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Robicheaux: A Novel (Dave Robicheaux) Paperback – September 4, 2018

by James Lee Burke (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 9,563 ratings
Editors' pick Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
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James Lee Burke’s most beloved character, Dave Robicheaux, returns in this New York Times bestselling mystery set in the towns and backwoods of Louisiana: an “enthralling yet grim novel that…will captivate, start to finish” (Publishers Weekly).

Dave Robicheaux is a haunted man. From the acts he committed in Vietnam, to his battles with alcoholism, to the sudden loss of his beloved wife, Molly, his thoughts drift from one irreconcilable memory to the next. Images of ghosts pepper his reality. Robicheaux’s only beacon remains serving as a detective in New Iberia, Louisiana.

It’s in that capacity that Robicheaux crosses paths with powerful mob boss, Tony Nemo. Tony has a Civil War sword he’d like to give to Levon Broussard, a popular local author whose books have been adapted into major Hollywood films. Then there’s Jimmy Nightengale, the young poster boy of New Orleans wealth and glamour. Jimmy’s fond of Levon’s work, and even fonder of his beautiful, enigmatic wife, Rowena. Tony thinks Jimmy can be a US Senator someday, and has the resources and clout to make it happen. There’s something off about the relationship among these three men, and after a vicious assault, it’s up to Robicheaux to uncover the truth “in the barn-burner of a climax” (Booklist, starred review).

Complicating matters is the sudden death of the New Iberian local responsible for Molly’s death; namely that Robicheaux’s colleague thinks Robicheaux had something to do with it. As Robicheaux works to clear his name and make sense of the murder, a harrowing study of America emerges: this nation’s abiding conflict between a sense of past grandeur and a legacy of shame, its easy seduction by demagogues and wealth, and its predilection for violence and revenge. “It has been almost five years since James Lee Burke’s last Dave Robicheaux novel, and it was absolutely worth the wait” (Associated Press).
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  1. Book 21 of 24
    Dave Robicheaux
  2. Print length
    464 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publication date
    September 4, 2018
  5. Dimensions
    5.5 x 1.1 x 8.38 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1501176862
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1501176869
  8. See all details
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The chilling story of the abduction of two teenagers, their escape, and the dark secrets that, years later, bring them back to the scene of the crime. | Learn more

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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Burke is known for his lyrical, deeply melancholic prose, and once again it permeates every page of this profoundly elegiac novel. We tend to forget, however, that he is no slouch at plotting and at constructing hold-your-breath action scenes. Both traits are in evidence here, the former in the way he nimbly juggles the multiple strands of his narrative, the latter in the barn-burner of a climax.”—Booklist, Starred Review

“Heaven-storming prose…the intimations of mortality that have hovered over this series for 30 years have never been sharper or sadder.”—Kirkus

“[An] enthralling yet grim novel of crime, hate, and tragedy. … The novel’s murders and lies—both committed with unsettling smiles—will captivate, start to finish.” —Publishers Weekly

"There can be no doubt that the time for America to welcome back a heroic warrior, even a literary one, is now. Burke does not disappoint. He has performed a magic trick possible to only the most imaginative and substantive of writers. He has written a book that is topical, but timeless."—Salon

"Reading one of Burke's novels is truly an immersive experience, with every ache and anguish feeling gut-wrenchingly real. It has been almost five years since the last Dave Robicheaux novel, and it was absolutely worth the wait."—Associated Press

"Burke is what fellow writers call a wordsmith. He can make your eyes water with a lyrical description."—New York Times Book Review

"Burke is at the top of his form, still drawing from the rich material of his family background in Louisiana and Texas as well as his deep knowledge of literature and history. Robicheaux rings with lovely prose and chills with a dark vision of America’s current condition."—Tampa Bay Times

About the Author

James Lee Burke is a New York Times bestselling author, two-time winner of the Edgar Award, and the recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts in Fiction. He has authored forty novels and two short story collections. He lives in Missoula, Montana.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster; Reprint edition (September 4, 2018)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 464 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1501176862
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1501176869
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.4 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1.1 x 8.38 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 9,563 ratings

