Review: The Glass Rainbow (Dave Robicheaux #18)

Reviewer: Kelsey
Author:James Lee Burke
Format: Paperback
Pages: 560
Rating: 6 out of 10 (I guess...)

Summary (Goodreads version): James Lee Burke’s eagerly awaited new novel finds Detective Dave Robicheaux back in New Iberia, Louisiana, and embroiled in the most harrowing and dangerous case of his career. Seven young women in neighboring Jefferson Davis Parish have been brutally murdered. While the crimes have all the telltale signs of a serial killer, the death of Bernadette Latiolais, a high school honor student, doesn’t fit: she is not the kind of hapless and marginalized victim psychopaths usually prey upon. Robicheaux and his best friend, Clete Purcel, confront Herman Stanga, a notorious pimp and crack dealer whom both men despise. When Stanga turns up dead shortly after a fierce beating by Purcel, in front of numerous witnesses, the case takes a nasty turn, and Clete’s career and life are hanging by threads over the abyss.

Adding to Robicheaux’s troubles is the matter of his daughter, Alafair, on leave from Stanford Law to put the finishing touches on her novel. Her literary pursuit has led her into the arms of Kermit Abelard, celebrated novelist and scion of a once prominent Louisiana family whose fortunes are slowly sinking into the corruption of Louisiana’s subculture. Abelard’s association with bestselling ex-convict author Robert Weingart, a man who uses and discards people like Kleenex, causes Robicheaux to fear that Alafair might be destroyed by the man she loves. As his daughter seems to drift away from him, he wonders if he has become a victim of his own paranoia. But as usual, Robicheaux’s instincts are proven correct and he finds himself dealing with a level of evil that is greater than any enemy he has confronted in the past.

Set against the backdrop of an Edenic paradise threatened by pernicious forces, James Lee Burke’s The Glass Rainbow is already being hailed as perhaps the best novel in the Robicheaux series.

...Why is that so long? Does it really need to be that long? Come on people, get it together!

Anyway: I'll keep it short since the stupid blurb takes up so much space. This is the second (third?) novel I've read in this series. I like the series. I don't know why but I do. It's different than a lot of other stuff I read. By that I mean that the characters are waaaaaaaay different than in other books I read. It's not bad, just a fact.

This novel made me very angry at the end. I threw it because I had to reread it so many times than do some googling. This may be because my cousins were goofing around in the truck while I was trying to read, the hooligans!

Dave is always so certain that he's right. It bugs me because you can't really see where all this certainty comes from. It's not like the bad guy gives a lot of signs in the beginning. I'm going to chalk it up to my not reading the entire series and reading the ones I read not in any sort of order. Heck, I don't even know where this book came from. I swear they just appear on my shelves.

Not bad, not bad at all. Probably not reread material but I may look into the rest of the novels in the series when I've got some money...

Review: Swan Peek (Dave Robicheaux #17)

Reviewer: Kelsey
Author: James Lee Burke
Format: Paperback
Pages: 402
Rating: 5 out of 10

Summary (peeking at Goodreads): "James Lee Burke's new novel, Swan Peak, finds Detective Robicheaux far from his New Iberia roots, attempting to relax in the untouched wilderness of rural Montana. He, his wife, and his buddy Clete Purcell have retreated to stay at an old friend's ranch, hoping to spend their days fishing and enjoying their distance from the harsh, gritty landscape of Louisiana post-Katrina." But the serenity is soon shattered when two college are found brutally murdered in the hills behind where the Robicheauxs and Purcell are staying. They quickly find themselves involved in a twisted and dangerous mystery involving a wealthy, vicious oil tycoon, his deformed brother and beautiful wife, a sexually deviant minister, an escaped con and former country music star, and a vigilante Texas gunbull out for blood. At the center of the storm is Clete, who cannot shake the feeling that he is being haunted by the ghosts from his past - namely Sally Dio, the mob boss he'd sabotaged and killed years before.

My Thoughts: So, I didn't really realize what I was getting into with this novel. It's one of those novels that somehow manage to sneak onto your shelves without you noticing. Eventually you look at it and think "I don't know where you came from" so you pick it up and look at it for a minute. You proceed to ignore it because it isn't your top priority then suddenly you have free time (you bring it on a trip with you so you have to read it) and you finally read the book. This is the first novel in this series that I've read but it didn't bother me. The author provides enough information on the characters and whatever back story is needed that reading the others wasn't important. That's good because this isn't the usual novel I read and I don't plan on buying that other 17+ novels.

This story is less character focused and more plot/action oriented. It really just tells you the story. It gives you the information and expects you to keep up. I thought it was interesting. I liked the mystery and how it was all tied together. I enjoyed that I followed along trying to get ahead. It didn't bother me too much that it wasn't super excited. I managed. 

I found myself rooting for characters. Other characters I totally hated. It worked out how it should have been in that area expect that so many times I wanted to smash Clete upside the head.

For me, I don't consider this very high on the reread list. My being stuck mainly within the interest of the young adult genre kind of keeps my interest elsewhere. This was a bit like CSI novels though, if you like that. Let me know what you think about this novel.

Finally: I doubt that I would turn down another in this series but I'm not going to search for them. This novel isn't really my thing but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I enjoyed the mystery of it. If any of the labels speak to you and your favourite type of novels then check this one out!