent in town who provides some comic relief. Betsy Mossbacher gets the nickname Calamity Jane when she backs into a sheriff's cruiser her first day in town. Robicheaux can't decide whether Homeland Security has drained the FBI of their "first team" or maybe she's being punished. But despite the humor, there is always an underlying blackness in Burke's books whether it is caused by Robicheaux's battle with alcoholism, lost opportunities, senseless deaths, and with Pegasus Descending, the looming specter of Hurricane Katrina.

Many writers of mystery series run out of energy, ideas, characters, etc. once they've been at it for awhile. Luckily for his readers, Burke is still at the top of his game in Pegasus Descending.

It just wouldn't be July or August without a Burke crafted Dave Robicheaux novel. In Pegasus Descending Burke treats us once again with a gritty, humid, and atmospheric thriller that is sure to satisfy all of Burkes loyal readers. I've said this before but I'll say it again, James Lee Burke is one of the finest descriptive writers alive today. He can describe a humid summer day in the pages of his book and you'll have to wipe your brow because of the sweat gathering there. The scenes and smells he describes will fill your senses. That and his cast of characters, including former Marine Clete Purcell makes each new book like a visit home.

Dave Robicheaux is a survivor of too much of a good thing. Long off the bottle he is still paying for his affair with alcohol and as another reviewer said, the past is never far away. Trish Klein, a young scam artist, turns out to be the daughter of Robicheaux's best friend and fellow Nam vet Dallas Klein. Robicheaux witnessed Dallas' execution style murder years before but was too blasted to intervene. Fast forward to now and young Trish has disappeared after ripping off a local mobster.

Burke has a love affair with NOLA. It will be interesting to see if he eventually incorporates Katrina into a future novel.



Pegasus is a must read for all Burke fans.

Dave Robicheaux is working on three cases that he comes to believe are connected.

The first is the case of a young co-ed who is found dead of apparent suicide but the facts don't add up.

Then there is a black vagrant whose body is found in a gulley by the road. He is so decomposed, he is given the nickname the Crustation man. Not many people would care for the apparent victim of a hit and run but to Dave, it is a matter of justice.

Besides the third case, Dave is asked to question a young woman who is passing money at a casino that looks like it has the markings of a former hold up. Dave finds that this woman is the daughter of a friend that Dave had seen killed during an armored car robbery.

The third death is that of a college student. There had been a racial incident and the black man involved was known to sell drugs. The ambitious district attorney views this man as the main suspect when the college student is killed. However, Dave thinks that the man is being set up.

James Lee Burke is a master and the reader is glued to the action as Dave attemps to sort these crimes out. All of this is happening as New Orleans is on the verge of Hurricane Katrina and the destruction that storm brought with it.

Dave Robicheaux, with his sense of justice, his faith and his unstable temper is one of the great characters in literature. Together with his loyal but flawed side-kick Clete Purcel, these two characters leave an imprint that is unmatched.

Burke has reached perfection in his Robicheaux series with this book. It has every element needed to create a solid story. This time, Burke takes his beautiful writing and wraps it around a storyline that not only vividly flows, but contemplatively pulls together in the end. The difference between this book and the average suspense novel is Burke's lyrical writing and thrilling, quirky storylines and characters. I felt like breaking into song after I finished it, it's that good. Bravo, Burke!

James Lee Burke stands alone in the crime world. Superlatives escape me. He is the titan of the genre. I rate him along with Cormac McCarthy as the greatest of living writers.

Pegasus Descending was gratefully received here. Like another reviewer, I was recommended Burke (by my father) and immediately devoured everything he'd written to date.

In this book, I noticed a sadness creeping in (more so than usual in Burke's books ie. for the state of humanity and its iniquities, its ill treatment of the downtrodden and disenfranchised). The sadness I speak of seems to emanate from the inevitable decline age brings to the 'Bobbsey Twins from Homicide". A decline that Burke seems to be preparing his readership for. It will be a sad day indeed when he finally wraps Robicheaux for good, and I'm sure he will do so. I only hope we get a couple more.

I actually wept at a passage in this book where Dave is interacting with Helen Solieau, now the sheriff. The man writes his heart out.

Katrina as an imminent Act of God will probably change the Robicheaux series significantly. This may be the catalyst Burke takes to farewell the territory of his characters. Just contemplating this makes me feel morbid. To the recently initiated, read everything this man has written!

James Lee Burke has had a long and splendid career as a writer. Many writers with his body of work and credentials would be slowing down. Not Burke.