About the author

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James Lee Burke

James Lee Burke

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James Lee Burke is a New York Times bestselling author, two-time winner of the Edgar Award, and the recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts in Fiction. He’s authored thirty-seven novels and two short story collections. He lives in Missoula, Montana.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
9,563 global ratings
Raccoons are awesome.
5 Stars
Raccoons are awesome.
I love JLB's writing. There is always the awesome descriptions of weather and fauna. There is always the villainous presence of alcohol and violence and general mayhem. He writes the best psychopaths ever. But what I love about all of his books is the availability of grace in all of life's mad descent down the toilet. There is hope. There is love. There is God.
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Top reviews from the United States

Richard B. Schwartz
5.0 out of 5 stars Classic.
Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2018
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I have always said that it is impossible to rank JLB’s books because they are all superb. It is the case, however, that ROBICHEAUX is a classic in the Robicheaux series. Why? Because it hits all of that series’ major themes: the haunting nature of a past that embodies both great evil and great valor; the nature of alcohol addiction and how it feels and how it distorts your life; the experience of Vietnam at the personal, cultural and historic levels; the bond between men and women who work the streets and try to stem the tide of crime, sin and corruption. All of which is to say that, yes, we see a great deal of Clete Purcel here—a combination friend, boon companion, tempter and avenging angel. We also (as we often do in JLB’s work) find ourselves on a movie set, a set that offers a perspective on both past and present and the manner in which both good men/women and bad aspire to shape reality.

The plot is ‘classic’ as well: a wounded detective with a larger-than-life partner encounters a series of individuals (an aspiring politician, a race-baiting manipulator, a prominent writer, a professional criminal, et al.), each one of whom might have been responsible for murder. The twist here: the detective himself may have been responsible for a murder during a blackout. Thus, to solve the crimes is to find both personal and professional redemption. Throw in a professional hitman who carries a great deal of belly fat, has red lips, a fondness for licorice and a personal arsenal and the picture is nearly complete. There is also an odd Burkean touch. Here, Dave Robicheaux, has an orphaned, adopted daughter named Alafair; in real life Jim Burke has a daughter named Alafair. In each case the two women went to Reed College and Stanford for law school. Another variation on that curious theme: the writer in ROBICHEAUX has written a book entitled WHITE DOVES AT MORNING—the name of an actual title by JLB.

All else is as expected: stunning writing with descriptive passages that sparkle on the page without becoming purple; exquisite, appropriate violence when it is deserved; memorable characters; a setting that is so rich and so nicely realized that it hovers over the book as a constant presence and an ending that is both totally appropriate for the story and philosophically haunting.

Just a couple samples of the writing:

“He was handsome in the way that superficial people are, his jaw firm, his teeth capped, his manner easy and detached, as though a greater world awaited his presence” (p. 292).

“If there are angels among us, as St. Paul suggests, I believed Clete was one of them, his wings auraed with smoke, his cloak rolled in blood, his sword broken in battle but unsurrendered and unsheathed, a protector whose genus went back to Thermopylae and Masada” (p. 322).

I would include the concluding lines of the book but I don’t want to spoil their effect on the book as a whole.

Bottom line: another fine book from JLB. Don’t miss it.
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TMStyles
4.0 out of 5 stars Spellbinding And Addicting Effort From Burke
Reviewed in the United States on January 16, 2018
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"Robicheaux" is Burke's 21st installment of his wildly popular series featuring Dave Robicheaux, his partner and sometimes conscience, Clete Purcel, and assorted characters from his adopted daughter, Alafair, and his pet raccoon(s). Burke may arguably America's finest writer of literary fiction with his Robicheaux series as his signature achievement. Burke can paint word pictures that transport his readers to a different time and place. His wordsmithing and facile use of an encompassing lyrical vocabulary coupled with marvelous plotting and pacing make him an author to be enjoyed and revered.

