Don't Forget Me, Little Bessie

by James Lee Burke

A CRIMEREADS BEST BOOK OF 2025
Bestselling author James Lee Burke tells his most thrilling and insightful story yet through the eyes of fourteen-year-old Bessie Holland

At the beginning of the twentieth century, as America grapples with forces of human and natural violence more powerful than humanity has ever seen, Bessie Holland yearns for the love that she has never known. She finds a soulmate and mentor in a brilliant but tormented suffragette English teacher, who inspires Bessie to fight the forces of evil that permeate her world.

Watching the vast Texas countryside being destroyed by an oil company and a menacing figure with a violent past, Bessie is prepared to defend her home and her family. But when she accidentally kills an unarmed man to defend her father Hackberry, she must flee to New York. There, her older brother introduces her to boys who will grow into gangsters, but as children admire and respect Bessie’s spirit and fortitude as she is cast into a gangland that yearns for justice and mercy.

A welcome return to the beloved Holland series and populated with characters both radiant and despicable, Don't Forget Me, Little Bessie is an epic story of a remarkable young girl who fights against potentially overwhelming forces.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Mystery, Crime, Thriller, Historical, Mystery Thriller

360 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 3, 2025

About the author

James Lee Burke is an American author best known for his mysteries, particularly the Dave Robicheaux series. He has twice received the Edgar Award for Best Novel, for Black Cherry Blues in 1990 and Cimarron Rose in 1998.

Burke was born in Houston, Texas, but grew up on the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast. He attended the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and the University of Missouri, receiving a BA and MA from the latter. He has worked at a wide variety of jobs over the years, including working in the oil industry, as a reporter, and as a social worker. He was Writer in Residence at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, succeeding his good friend and posthumous Pulitzer Prize winner John Kennedy Toole, and preceding Ernest Gaines in the position. Shortly before his move to Montana, he taught for several years in the Creative Writing program at Wichita State University in the 1980s.

Burke and his wife, Pearl, split their time between Lolo, Montana, and New Iberia, Louisiana. Their daughter, Alafair Burke, is also a mystery novelist.

The book that has influenced his life the most is the 1929 family tragedy "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner.

Reviews

[Michael -- Justice for Renee · Rating 5 out of 5]

At this advanced stage of his career, James Lee Burke has hit another high point. “Don’t Forget Me, Little Bessie” is an arresting portrait of Bessie Mae Holland, a resilient 14-year-old girl navigating the harsh realities of World War I-era Texas. Like Burke’s signature male characters, Bessie exhibits an indomitable spirit, refusing to yield to the wickedness that permeates her world. This narrative stands as a testament to Burke's enduring power as a storyteller and his ability to create compelling, unyielding protagonists.

“I was tired of other people controlling my life and treating me like a fence post. Is there any law in the Bible or the Constitution that states a child has to accept the will of stupid or corrupt adults? When David was about twelve, he slung a rock between Goliath’s eyes and chopped off his head for good measure. That was always one of my favorite Biblical stories.”

If you are thinking of Mattie Ross from “True Grit,” you are in the same ballpark.

A cast of memorable characters populates the story. Bessie’s father is the legendary former Texas Ranger, Hackberry Holland, dedicated to his daughter despite battling alcoholism and longing to return to the untamed fervor of Mexico and Pancho Villa. Her brother, Cody, is now a professional boxer and connects her to Benny Siegel, Meyer Lansky, and Owney Madden. Ida Banks, Bessie’s teacher, finds herself branded as a suffragette, atheist, and a woman of questionable moral deviancies… Well, she did teach the poems of Emily Dickenson.

Indian Charlie, a figure of pure malevolence, is the quintessential James Lee Burke villain. Ironically nicknamed "Indian" not for his heritage, but for his brutal slaughter of Native Americans, he is the ever-present threat. His depravity knows no bounds, encompassing murder, rape, and the wholesale destruction of anything in his path. He has long fixated on Bessie and her father have always been his focus and the stage is set for what promises to be a showdown of epic proportions.

