Sunset Limited [Paperback]

James Lee Burke (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 1999

Megan and Cisco Flynn are back in town. Nobody had ever been caught for the Klan murder of their father, Jack, and Detective Dave Robicheaux knows that trouble cannot be far behind. Particularly when the Flynns get mixed up with the case of a small-time hustler named Cool Breeze Broussard. As the Flynns find themselves deeper and deeper in trouble, Robicheaux is trying to keep Cool Breeze alive. Something ties Breeze to the Flynns, and all three of them to local plantation magnate Archer Terrebonne. Something long past is poisoning all their lives, bringing death in its wake...

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Imagine Philip Marlowe sans the cigarettes and in AA. Put him in Louisiana and jump forward 50 years or so and you've got David Robicheaux, a tough-talking detective with the same soft spot as his prototype for troublesome women and for delving into places into which he probably has no business. New Iberia, Louisiana, perfectly rivals Marlowe's L.A. for its grit and corruption and dames who'll turn a good guy bad.

James Lee Burke's 11th Robicheaux book, Sunset Limited, is a twisted mystery that at times becomes almost byzantine in its attempt to keep disparate characters and narratives wound in a cohesive story line. But Burke's writing is so stunning that all is forgiven as you become immersed in the tale, which meshes past and present to uncover the secret of a decades-old murder.

Forty years ago, a local labor leader was crucified in a crime that remains unsolved. Now, his daughter--Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Megan Flynn--returns to New Iberia. With a seemingly insignificant remark to Robicheaux, she begins a chain of events that lead right back to her father's death. New Iberia, in some sense, is frozen in time as the age-old problems of race and class weave their way into the mystery, complicating Robicheaux's discovery of not only the original crime, but the wealth of murders that spring up along the way. Add in the Chinese mob, corrupt policemen, and a Hollywood film shoot, and the stage is set.

Burke's forte is his ability to create characters so evil they're liable to get you up in the night to check in your closet and under your bed. The players--both good and bad--are characterized more by their flaws than their attributes, giving everyone a wicked sheen. The book isn't overly gory (although short descriptions can be rather graphic), but everyone has a dark side, emphasizing the noir-ish tones of the novel. His writing is powerful, mixing tender landscapes ("[W]e dropped through clouds that were pooled with fire in the sunrise and came in over biscuit-colored hills dotted with juniper and pine and pinyon trees...") with dead-on, cutting descriptions ("His face was tentacled with a huge purple-and-strawberry birthmark, so that his eyes looked squeezed inside a mask") and the camp dialogue of Chandler ("Evil doesn't have a zip code"). Oddly, these sundry elements blend seamlessly, allowing you to overlook tenuous connections and occasionally confusing turns.

Don't pick this up expecting a happy ending. But for those who long for a modern-day Chandler, you'll find Sunset Limited a gripping and satisfying read. --Jenny Brown --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

After stepping into stand-alone territory with Cimmaron Rose (1997), Burke choreographs a masterful return to the lush and brooding world of volatile New Iberia Sheriff's Deputy Dave Robicheaux (Cadillac Jukebox, 1996). This tale's strength lies in breathtaking, moody descriptive passages and incisive vignettes that set time, place and character. Burke's major themes, that the past is key to the present and that money buys power, pervade this mystery. The narrative, with more twists and bounces than a fish fighting a hook, rises from the violent, unsolved murder 40 years ago of union organizer Jack Flynn. The story encompasses at least eight disparate but interlocking subplots: the crooked money behind a movie directed by Flynn's son Cisco; the hold that ex-con Swede Boxleiter has on Cisco's photojournalist sister, Megan; Willie "Cool Breeze" Broussard's theft of a mob warehouse; his wife Ida's suicide 20 years ago; the shooting of two white brothers who raped a black woman; alcoholic Lisa Terrebonne's haunted childhood; her wealthy, arrogant father's ties to Harpo Scruggs, a vicious murderer; the post-Civil War killing by freed slaves of a Terrebonne servant. Hired assassins, snitches, lawmen and FBI agents weave through the novel. Dave and his partner Detective Helen Soileau find the connections, but Dave knows that in the ongoing class war, the worst criminals wield too much influence to pay for their crimes. In rich, dense prose, Burke conjures up bizarre, believable characters who inhabit vivid, spellbinding scenes in a multifaceted, engrossing plot. $300,000 ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Orion Paperbacks (July 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0752826115
• ISBN-13: 978-0752826110
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 1.2 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,713,307 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

James Lee Burke, a rare winner of two Edgar Awards, is the author of twenty-three previous novels, including such New York Times bestsellers as Bitterroot, Purple Cane Road, Cimarron Rose, Jolie Blon's Bounce, and Dixie City Jam. He lives in Missoula, Montana, and New Iberia, Louisiana.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Don't Start Here, May 13, 2001

