5 stars

Dave Robicheaux makes a visit to Desmond Cormier’s home along with newly minted deputy named Sean McClain. Desmond has an interesting history. Dave met him twenty-five years earlier when Desmond was a scrawny poor boy. Now Desmond is a film director, and quite a famous one. When looking through Desmond’s telescope, they see a young woman who is affixed to a cross floating in the water. Her name is Lucinda Arceneaux. Neither Desmond nor his houseguest, Antoine Butterworth claim to see the body or know who the woman is. Butterworth is more than a little stuck on himself, affecting airs and being borderline snarky. Robicheaux knows they are hiding something.

Dave is assigned a new partner. The woman’s name is Bailey Ribbons. They go to Cypremont Point, Desmond Cormier’s home. Dave had called a friend in the Los Angeles police department and learned that Butterworth is a deviant and drug user. Dave attempts to grill Butterworth, but he is a slippery character and wriggles his way out of every attempt Dave makes.

Dave and Bailey receive a call from their boss, Helen. There is another body. They must travel to a distant place in the swamp where a man who has obviously been tortured and murdered lies. Later the man is identified as Joe Molinari.

There are bad deputies in the department, Axel Devereaux is chief among them. They, of course, are giving Dave and his friends and associates a bad time – a terrible time: beatings, poisoning pets and other criminal acts abound. Devereaux is also making snide comments about Dave’s new partner, Bailey.

When one of Clete’s informant, Travis Lebeau, is murdered horribly, they proverbial s**t hits the fan. The story escalates and the characters seem to spring into action.

The thing I like especially about James Lee Burke’s novels is the philosophical bent to them. Mr. Burke writes one heck of a book and along the way ponders the state of many things: people, crime, the state of affairs and being a father. Dave and Clete always stick up for the “little guy” and the helpless and trapped individuals in today’s society. They are tough guys with hearts of gold. You always get a good read with a James Lee Burke book and plenty of action. This book is both remarkably well written and plotted. There are no wasted words in it. One event follows another in a linear and logical manner. I have read Mr. Burke’s novels since book one and will continue to be an ardent fan of his.

I want to thank NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for forwarding to me a copy of this absolutely great book for me to read, enjoy and review.

The Louisiana bayou in all its musty, shaded glory is almost another character in Burke’s Robicheaux series, a crime fiction series that is deeply character-driven, dark, gloomy, haunted. Dreams, fantasies, and twisted pasts merge with current cruel truths here. Everyone in this whether a midget gunman, Hollywood royalty, or a picture show detective has a checkered mysterious past. Everyone here is haunted by the ghosts of their past. And, Robicheaux is like a drowning man struggling to stay above the surface weighted down by the horrors of his past from his Vietnam days to the wives who passed on to the victims he can’t fix or find justice for.

You don’t necessarily know if the violated corpses are the product of the freaks from Hollywoodland come to visit their sick hell on the wilderness or from vengeful ones escaped from prison or vowing to get even for all the troubles in their world or from someone else corrupted by their inner demons.

The novel is not a fast paced shoot-em-up action Jackson tale but it’s more one of despair, distrust, and desolation. An entire world is brought to life in these pages and it’s a joy to read this tale. What a terrific addition to a series.

Many thanks to the publisher for providing a copy for review.

I recommend any book by James Lee Burke and this title is no exception. Well plotted, Burke writes with the precision of a trigger and the organic joy of a living being. You will want to read the next book by the end.