The supernatural plays a part in many of Mr. Burke’s novels, and here it takes the form of Mr. Slick. His initial appearance seems like a threat to Bessie, and she does not back down to him. His background and motivations seem a little vague at first and, while some people say they can see him, others just accept his existence as something Bessie needs to believe in. He evolves as the book progresses, acting as a protector and reluctant co-conspirator at times. This “haint” of Bessie’s is not just around to spook, he is a thoroughly developed and full-bodied character.

James Lee Burke is an American treasure. He can not only develop memorable characters and plots, he locks down the scenery with a prose bordering on the poetic. My introduction to him was in his Dave Robicheaux books, set in Louisiana. The sites, the sounds, the electricity in the air drew me in. None of this felt forced, the way some authors will take a detour to insert some flowery descriptions.

I have read the two dozen or so Dave Robicheaux books, as well as the Holland family series and several stand-alone books and short story collections– all excellent work. I look forward most to the Robicheaux books, but “Don’t Forget Me, Little Bessie” is certainly a highlight and the best thing I have read from him in a long time.

And some randomness…
“You are surely an unusual spirit, Mr. Slick."” I ain’t got full spirit credentials, Miss Bessie. Besides, there’s some full-bred humans that’s eviler than demons. I know a mess of them.”

“I guess we all have our way of dealing with this world and the next. But Good Lord, why does everybody in my family have to be crazy?"

“When people are in trouble, they believe what they need to believe. There was no doubt I wanted a friend with supernatural powers. Maybe I had made up Mr. Slick”

Thank you to Grove Atlantic, Atlantic Monthly Press, and NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review. #DontForgetMeLittleBessie #NetGalley

[Cathrine ☯️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 ⚢⚢⚢⚢
Finally, JLB gives us a starring female roll with street cred—two of them actually. Thank you sir❣️

"Word to the wise. When you got an enemy, it's forever. Jesus forgives people. The rest of us get even.

If you believe in what are called the good old days, you must not have been there.

Like your mama used to say, the best judges of people are children and dogs."

[Alan (the Lone Librarian rides again) Teder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wildcatting
A review of the Atlantic Monthly Press hardcover (June 3, 2025) released simultaneously with the eBook/audiobook.

As I write these words, I am just short of one hundred and two years old. ... My son became a writer and wrote down a number of these stories. I think he's right good at it. I hope he gives me a credit or two.

This was a rough and tumble neo-western with ex-Texas Ranger & grandpa Hackberry Holland* and teenage daughter Bessie Mae Holland scratching out a living in WW1 era Texas before the oil boom hits. It is told from the point of view of Bessie, who is a fictionalized version of author James Lee Burke's own mother which I think is kind of a hoot.

I read quite a few of Burke's books back in my pre-GR days, mostly the Dave Robicheaux novels set in New Iberia, Louisiana but also a few in the Holland family saga set in Texas (Burke has lived in both locales). I re-read the first Robicheaux novel The Neon Rain (1987) recently and enjoyed the return to Burke's Chandleresque poetic style. I then discovered that the author was still going strong at 88-years of age with both this book and Clete (Robicheaux #24) published in 2025.

I think this is actually Burke's first female main character although Bessie is as forthright and determined as any of the author's male leads. There is a touch of magic realism to the book as well due to Bessie interacting with a so-called "spirit" character whom she calls Mr. Slick throughout. You could read it as being a sort of sixth sense or gut feeling, but oddly other characters are sometimes able to "see" him as well. The character gives warnings and insights along the way.

After a start in Texas, the story takes Bessie to an interlude segment in New York City where she meets the pre-adolescent future gangsters Benny Siegel and Meyer Lansky as street kids. The odd title of the book actually comes from a letter that Siegel writes to Bessie. On her return to Texas the oil boom begins and the story turns into a battle over oil rights with various unscrupulous characters, leading to a final showdown.