By 

AntiochAndy "antiochandy" (Antioch, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sunset Limited (Dave Robicheaux Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

"Sunset Limited" is my first book by Burke. In many ways, it is excellent. Burke has the ability to make you feel like you're in the middle of the scenes he describes. He conjures up mist rising from a Louisiana bayou so that you not only see it, you smell it and feel it as well. His characters come alive in a very human way. There are manipulators and pawns, perpetrators and victims. Innocents sometimes pay a heavy price for the misdeeds of others, but even a killer like Swede Boxleiter has redeeming qualities. And Burke's story never has a dull moment. Tension is constant and there is plenty of action.

With all these strengths brought to bear,"Sunset Limited" has a lot going for it, but it also has some shortcomings. This is the 16th Dave Robicheaux novel. A consequence of this is that some things are taken for granted, like the nickname "Streak". Several characters use it on Robicheaux, but if you're unfamiliar with the series, its significance is lost on you. This isn't a big deal, but it is symptomatic of the fact that terms and local expressions abound in this book. To the extent that it can sometimes be difficult for the uninitiated to follow the meaning. Another thing that struck me was that there are a lot of characters in the story, and some just seem to fade in or out without adequate introduction or resolution. For example, "Cool Breeze" Broussard is a pivotal character early in the story, but he just seems to disappear about midway through and you never see any more of him. In the end, the story itself seems to fade away almost like "Cool Breeze". I felt that a lot was left unresolved when the book was done, and it left me with a vaguely unsatisfied feeling. Real life is often like this,a nd some readers may like it this way, but I don't read fiction to get reality. I like stories with all the loose ends tied up.

When I got "Sunset Limited", I was not aware that the Dave Robicheaux character had such a lengthy history. In retrospect, this book was probably not the best place to make his acquaintance. The story is fast-paced and I enjoyed it, but I felt that a lot of loose ends remained when I finished the book, and I probably would have gotten more from it if I had read other books in this series before this one. This is a good book, and I think fans of this series will certainly enjoy it. If you're a newcomer to the Robicheaux novels, however, I suggest that you start with an earlier one. For myself, some earlier Robicheaux books are definitely on the agenda.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not bad, but don't expect a happy ending, May 20, 1998

By 

Derek Parker (Melbourne, Victoria Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sunset Limited (Hardcover)

'Sunset Limited' is pretty good - not great, but pretty good. Burke has moved even further than his previous novels into the realm of atmosphere and psychological context, sacrificing narrative coherence along the way (whether this is a worthwhile exchange depends on your point of view).

This is the sixteenth book centering on Burke's increasingly battered hero, Dave Robicheaux; he is still haunted by old demons, although generally he seems to have found a way to live with most of them. His sometime-friend, Clete Purcel, is still half-heroic, half-pathetic.

The plot centres around a series of decades-old crimes, particularly the grisly murder of a union activist. This leads the book into a series of narrative strands, but sometimes Burke seems to be straining to connect them: there are more than a few unlikely coincidences, and some incidents seem to go nowhere. It is characteristic of the book that the initial reason for Robicheaux's involvement - to locate and perhaps clear a petty crim called Cool Breeze Broussard (Burke has not lost his talent for wonderfully appropriate names) - fades away at the book's half-way point.

But there are villains aplenty: in fact, there are few sympathetic characters here. Some of the bad guys are rich and clever, some are poor and stupid, and some of the worst carry a badge. You can't trust anyone these days, and justice prevails only occasionally.

All this darkness of spirit would be somewhat suffocating, except that Burke has a knack of inserting passages of striking beauty. He has a remarkable feel for the social and physical texture of Louisiana, and a grasp of detail which is almost Chandleresque. Neither has he lost his ear for dialogue: each character has a noticeably different way of speaking, or even of being silent.

'Sunset Limited' - the title is symbolic of a journey into a painful past - is not as good as Burke's 'Black Cherry Blues', 'The Lost Get-Back Boogie' or even 'Heaven's Prisoners', but most readers will find the journey worth the pri! ce of the ticket.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Great Disappointment from a Burke Fan, September 2, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sunset Limited (Paperback)

I was very disappointed in this book, with its incoherent plot -- meanderings is a better term for it. It seems that JLB is getting bored with the Dave Robicheaux character; perhaps his publisher had him in a corner. The characters seem flat, almost prop-like, as if he pulled them out of a Louisiana studio. Although some are, of course, colorful and eccentric, they do not make up for the essential flaw of this book, which is that its plot is confusing and not engaging enough to keep the reader's interest.

I am a JLB fan from way back and hope that he can recapture some of his great writing ability.