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.