I enjoyed this return to James Lee Burke and hope to follow-up with more of the recent books. I just read A Dust Bowl Tale of Bonnie and Clyde: A Short Story (2014) which also features grandpa Hackberry Holland, but now partnered with grandson Weldon Holland in 1934.

Footnote
* Not to be confused with the same-named grandson, lawyer, Korean War vet & sheriff Hackberry Holland who features in his own sub-series in the Holland family saga.

Trivia and Links
The Holland family series of books are based around fictionalized versions of author James Lee Burke's mother's family. A family tree is shown at James Lee Burke's website (As of September 2025 it is still missing Bessie Holland who is the daughter of the first Hackberry Holland)


Read an interview with James Lee Burke about the family background to the Holland books at Ripped From the Bloodlines from Texas Monthly, December 2015.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

The latest chapter in Burke’s long-running Holland family drama is coming soon in 2025. Bessie Mae Holland, sometimes guided by a kindly but difficult spirit creature, Mr. Slick, offers us a drama about the nature of good and evil. The Hollands, Bessie who is but fourteen at the opening of the novel, narrated ‘were a violent family but they weren’t bullies.” Papa (Hackberry Holland) was an old-style retired Texas ranger and had once, before booze got to him, a hero across the state. Now, he poked around on a battered ranch, nit having much pull politically, and on a rage about the oil corporations ripping people off.

Her grandfather was Sam Morgan Holland, a violent man who had killed nine men. Her brother Cody punched Jubal Fowler for peeking in her outhouse, setting off a series of events that left Cody with one eye and hanging with New York gangsters and left Bessie with shooting an unarmed man.

Thus, she established her Bona fides in the Holland family. She followed her family blood line through gloom and doom and through the veritable gates of hell. Bessie and Cody both have the family curse of finding trouble, but they both also fight back with whatever they’ve got. The world according to Bessie is dark, dusty, and cruel. But she stands her ground, stabbing and shooting rapists and other thugs across half the continent as the world in Europe erupts into war.

None of us though, we are told, are exactly who we think we are. But we are forged by events in our lives and what strength we are granted. Even our dreams are often marred by evil, shrunken and diminished.

At times, Bessie bemoans that she is punished for sins she is not responsible for. Other times, she comes to the realization that she’s on her own and there’s no one she can depend on, not one person, and not the corrupt governmental machine. Eventually, Bessie gets to understand that the evil ones will burn in hell and she won’t be with them. Don’t Forget Me is a long epic poem about the nature of good and evil, told through the eyes of a young girl who sees quite a bit of pain and suffering and evil.

Review follows receipt of an advance reader’s copy.

[Bam cooks the books · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book I've read by James Lee Burke, although I have a few others marked 'to-be-read' and will now make a point of getting around to those since this one was so good. It's the fifth book in the Holland Family series but can definitely be read as a standalone.

The story is set near San Antonio, TX, beginning around 1914. Bessie is 14 and living with her father and older brother, her mother having died in childbirth. Her father had been a city marshal and Texas Ranger for over 30 years but is now mostly a drunk and pretty undependable.

Bessie Holland is a strong female character, very smart, very moral--even though she does some legally questionable things. Keep in mind that this is a book about good vs evil and as Bessie herself says, the Holland family history is one of rage and violence. There are many scenes with people treating others very badly, reflecting the wild west of those days. There are also two horrific rape scenes, so the sensitive should be forewarned. And some profanity, but Bessie always calls it out as not proper. She is really delightful.

The quality of the writing is outstanding as is the depth of human understanding, showing compassion for people trying to do the best they can during difficult times. It is also fun that Burke brings in a few historical figures and includes them in his tale.

Many thanks to the author and publisher for providing me with an arc of this new novel via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.

[Ryan Davison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bessie Holland is Scout raised by Dirty Harry and she narrates one of the most moving, violent novels of the year.

