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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Evil, Dark and Masterful..., July 29, 2008
Swan Peak by James Lee Burke is the 16th book in his Dave Robicheaux series, and this novel is dark, evil and wonderfully written.
Detective Dave Robicheaux hails from New Iberia, Louisiana. He's spending the summer in Montana with his wife Molly, and best friend Clete Purcell. Robicheaux plans on spending his days fishing and enjoying the Bitterroots. Events conspire against him, and as usual with Dave and Clete, trouble seems to follow them where ever they go.
Two college co-eds are brutally murdered, and one is found near where Robicheaux is staying. Two tourists are also found murdered at a rest stop. Robicheaux feels that the Wellstone brothers, Ridley and Leslie are somehow behind the evil things happening in this small town of Missoula. The Wellstones made their money in Texas, and are now operating a local ministry. Leslie Wellstone, a monster of a man with burn scars all over his face, is married to the pretty country singer, Jamie Sue Stapleton. At the same time, Jamie Sue's true love, Jimmy Dale Greenwood, escapes from a Texas jail after being brutalized by a jail gunbull, Troyce Nix. Nix knows that Greenwod will try to find Jamie Sue and follows Greenwood to Montana. And as if this isn't enough darkness going on, Purcell and Robicheaux are both dealing with demons caused by their childhoods, their Viet Nam experiences and in Robicheaux's case, his battle to stay sober. How these people all converge in this small town and the end results are as surprising as they are masterful.
In terms of writing, James Lee Burke it not just a mystery writer, but an author who writes mysteries. His books are written in a style that can be found in good literature. In fact, in addition to two different mystery series, Burke is the author of eight novels. When Clete became frustrated with the happenings in Missoula, "He closed his cell phone and flipped it over his shoulder onto the bed. If ever reincarnated, he vowed, he would live in a stone hut on top of a mountain in Tibet, thousands of miles away from people whose lives were modeled on the lyrics of country-and-western songs."
James Lee Burke has been publishing a new Robicheaux every July, and it's one of the things I most look forward to during the summer.
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35 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Too heavy on the Southern Gothic musings this time around, July 13, 2008
I've been a fan of Burke and Robicheaux from the jump, and part of the the draw is the stylistic approach Burke uses to flesh out his characters and settings.
In this novel, the setting is changed to Montana, where Robicheaux and his wife, accompanied by long-time buddy Clete Purcell, find themselves once again embroiled in murder, mayhem, and twisted familial psychopathy, this time revolving around the Wellstone family, a duo of physically and emotionally crippled brothers who are power brokers in the small area around Swan Peak; as well as the wife of one of the brothers, who brings her own checkered past into the equation.
There are other players in the story, leading to a complex brew: the former prison guard with a background of sexual perversity pursuing the escapee who shanked him and left him for dead; the aimlessly wandering woman who captures his heart; various thugs who work for the Wellstones; a religious charlatan; innocent kids trying to follow their faith who end up as victims.
These characters are all on courses that lead to intersection in the rugged Montana scenery, and Burke plots it very well.
Unfortunately, this time around the story bogs down in the endless and repetitive musings about each of the characters' pasts, as well as Robicheaux's history and demons.
In previous books, we've always had this aspect to the stories, and it's been handled deftly and creatively, adding to the depth of the characterizations and atmospheres of the tales. This time, I think Burke's gone overboard, and it really needlessly slows things down. Some of the charcters have overlapping or similar backgrounds, so the musings in these cases become repetitive. Others deal with similar demons -- most obviously Clete and Robicheaux -- so again there's a great deal of repetition.
There's one other aspect that's starting to become very obvious and problematic for the Robicheaux character: his age. In his musings, we read about his background in the Vietnam War, and times he spent with his Dad "in the 1940s" when he was growing up.
Well... I spent those kinds of times with MY Dad in the 1950s, and am also a Vietnam veteran, and my next birthday is my 60th. Which means Robicheaux has to be nearing 70. It's getting pretty hard to believe a character that old can be carrying on the way Robicheax and Purcell do.
Anyway, it was still an enjoyable read, if not quite up to Burke's earlier works, so I give it 3.5 stars.
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16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Burke at the Peak of his powers, July 8, 2008
Swan Peak is a "pseudo-sequel" to Black Cherry Blues, the Edgar Award-winning third Dave Robicheaux novel. Like that previous book, it takes place in Montana, where Robicheaux, his wife Molly and longtime friend Clete Purcel go for a fishing trip partly meant to help them escape the devastation of Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina (which was powerfully and sadly evoked in The Tin Roof Blowdown.) The fishing party are the guests of Albert Hollister, one of wealthy oil man Ridley Wellstone's many enemies, with whom Dave and Clete must soon contend after inadvertantly trespassing on his property. After being warned away by two thugs Clete is recognized by one of the men - a former associate of Mob Boss Sally Dio - as the man who engineered Dio's demise in a Montana plane crash (see Black Cherry Blues.) Things get more complicated when two college students are found murdered near Hollister's land; the emnity between Hollister and Wellstone makes the oil tycoon a possible suspect and Dave is recruited by the local authorities to help with the investigation. Meanwhile Clete becomes dangerously infatuated with Wellstone's sister-in-law, a beautiful country singer who's being stalked by a former lover who is himself on the run; he escaped from a Texas prison after nearly killing a brutally violent guard named Troyce Nix. When Nix comes to Montana in pursuit, Robicheaux first sees him at a revival meeting put on by the shady Rev. Sonny Click (who may have Wellstone connections) and immediately pegs him as a menace despite being unaware of the ex-military man's disgraceful involvement at Abu Graib. All of this might sound confusing here, but Burke combines his intertwining storylines so smoothly that it's easy to appreciate his masterfully graceful prose, as well as his poetic eye for detail in both landscape and character. Nobody writes crime novels like James Lee Burke, and Swan Peak shows he is at the peak of his considerable powers.
Also recommended: A Stranger Lies There - winner of the Malice Domestic Award for best first mystery, it features a vividly rendered desert backdrop that should please fans of James Lee Burke's colorful Montana and Louisiana settings.
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