If you have never read a Robicheaux novel before, this one is somewhat stand alone although the reader will wonder about so much of the backstory of the main characters. Robicheaux is a good but flawed man now a detective in New Iberia who, along with his partner, Clete Purcel, must fight internal demons and tormentors ranging from alcoholism to unresolved experiences from the Vietnam War. But the people and places of the deep south and their checkered cultural Jekyl and Hyde history are wonderfully described in the written words of JLB.

In "Robicheaux", Dave is faced with questions of whether, while sloppy drunk, he may have killed the man who killed his wife, Molly, in an accident. As he deals with finding out the truth, he confronts characters from Louisiana's haunted history representing the mob influence, the patriarchal remnants of the old social order, crooked cops, assassins, and a changing tableaux that he neither relishes nor embraces. Dave watches with a sense of unease as the inexorable deterioration of the fading memories of the "old" South and its culture are replaced by technology, Hollywood types, new crime cartels and revisionists. Once again, Dave Robicheaux and Clete must fight to retain not only their place in this "new" South but also their very lives. My sole quibble was an unsatisfactory climax and denouement but, hey, sometimes things don't always work out as planned.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Oliver R. Baker
5.0 out of 5 stars A Louisiana saga with familiar players
Reviewed in Canada on June 12, 2022
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Burke always writes a cracking good story, with almost believable flawed characters.
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Gastao Manso
5.0 out of 5 stars Crime novel
Reviewed in Spain on May 1, 2023
Verified Purchase
James Lee Burke is the best writer of crime novels… probably.

Excellent edition.
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Mr Godot
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully depressing
Reviewed in France on July 29, 2020
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« These are signs of clinical depression or maybe a realistic vision of the era in which we live. During moments like these, no matter the time of day or night, I had found release only in a saloon. The long bar and brass foot rail, the wood-bladed fans, the jars of cracklings and pickled eggs and sausages, the coldness of bottled beer or ice-sheathed mugs, the wink in the barmaid’s eye and the shine on the top of her breasts, the tumblers of whiskey that glowed with an amber radiance that seemed almost ethereal, the spectral bartender without a last name, the ringing of the pinball machine, all these things became my cathedral, a home beneath the sea, and just as deadly. »

If you’ve read a lot of James Lee Burke’s books, you’re perfectly aware that they have been cast in the same mold for quite a while now. The bouts of blind rage, the struggle with alcohol, the indomitable Clete Purcell, the entitled rich, the powerful gangster, the peculiar psychopathic killer. Book after book, these elements return in more or less the same order, bringing the same sour conclusions (which is not to say that you’ll often be able to properly guess who was pulling the strings all along), depicting a world that wails for its long lost would-be innocence.

And yet, even though the recipe seems familiar, the taste still is unique, the words on the page sing of a beauty that may be ethereal or as dark as a stormy night; no writer has quite the same way of describing the sky and the scenery, and the floating mists that so often return along the chapters seem to permeate the writing itself in an eerie fashion, a phantasmal beauty, that makes it impossible, for me at least, not to return for the next book with a feeling of coming back home.
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Corto F.
4.0 out of 5 stars Melancholische Atmosphäre, vielschichtige, echte Charaktere
Reviewed in Germany on April 23, 2018
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Nachdem James Lee Burkes letzter, 2013 erschienener (und mit dem Spur Award als bester moderner Western ausgezeichneter) Roman um seinen Detective/Deputy Dave Robicheaux, "Light of the World", in Montana spielte, dem Haupt-Wohnsitz des Autors, ist sein jüngster Roman um den Ermittler wieder im originalen "Robicheaux--Landstrich" in Louisiana angesiedelt. (In dem kleinen Ort, in dem Burke, der in dem Staat studiert hat, seinen zweiten Wohnsitz hat: New Iberia am Bayou Teche.)

"Robicheaux" heißt der aktuelle Roman aus dem Jahr 2018 schlicht, wenn auch auf dem Cover zusätzlich mit dem Untertitel "You know my name" versehen.
Und tatsächlich hat der Leser nicht nur das Gefühl selbstverständlich den Namen des ich-Erzählers zu kennen, sondern auch plotmäßig und bezüglich der verwendeten Bilder immer wieder ein deja-vu zu erleben.