We first become enamored by our willful teenage protagonist in a ferocious 1920s Texas revenge story. The setting shifts to darkly atmospheric NYC with a gangster-loaded theme, and for the final act, we return to Texas as characters chase the oil boom and try and stay alive. No matter the backdrop, sick and wicked adversaries do not discriminate dealing out evil. Bessie's wisdom grows as the blood of those dear to her pools.

A Fight Club mind/body duality is at play and with major historical figures blended throughout the book, a Forrest Gump undercurrent. Gorgeous depictions of bursting geysers will remind readers of Sinclair Lewis/There Will Be Blood.

Burke's powerfully pared down writing is comparable to Cormac McCarthy, Hemingway, James Ellroy, and Donald Westlake. This author fills pages with perfectly manicured prose and makes it all seem so effortless we should each be inspired to pick up a pen.

How Burke’s 88 year old soul so accurately channels the youthful voice of Bessie throughout the book is astonishing. Joyce Carol Oates has competition from another octogenarian. Highly recommended!

Thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for the review copy.

[Jo Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Happy publication day 🎉🥳🎧

This is a first read for me from the author, and while I acknowledge that it’s part of a series it worked perfectly well as a standalone title, for me. Don’t forget me, little Bessie is a bloody and violent historical fiction with a supernatural twist. It did take me a while to find my feet with the writing style but then I was off running and I loved it!

Trigger warnings should be noted for almost everything I can think of. The writing story and narration are quite sensational.

Huge thanks to W F Howes LTD and NetGalley for this opportunity to review this ALC 🎧

[Faith · Rating 4 out of 5]

“You don’t have to keep the cards you were dealt at birth. If you decide to be something else, you can click a switch inside you and start a new life. Just don’t tell anybody about it. In my case, I didn’t have much to lose. The law certainly wasn’t on our side. I had no job. My father was ensuring himself an alcoholic death, and I ached every night for my mother.”


Bessie is the daughter of the widowed Hackberry Holland. I’ve read several other books in this series, and my favorite was “Wayfaring Stranger”. . Bessie is an interesting, feisty and principled girl, but really she was a danger to herself and the community. Death followed in her wake. The writing was beautiful as usual, and Bessies’s character was well developed. I thought the plot was a little scattershot. Bessie went from place to place, and havoc followed. 3.5 stars

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

[Abibliofob · Rating 5 out of 5]

James Lee Burke is always a sure thing when it comes to telling a great story. I have never been dissapointed by anything he has written and it is quite a few books now. Don't Forget Me, Little Bessie is such a well told story although it's dark, but that is the thing with most books about the Holland family. This one is set in Texas around the first world war. I have always been amazed by the way with words this author tells a story and it's not only the written word. If you get the time try and listen to some of the interviews available on the internet and enjoy listening to this man. I really recommend that you try some of his work and I thank Edelweiss , Atlantic Monthly Press , Netgalley and Ingram Publisher Services for letting me read this advance copy. The book is out in stores the first week in June.

[Amy Borgstrom · Rating 5 out of 5]

I agree with the author that this fifth installment of the Holland Family story is the best yet, and “a real humdinger.” Burke seems to be at the peak of his power, creating unforgettable characters that illuminate the struggle between good and evil at the core of the American experience, and the human condition. His language soars. For example: “I kept on going out the front door and into the alley, into the gloaming of the day and the soft red glow of the sun on the bricks, the smell of ponded water and the smoke from the sidewalk food stores, all the beautiful things that are allowed the poor.” Or “On Saturday night we went to Coney Island again. The sky was deep purple, the ocean wine-dark, the waves capping through the lights on the Ferris wheel and the roller coaster printed against a sunset that looked like the world was on fire…It was the kind of evening that made you feel anything this beautiful must have an eternal source.” He is a national treasure.

