One of the movies on endless repeat with my best high school friend and I was The Big Easy with Dennis Quaid and Ellen Barkin. That and a couple trips to New Orleans are the sum of my Louisiana experience, and yet, when I read Neon Rain I feel as if I'm there, ghosting alongside Dave Robicheaux as he investigates. Burke's writing is extremely evocative, in the very best way for the detective-centered mystery. A strong since of place, of the cultural gumbo of New Orleans and the surrounding rural area clinging to its heritage by fingertips.


It also has an equally strong sense of a narrator in turmoil. It's a powerful book that begins with a New Orleans Police Department detective, Lt. Dave Robicheaux, visiting an former button man on death row, only to learn about a death threat against himself. Coincidentally, about two weeks ago, he discovered the body of a young black woman while he was fishing down by Lake Cataouatche. Something about the needle-tracks down her arm and her clothing bothers his instincts, and he starts hounding the rural sheriff's department to follow through with investigating her death ("Her young face looked like a flower unexpectedly cut from its stem.")


Characterization in this book is riveting. Robicheaux is the cop with his own code who slowly learns no one else shares, that he's holding to values from another time. It's interesting to watch his gradual realization; he believes he's so cynical, so dialed in in the beginning, and he's a bit right. Early on, when he meets with the parish sheriff to request an autopsy for the drowned girl, he ends up in a contest of wills that nearly becomes disastrous. Back in New Orleans, he harasses a porno theater owner, looking for the word on who wants to kill him. Both times, he's so sure of his stance and the way to manipulate the situation for results--but then is surprised when it comes back at him. Slowly, it dawns that everyone is working their own angle. He suspects that, he halfway knows it, but he can't quite conceive the absolute depth of the dishonesty.

Robicheaux also struggles with memories from the Vietnam war, and many of his coping strategies seem to stem from wartime experience. Its interesting being reminded of the psychological impact of a war that hasn't been on our cultural consciousness for twenty-five years, overshadowed by more recent ones in sand and desert. My dad was in Vietnam, and I remember that period in the 1980s when I kept bugging him to talk about his experiences, first because of Platoon and then later Born on the Fourth of July. That's the kind of book Burke has written, far-ranging and capable of recapturing a lost cultural time, and conjuring up memories of one's own.


The lush descriptions of the setting are beautiful, and Burke does more with light and smells than any other mystery writer I can think of, immersing the reader in the scene. Yet when the action comes, it's powerful and direct, even if it takes place in flashbacks. His first sentence guaranteed I would keep reading: "The evening sky was streaked with purple, the color of torn plums, and a light rain had started to fall when I came to the end of the blacktop road that cut through twenty miles of thick, almost impenetrable scrub oak and pine and stopped at the front gate of Angola penitentiary."

The ultimate connections between the unknown woman's drowning, the Columbians, the federal agents and the general are a bit confusing, but after some thought, I decided I rather liked it. How often is it, after all, that the right hand knows what the left does? It gives a bit more of a real-life feeling, where not all the odds and ends tie in, and sometimes people will act in ways that remain inscrutable. You can wonder, guess, and interpret but you might not ever know. There is a little more violence than my normal level of comfort, but its handled well. One section, the attempt to kill him in the parking garage seemed excessively showy and not particularly realistic. Still, it ended up being a powerful scene when he survived and the agent didn't.

Downsides? Plotting a little chaotic. Robicheaux is a very tortured soul, which while very well done, is not always comfortable to read. A little more movie-level violence than it really needed. Political complications with Central America very typical then, very lost in history now and confusing, perhaps irrelevant? Still, an amazingly good read.

I highly recommend it. Solid four stars, podjo.