(Was die Lesefreude aber nicht minimiert, im Gegenteil, zumindest wenn man wieder gern in die düstere Atmosphäre von Robicheauxs Welt eintaucht.
Auch wenn Burke vor einem guten Jahrzehnt schon mal vorgeworfen wurde, er würde sich nicht nur selbst kopieren, sondern seine eigene Parodie abliefern. Was dazu führte, dass er sich damals eine Zeitlang von Robicheaux abwandte und mit Billy Bob Holland und dessen Familie eine neue Protagonistengruppe im Norden erschuf.)

Verglichen mit anderen, in einer bestimmten Region verhafteten Autoren wie Steve Hamilton, C. J. Box oder Michael McGarrity liefert Burke schwerere Kost, was hier erstmal einen ganz profanen Grund jenseits des Romans selbst hat: Das großformatige, gewichtige 445(roman)seitige britische Paperback ist höchst unhandlich zu handhaben, die Seiten aufzuhalten, die zu nah bis zur Klebung bedruckt sind, buchstäblich krampffördernd. (Werden Bücher so gedruckt, um den eBook-Markt anzukurbeln? )

Aber auch inhaltlich ist Burkes Schreibe wesentlich elaborierter, bildgewaltiger, von Metaphysischem durchdrungen und somit sperriger als vieler seiner "Mitbewerber" im Thrillerfach. (Wobei "Thriller" in Sachen Burke ohnehin viel zu kurz greifen mag.)

Mitreißend ist zwar anders. Doch Burke flicht ein Netz (aus vielen kürzeren Szenen), dessen roter Faden von den Abgründen des menschlichen Antriebs, den düsteren Beweggründen des Handelns gebildet wird, ein Netz, das vielleicht nicht mitreißt, aber einen schnell gefangen nimmt.

Wieder einmal ist Robicheaux zum Witwer geworden (zum dritten Mal in der inzwischen 21 Bände umfassenden Reihe seit 1987), seine Frau wurde Opfer eines Verkehrsunfalls. War der als unschuldig erklärte Unfallgegner in Wirklichkeit zu schnell unterwegs, hatte er einen epileptischen Anfall oder war er sogar alkoholisiert?
Als der Fahrer brutal umgebracht wird, kommt Robicheaux hauptverdächtig als Täter in Frage. Sein Problem: Er, der eigentlich trockene Alkoholiker, ist just in dieser Nacht rückfällig geworden - und kann sich an einige Stunden nicht erinnern. Schlimmer noch: Er selbst hält sich durchaus für fähig, die Tat begangen zu haben...

Allerdings ist dieses persönliche (und dienstliche) Problem des Ermittlers nur ein Faden des großen Netzes, das Burke auswirft, zunächst stets aus der Perspektive des ich-Erzählers geschildert, dann auch aus der anderer (befreundeter) Protagonisten, die diesem es aber berichtet haben können, bis zuletzt auch fremde Sichtweisen (von denen der ich-Erzähler nicht erfahren haben kann) geschildert werden.
Und so geht es auch um die Fälle verscharrter Frauenleichen, eine reale oder behauptete Vergewaltigung, den alltäglichen Rassismus, das Leiden der Kinder, wie überhaupt um die Unterdrückung und Missachtung aller Schwächeren. Um Schuld, Verantwortung, Erlösung.

Thema bleibt, wie oft bei Burke, auch der Einfluß unserer Vergangenheit auf die Gegenwart, zwei Zeitebenen, die der ich-Erzähler deshalb nicht voneinander trennen mag. Das Gestern durchdringt das Heute.
Dazu die Unfähigkeit des Menschen, das Gute vom Bösen, richtig von falsch klar zu unterscheiden (oder unterscheiden zu wollen), die heuchlerische Pseudomoral statt unabdingbarer Werte, die seltsame Gewichtung unserer Bewertungen.
Kein Wunder, dass Burke bei allen vielschichtig gezeichneten Figuren auch einen populistischen Politiker (auf dem Weg übers Senatoren- zum Präsidentenamt) mit in den Mittelpunkt der Handlung stellt, ein Protagonist, dessen Charme selbst der ich-Erzähler erlegen ist (was dem Leser, wie er sich schämend eingestehen muss, kaum anders ergeht).