[Shirley Conley · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book did not seem real to me. It went back and forth between reality and fantasy and did not keep my interest. I started over a couple of times to see what I was missing. Bessie Holland the main character had a relationship with her father that was unpredictable. He was with her and gone. She had a relationship with what I believe to be a "made up" figure that I can't remember his name that shows up sometimes when she is in trouble. She is influenced by teacher who considers her very bright. The teacher was raped in her presence on a Sunday after church by thugs. The teacher turns out to be gay. She kills a man in defense of her father and ends up going to NY to be with her brother who is associated with the mafia. She gets in trouble there and returns to Texas. Oil is discovered on her father and her farm but her past and the past of a girl long dead continue to be intertwined.
And so on and so forth.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Westerns are not usually on my map, but this one caught my fancy with the strong female lead. Don’t worry, Little Bessie, I’m not likely to forget you anytime soon and maybe I’ve romanticized the old West too much because yikes, there were some hard to read scenes.

[Debbie Ellerson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a very different book for Burke. I did not enjoy the negative, dark story. Very disappointing.

[Mitzi Sherwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read all James Lee Burke books I can get my hands on. They are not typically easy reads. Instead, they make you uncomfortable and reflective. Don't Forget Me, Little Bessie was no different. This is the story of Bessie Holland, daughter of Hackberry Holland. I found Bessie had more likeable traits than many of Burke's characters. She is young, flawed, and forgiving- making her one of my favorite JLB characters. Bessie's is a coming of age story when she has no stability at home and has to figure out most everything for herself. The challenges I have with liking this book have to do with some of the literary and historical references. The author alludes to events that are buried so deep in the historical record that I find it disruptive to the flow of the story. More modern references are also made, allowing him to introduce events and characters of Bessie's time that we may be more familiar with. If you like being taken out of your comfort zone and challenged to examine your beliefs, this may be just the story for you. Thank you to NetGalley and Atlantic Monthly Press for this ARC.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm always ready to pick up a novel by James Lee Burke - his writing is always so atmospheric, and captures characters at their most vulnerable. I didn't connect with this one as much as the Robicheaux series, but liked Bessie as a strong young character with moxie, and the lite supernatural themes added to the intrigue. Recommended for lovers of historical fiction, and complex family dynamics.
Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for the early reader copy. Review to be posted to FishbirdCentral.com closer to publication date.

[Katy Lovejoy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I want to forget this

[Ray Palen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Author James Lee Burke is a national treasure. Whether he is penning a stand-alone novel or treating his loyal readers to one of his stellar David Robicheaux novels that have thrilled us for decades, you quite simply cannot go wrong with anything he creates.

DON’T FORGET ME, LITTLE BESSIE is not only a return to the Holland families world but falls into the realm of historical fiction in its deeply nuanced exploration of not only the dangerous elements existing in American at the start of the 20th Century but also the unfortunate results of violence against women and misogyny that was prevalent during these times.

This is all done through the eyes of a fourteen-year-old girl named Bessie Holland who we watch grow physically and emotionally through her experience and movements throughout the country. These adventures begin in Texas but then take us across the country, later centering upon New York City and the tinder box of a neighborhood known as the Five Points in Manhattan.

Rather than doing this in a sarcastic or comically unbelievable style like Winston Groom’s classic FORREST GUMP, James Lee Burke depicts Bessie’s journey with gritty realism and unflinching observations about the changing world around her. At the start we see Bessie without her mother who has passed and is living with a brother who flees Texas after a violent attack as well as with a typically absentee father who was once a Texas Ranger but now spends his time mostly intoxicated and involved in less than legal endeavors.

Bessie stands up to the people that wronged her family and injured her brother and is adept with the guns she uses to exact her revenge. She is also constantly accompanied by a strange man by the name of Mr. Slick whom only she can see. Bessie befriends a professional woman in the form of suffragette English teacher Miz Banks. However, a violent attack by some men that threaten the area they reside in with the Texas oil country results in Miz Banks being raped before Bessie’s very eyes. She realizes that she can no longer take this part of the country and decides to head to New York City where her brother fled to.