Jim Burke keeps getting better. Readers of the last book in this series, CRUSADER's CROSS will recall that in that book Dave Robicheaux hooked up with a nun. In this book they are married and she serves as a sort of moral compass for a man who really needs one.

There are crimes to investigate. A suicide, or was it murder? A death by hit and run driver, or was it murder? And that vintage Burke signature crime from the past, bubbling up like swamp gas, the execution style slaying of Dave's pal years ago in Miami. Dave saw the killing but he was too drunk to do anything.

Now sober, Dave is trying to keep his sidekick Clete from drinking himself to death. While Clete seems destined for mayhem it is actually Dave who is wrestling with demons. He is so filled with rage he nearly beats a man to death. Of course, that man tried to poison Dave's pet raccoon so most animal lovers would concur that killing that creep would be justifiable homicide.

Burke conjures up atmospheres as dark as a hurricane blowing in. The weather is a metaphor for Dave's anger. Dave and Clete are classically flawed heroes. Think Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.

Reading James Lee Burke is as comfortable as that favorite sweater or that pair of slippers you can't throw away. Each new book is such a pleasure. I hope he keeps writing for many more years to come.

Of the fifteen "Dave Robicheaux" novels that James Lee Burke has written, his newest one, Pegasus Descending, is definitely the most complex. Most of his books have a couple of plotlines for the characters to follow that are resolved at the end. Pegasus Descending has about seven plotlines that intertwine, and I found myself hard pressed to keep all of the characters straight in my mind and how their roles kept changing. That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the novel. I did, but it certainly required a lot of work on my part.

The story basically revolves around Robicheaux finally getting retribution for the death of his old friend, Dallas Klein, who was killed many years before during a bank robbery. Robicheaux tried to take out the bad guys during the hold-up, but was drunk at the time and couldn't aim properly. He always blamed himself for Klein's death. Now, Klein's daughter, Trish, is in New Iberia, pulling scams at the local casinos that are now owned by the man who ordered her father's death. Robicheaux has to figure out what to do with her, but that soon becomes a mute point when she inadvertently hooks up with his best friend, Clete Purcel. Trish and Purcel hit it off as she continues to figure up ways to draw out the man who killed her dad. Robicheaux then has his attention divided when the body of a murdered homeless man is discovered along a drainage ditch and a young girl dies from an apparent suicide. Add to that a lot of racial tension between the town's main gangbanger and the son of the man whom Trish Klein is after. This time around, Robicheaux is going to have his hands full trying to do his job, while keeping his chief happy, the FBI happy, the local D.A. happy, and just about anyone else that you can think of. The only problem is that Robicheaux wants some serious payback from the men who murdered his friend so long ago and he doesn't care whom he has to take out in order to get it.

I've been a big fan of the "Robicheaux" novels since 1993, and I have yet to read a bad one, which is saying a lot for the author. All the books are magnificently written. Mr. Burke has a unique style of writing that's not only elegant but also poetic. The way he describes old Louisiana and New Orleans touches the heart of the reader with its beauty and sense of nostalgia. The many characters that he creates in his books are true Southerners in their politeness, hospitality, and views of the world. Mr. Burke also has a clear eye for depicting the evil and wickedness that men are prone to. Even the hero of the series, Dave Robicheaux, is filled with inner demons that often lead him to forms of extreme violence in a futile effort to squelch them. He has no problem whatsoever with crushing those who would hurt the innocent, even if it means stepping outside the law to do it. Always filled with action, deep character studies, and the drama of a morality play, the "Robicheaux" series is one of the best on the market with Pegasus Descending carrying on in the grand tradition. Highly recommended!

Will Patton's reading of this book is outstanding, plain and simple. The book itself is terrific, but Patton's interpretation of the characters is the best I've ever heard, and I've listened to more audio books than I can count. Even if you've enjoyed the print version of Pegasus Descending, I urge you to listen to it as well. The James Lee Burke/Will Patton marriage is one made in heaven.