Ein düsteres Buch (das dennoch ohne - in der Schilderung drastische - Gewaltexzesse auskommt)! Und dessen sympathischster Protagonist, der erst punktgenau zur Mitte des Werks auftaucht, sinnigerweise ein (nur vordergründig leicht dement wirkender) Profikiller ist, der sich als Racheengel der Unterdrückten und Kämpfer gegen das Böse begreift - und als einziger durchgehend konsequent handelt.
Dieser, sich selbst Smiley nennende Chester Wimple, der nur zunächst in seinem speziellen Auftreten Erinnerungen an den Killer in "No Country for Old Men" wachruft, ist eine Figur für die literarische Ewigkeit.

Ein pessimistisches Buch, das man weder schnell "wegliest", noch schnell vergisst. Dass einen im Gegenteil zum Nachdenken über eigene moralische Standpunkte auffordert.
Was nicht nur sehr wichtig für Lousiana (und die USA) erscheint, sondern auch angesichts der gesellschaftlichen und zwischenmenschlichen Situation bei uns in Europa.

P.S.:
Der französische Regisseur Bertrand Tavernier, der Burkes "In the Electric Mist" mit Tommy Lee Jones verfilmt hat (ein Film von dem nach Auseinandersetzung mit dem Produzenten zwei völlig unterschiedliche Schnittfassungen - eine europäische/internationale und eine US-amerikanische - existieren), äußerte sich in einem Interview zu seiner Liebe zu Burkes Romanen:

"I like his style, the melange of introspection, lyricism, description that is very meditative and beautiful and then, of course, the dialog. I find Burke a writer of genius when it comes to dialog. He knows how to evoke the character in a few phrases. He writes romans noirs in which characters come before the intrigue."

Für ihn ein großer Unterschied zu z.B. dem speziell auch in Frankreich höchst beliebten Harlan Coban: "With Harlan Coban it is just intrigue, intrigue, intrigue, with a new development in every chapter. And afterwards you feel manipulated. You don’t have any characters. The characters are nothing."

Während Burkes Romane dagegen ganz anders funktionieren: "You remember Burke’s characters long after you put the novel down. You may not remember the intrigue but you remember the characters."

Etwas, was man nur unterstreichen kann (auch wenn man Harlan Coban durchaus schätzt).
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Credit Man
5.0 out of 5 stars Not so much great crime fiction as great literature - Burke back to his best
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 14, 2018
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Is James Lee Burke the greatest living author in the English language? I would like to know who else.

Having said that, this is the first Robicheaux book for nearly 5 years; and I found his intervening Hackberry Holland stories poor: I could not finish House of the Rising Sun with its unmitigated nastiness and violence.

My concerns went on reading the first page. Burke is back to his best.

His work has been described as great crime fiction; which is true but misleading. In this story the plot and characters follow those in previous books: the corrupt exploitive rich, the mentally deranged criminals, and the poor majority of Louisianans. This is not bad: the plot is engaging; cleverly the prime author of the murders is revealed but then almost overlooked as an irrelevance; while at the end the villains avoid justice and some prosper.

One villain ends up being elected as senator, after running a populist campaign appealing to the disaffected and marginalized Louisianans. You may think this is drawn from a certain President of the USA, but that is not so. Rather Burke skilfully describes the context of a society where such a person has appeal.

So what makes Burke almost unique and great? It is his descriptive prose and insights into the human lot, in particular the nature of evil and failure of humans to civilize. In places he reveals a mysticism with time losing meaning as the 1860s become present in the 2010s, and the dead mingle with the living. I had to re-read many paragraphs with awe at the significance of the thoughts. The terrain and culture of Louisiana form a powerful context, as important as the people.

Not so much great crime fiction as great literature.
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