The novel provides us with both interactions and stories about famous characters from this era, like her father’s experiences with the Sundance Kid, among others. My favorite famous character involved Bessie’s meeting with a pre-Alamo Davey Crockett and the sarcastic comments she makes about his coon-skin hat. She ends up leaving the evil men terrorizing the area in the name of oil production, like the killer and rapist named Indian Charlie, and trains it to New York City after a brief stop in Chicago.

With only the mysterious Mr. Slick to accompany her, she eventually finds her brother Cody. However, the Five Points area in Manhattan is no place for a teen-aged girl and Bessie finds that no one or nowhere is safe or to be trusted. She unfortunately experiences this first-hand after someone assaults her, she thought was a protector by the name of ‘Tony’ Anthony Vale. With Irish gangs and the dreaded Black Hand ruling the neighborhood, Bessie is going to receive firsthand interaction with the forces that are making history during this volatile time in American history.

DON’T FORGET ME, LITTLE BESSIE is an intense and eye-opening read full of insightful passages that allow the reader to relive this epoch in history through the eyes of a young lady who is forced to mature well before her time in Bessie Holland. You just cannot resist rooting for her and reeling with each blow she suffers while she experiences some of the worst this era has to offer.

Reviewed by Ray Palen for Book Reporter

[Lou Jacobs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book Review
Don’t Forget Me, Little Bessie
James Lee Burke
reviewed by Lou Jacobs


readersremains.com | Goodreads


Burke relentlessly shines with his ever-present rich and poetic prose, coupled with his memorable characters and plots. This is the fifth book involving the Holland family, but it can easily be enjoyed as a standalone. Although Burke is best known for his Dave Robicheaux series, his second preference appears to be the Holland family, which seems loosely based on his mother’s side of the family.

The inspiration for the main character, Bessie, seems drawn from his mother, who lived to be nearly 102 years old.

The story begins with 14-year-old Bessie living in rural Texas, engulfed in the chaos and mayhem caused by petroleum companies’ insatiable desire to obtain drilling rights everywhere. The oil boom is on, and no one is safe from the ravages of greed. Bessie lives with her alcoholic father, an ex-Texas Ranger who refuses to succumb to the big oil companies, and her older brother, Cody. She is smart, resourceful, and deeply moral.

The legendary former Texas Ranger Hackberry Holland now lives a life of debauchery and unreliability. As the oil companies race to clear the land, they inadvertently disturb the remains of a young girl who was raped and murdered. Her ghost-like image appears to Bessie—who even notices the resemblance to herself. As frequently occurs in Burke’s books, the supernatural makes an appearance. A “haint” or guardian also appears to Bessie in the form of a man called Slick, who seems invisible to most. Throughout the book, Slick appears unexpectedly to offer warnings or guidance, frequently reminding Bessie that she “looks just like the murdered girl.”

There is a cast of unforgettable characters who relentlessly push the narrative forward. “Indian Charlie,��� known for slaughtering Native Americans, is now the head of security for Atlas Oil and has his sights fixed on the Hollands. He contributes to the ever-present threat of rape, murder, and mass destruction—he is the consummate villain. Then there’s the ongoing feud between the Hollands and the Fowlers. Jubal Fowler is caught peeking at Bessie in the school outhouse, which leads to a fight between Cody and Jubal that escalates into a showdown with the father, Winthrop Fowler. Bessie, never one to back down, leaves Winthrop disabled.

Tension continues to rise with the recurring entry of the well-meaning madam, Bertha Lafleur, into Hackberry’s life. This entangles the Hollands with drug dealers and murderers. Although Bertha was once saved by Hackberry, she ultimately betrays his trust.