Cross posted at http://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2013/05/30/the-neon-rain-by-james-lee-burke/
where I can have even more fun with links. ( )

Long a fan of James Lee Burke, but I’d never read his Dave Robicheaux series so now the oversight has been rectified and I’ve read this first book in the series. I will be reading the other books in this fabulous series. Detective Dave Robicheaux is a force to be reckoned with. He’s an ex-Viet Nam vet who has his own personal demons to deal with such as booze and gambling. He’s a man who does not back down from any threat and one who expects the same appreciation for law, order and justice from everyone he works with. He’s not a man that you want to make an enemy of. This book is set in New Orleans and all the place names keep dropping—the Garden District, the Magazine, the French Quarter, Bywater Street —and to someone who has wanted to visit this area forever, it was enchanting. It all starts with the discovery of a young prostitute’s body in the bayou and that takes Dave to a world of drug and gun dealers where life is cheap and fear reigns. This is heart-stopping tension told in Burke’s straightforward and realistic style. We see right into his characters’ psyches and nothing is spared. If you already know James Lee Burke and his writing, there’s nothing I can explain here, but if you aren’t familiar with his writing, I suggest that you delve into his backlist and read how a true master writer writes. It will be a revelation to you. ( )

A New Orleans homicide cop confronts arms-smugglers, the Mafia and his own private demons in this suspenser, the latest offering from James Lee Burke (Robicheaux is on a fishing trip when he discovers the body of a young black woman floating in the water. The trail leads to Julio Segura, a Nicaraguan vice king who is in exile, but still funding the Contras with dope money. He has also put out a contract on Dave Robicheaux's lite. Segura is soon killed by Dave's partner. The others involved in the arms-smuggling force cover Dave in alcohol and leave him to die in a burning car. He does manage to survive the fire but doesn't do so well with his superiors on the police force, who quickly suspend him without pay, figuring since he had had a problem with booze before that he's drinking again: We find out that Dave is an "arrested alcoholic, with a marriage and combat service in Vietnam behind him. The only thing keeping him staying sober is Annie Ballard, the sweet little blonde he collected somewhere along the way.... who encourages and believes in him. Dave still has unfinished work...like dispatching more bad guys from other cases and in a development unrelated to the arms-smuggling, taking on the local Mafia head. Somehow...unknown hands stow away the hood's body, the remaining arms-smugglers are brought to justice, and Dave is reinstated...but still not really trusted or loved by his fellow cops. This entire story is the story of one cop, and the cases read more like an afterthought taking away the excitement of all the kills... But what the heck? There were still eight very bad guys that came to violent bloody ends. In spite of that there are still some good investigative scenes that are filled with close calls and excitement....and a little romance. I read this book 20 or so years ago and have read many of the later books in the series...so I know that the series is a very worth the time effort...it just takes some time and patience to get there. ( )

I have been long overdue for reading (or listening to in this case) one of James Lee Burke's books. After my brother recommended him, I jumped in at the start of the Dave Robicheaux series and was amply rewarded by a book whose plot may ramble a bit, but that rewards the reader from start to finish with some of the best characters and dialogue you'll come across. When you add the incmoparable Will Patton as the audiobook narrator, how can it miss? The story, part of which involves shadowy figures supporting the Nicaraguan Contras, is a bit dated, but the action scenes, the character of Robicheaux, and the satisfaction of some of the outcomes is not. There is even humor here and there, such as the scene with the porno theater owner. I'm moving straight on into Book 2; however, Patton doesn't narrate that one. I do see he comes back here and there as the series moves on, though.

If we do things in chronological order, this is where we first meet David Robicheaux and all his demons. In this one he's a detective lieutenant with the New Orleans Police Department, with one ex-wife in his past, 14 years on the force, a tentative grip on his alcoholism, some Vietnam flashbacks, lots of issues with authority, and a partner he should just shoot. He's also well-educated and a practicing Catholic. Having read the rest of the series to date, I know I like the man in spite of his flaws, and that Burke has a lot of depth despite the prevalence of violence in his books. If I had read this one first, though, I just don't know if it would have led me on to the others.
Review written in 2009 ( )