There's something comfortable and familiar about reading Dave Robicheaux novels, sort of like putting on a favorite soft leather jacket. It might have shiny elbows and a button missing, but it still feels like home.
Now, for those unfamiliar with detective Robicheaux of the New Iberia Police Department in southern Louisiana, we're talking here about a man with a long history of alternating alcoholism and AA attendance, violent tendencies, someone who hangs with people of deservedly ill repute and who flaunts legal protocol when the need arrives. He's big, strong and full of rage, even as he does his level best to control it. He's the kind of person you want on your side in a bar fight.
He's also a man of extraordinary tenderness and sensitivity, much of this born of regret. James Lee Burke's latest Robicheaux novel begins with a scene in south Florida decades ago when our hero, in a drunken haze, witnesses the slaughter of a friend and is unable to do anything about it. Now, back in Louisiana, a young lady of questionable background makes an appearance and Robicheaux is drawn back into recalling the events in Opa Laka. His close friend and former patrol partner is targeted by the wily young woman, the daughter of his murdered friend from Florida, and serves to aid her plot to bring down those responsible for her father's death.
James Lee Burke, a New Iberian himself, is a writer of uncommon strengths. Like many authors of popular fiction, he publishes regularly and successfully. But unlike some whose work is occasionally forced to make contract deadlines, Burke is a writer first, and his work is uncommonly fresh and unforced. In Pegasus Descending, as in his dozen or so other Robicheaux novels, Burke doesn't compromise quality for speed. His scenes capture the hazy lingering humidity of the area and readers can almost smell the floor boards of the dingy roadhouse bars, soaked through with Jim Beam and stale beer. Robicheaux's suffering obsession is palpable as he continues to put himself in harm's way to do the job he is sworn to do; there are no cardboard cutouts in Burke's work.
Burke also infuses his Robicheaux series with personalities that reflect the seamier side of Iberia's poorest neighborhoods and the unctuous vapidity of those mansion dwellers on the outskirts who pretend to a higher station. This is a community of deep poverty, drug use and prostitution. It is also one of exceptional wealth and privilege and the combination is often combustible. Like a match and a gallon of gasoline, Robicheaux' great friend, Clete Purcell strides across the pages and spreads his incendiary personality, leaving a wake of justice marked by mayhem. Like Robicheaux, Purcell does not back away from encouraging those lesser souls around him to amend their ways, even if it takes a pool cue mashed into an eye socket or a beer bottle crushing a larynx to engage their finer virtues.

James Lee Burke seamlessly and adeptly continues his Cajun based lawman Dave Robicheaux series in his latest crime thriller,"Pegasus Descending". Robicheaux, a sheriff's deputy, continually battling the demons of alcoholism and Vietnam experiences is living a good life bolstered by two nurturing and caring women. His wife ex-nun Molly Boyle provides him a stable homelife and his boss New Iberia sheriff Helen Soileau deeply respects his ability as a veteran law enforcement officer.

Robicheaux's bucolic existence is shattered by a series of crimes and events that remind him of a horrific episode from the past. Twenty five years ago Robicheaux, a young New Orleans police officer witnessed the shotgun slaying of his good buddy and ex-Nam vet armored car guard, Dallas Klein. Klein's gambling debts caused him to be complicit in an robbery of the car he was driving, orchestrated by Florida mobster Whitey Bruxal. Unfortunately, although armed, Robicheaux was too drunk to come to Klein's aid, creating a mountain of guilt and remorse deep within.

Fast forwarding to the future Klein's daughter Trish arrives in New Iberia with a team of gambling casino grifters to even the score with Bruxal. Bruxal and local Cajun mobster and Robicheaux nemesis Bello Lujan are joining forces in a new casino venture in Louisiana. Robicheaux is currently investigating the apparent suicide of young coed Darbonne, a girlfriend of Bello's collegiate son Tony. Tony Lujan and his friend the snotty and belligerent Slim Bruxal, Whitey's son are frat brothers, who seem to have knowledge of the coed's death.

Robicheaux is also assigned to investigate the circumstances surrounding the skeletal remains of a John Doe, an apparent hit and run victim know as the "Crustacean Man" whose injuries suggest foul play. When Tony Lujan winds up the victim of a shotgun murder, Robicheaux begins to suspect a connection between all three deaths. The local politically motivated D.A. is trying to pin all the crimes on an innocent local black drug dealer Monarch Little, who had conflicts with the frat boys, but Robicheaux has his back.

Robicheaux recruits his ex-partner and best friend the lethal private investigator, Clete Purcell to help him sift his way through the quagmire of crime surrounding the normally idyllic New Iberia.

Burke has obviously found his niche as he nimbly navigates his way through another thoroughly engrossing tale of greed, passion and psychodrama in the Robicheaux series. A native to the environment he depicts in his novels, Burke describes the humid, lush sub-tropical Louisiana in vividly descriptive terms that make his love for this mystical land very apparent.