Burke weaves a masterful, multilayered storyline of escalating tension and intrigue, elevated by his poetic prose and vivid characters. Historical figures are seamlessly introduced, adding rich context and insight. A brief visit to New York with the young visages of Benny Siegel, Meyer Lansky, and Owney Madden—interacting with Bessie—proves relevant to her character development. As always, the setting and atmosphere deepen the meaning and beauty of Burke’s treasured prose. His appreciation for compassion amid evil—and for people simply trying to do their best—is nothing short of remarkable.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atlantic Monthly Press for providing an uncorrected proof in exchange for an honest review. I hear that Burke will soon grace fans with another entry in the Dave Robicheaux series

Published at MysteryAndSuspenseMagazine.com

[Nia Reading Journey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bessie Holland, a fourteen-year-old girl, lives at the beginning of the twentieth century with her brother and father in Texas, America. At that time, violence was more powerful than humanity. Bessie was just a girl who wanted to live happily ever after with her family, but everything was going wrong. Her ranch was targeted by the oil company and Bessie was prepared to defend her home and her family. But then, she accidentally kills an unarmed man to defend her father and she must flee to New York. “Why is it so hard to live a simple life?”, thought Bessie.
Bessie Holland’s story is a heavy mystery-crime. Every small event that happens in the story is an important detail, so I need to read this story with medium to high level concentration. There is so much violence in the story since it happened in the twentieth century in Texas, America, the author adjusts the story with the circumstances at that time. But surprisingly, somehow, the writing style makes the story more deep, mysterious but uses light to medium language so, it can still be enjoyable.
I don’t know why, I could feel the author's charisma in the writing style. I feel the author is not just only researching the history or culture of the story, but it feels like the author is living in the culture instead, like living with the culture in the author’s daily life. It seems the culture has become part of the author’s bloodline? I feel the strong connections between the author and the culture represented in the story.
The story had so many unexpected events as well as a plot twist happening at the same time, so many surprises. Also, there are a few paranormal and physiological thriller elements in the story, which make the story more deeply mysterious and suspense. This is my first time reading a book about Texas and American culture, and I’m shocked that I like it. This book is like I’m reading someone’s biography, Bessie Holland’s life biography. She had so many hard times and tried to rise up in so many unfortunate circumstances that she faced at that time. The one thing that lights her up, is she wants to survive, she wants to live. Bessie reminds us that no matter hard our life is, we must fight for it.
Yes, as you can see, Bessie's story is very deep, and we can learn so many things here. So, you must prepare your heart, emotion and mentally be prepared before reading this story. It will definitely tear your heart, break your emotions and slay your soul if you are not well-prepared… Wow! Such a heavy story, isn’t it?
There are only small things which I still can't take off from my mind. In some scenes, between the events, there’s a gap and I feel I miss out on some action. Then, a new character suddenly showed up, and didn’t clear or know what there role first, so suddenly doing the action, I feel there need a little introduction before the action could be nice. Finally, in the middle of events, suddenly a new event just pops up right next to it. It is a little bit overlapping previous events. But the problem is still fine.
I can’t say I enjoyed the story because I feel this story is a moral story. I’m getting more life lessons in this book. I like it and definitely will come back reading this author’s books.

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first JLB book and I liked this one a lot. I enjoy historical fiction and I also love strong female characters that evolve through their experiences. Fast read for me and I will be checking out more of his previous work.

[Eileen Acosta · Rating 2 out of 5]

Considering all the high ratings this book received, I feel like I read a different book. I didn't buy the POV of Bessie. And who or what was Mr. Slick? There were also times that I had to put the book aside because of the violence. Just not my cup of tea. I've read and enjoyed other books by this author, but not this one.

[RaChelle Holmberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most definitely a different sort of book for this writer, very enjoyable, with great characters

[Hella Comat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in Texas during WW1, this is a departure for the author, as the narrator is a 15 year old girl. She has an internal unbreakable code of ethics and wisdom beyond her years. But as part of a poor farming family during days when racism was rampant and police were corrupt, she encounters evil and greedy people everywhere.

I had a bit of a hard time getting ‘into’ the story, but Burke’s way with words and this new character in his Hackberry Holland series won me over. Then I was hooked.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

This 5th book in the 'Holland Family Saga' focuses on Bessie Mae Holland, a smart, brave, righteous teenage fireball. The book works fine as a standalone.

*****

It's 1914, and fourteen -year-old Bessie Holland is living on a Texas ranch with her sixteen-year-old brother Cody and her father Hackberry.





Hackberry's other children have long since scattered to the winds and disappeared, driven away by Hackberry's behavior and negligence.

Before liquor got him, Hackberry was a Texas Ranger, a rodeo star, and a hero in the state of Texas.



Now - when he's home - a hungover Hackberry is likely to be found doing backbreaking work on his ranch, unshaved, dressed in his long underwear, canvas britches, colorless boots, and sweat-ringed battered Stetson hat. Bessie observes, "I cannot believe the degree to which he punished his body and still managed to do the physical labor of an elephant. I always had the feeling he nursed his pain in order to absolve himself of the great harm he had done to his family, particularly my mother, who bore him one child after another until she died in a wagon trying to make the hospital."

To make thing's worse, Hackberry's gambling debts and tax arrears have put the ranch in jeopardy.



Bessie is also distressed by Hackberry's weakness for women. "He wasn't just a womanizer, he had them on the brain all the time, drunk or not, every race, thin as clothes hangers or fat women who ate Goo-Goo Clusters around the clock." Bessie especially dislikes Hackberry's friend, Bertha Lafleur, a wealthy madam who visits the ranch sometimes. Hackberry and Bertha met years ago, when Hackberry was a Texas Ranger and rescued Bertha from sadistic cowboys who were tormenting her. The cowboys ended up dead.



In truth, the Hollands are a brutal family. Hackberry's father was Sam Morgan Holland, a violent man who rode the Chisholm Trail and shot and killed nine men, and Hackberry followed in his footsteps. Bessie knows that Hackberry and his friends still carry guns, though they're no longer lawmen, and have no remorse about taking a human life if they consider it legal.



The drama in this book starts with a fight. Bessie's brother Cody.....



.....beats up Jubal Fowler, the roughest boy in the schoolyard, for peeking at Bessie in the outhouse.



Jubal retaliates by shooting a marble into Cody's eye with a slingshot. A furious Hackberry goes to confront Jubal's white trash father at his job in the slaughterhouse, and Bessie goes along. Things go sideways, and Bessie ends up shooting Mr. Fowler twice, and injuring him badly.



When Bessie is arrested for shooting an unarmed man, a spirit called Mr. Slick comes to the rescue. Mr. Slick tells the sheriff he saw Mr. Fowler hide a gun after the kerfuffle, and lo and behold, the sheriff finds a gun - a weapon planted by Mr. Slick.



Mr. Slick is a unique spirit. He's solid rather than ghostly, he eats and sleeps and so on, and he's always visible to Bessie. Other people, though, may or may not see Mr. Slick. Bessie also has a mystical connection with a girl who was raped and murdered years ago, and whose body has never been found.

In addition to Mr. Slick, Bessie is friendly with the schoolteacher, Miz Ida Banks. The school's textbooks are tattered, dirty, and useless, so Miz Banks brings her classics to school and reads to the class - works by Hawthorne, Homer, Keats, and Emily Dickinson.



Miz Banks is a spinster, a northerner and a suffragette, and she rubs local politicians the wrong way. Thus she's fired, and newspaper editorials rail about the 'filth' being taught in Texas schools. However Bessie admires Miz Banks and wants to be like her and to have her knowledge and manners.

James Lee Burke's villains are always repellent scum, and in this book we have crooked sheriffs, devious lawmen, and bigoted misogynistic riffraff. The worst offender is evil sadistic Indian Charlie (so called for killing Indians), who has a grudge against Hackberry from way back. Indian Charlie is bent on vengeance, and is further inflamed when drugs, money, and oil wells enter the scene.



As events progress, teenage Cody leaves Texas for New York City, where he lives on Manhattan's Lower East Side, works in a boxing gym, and hangs out with a rough crowd. After Bessie experiences a violent incident in Texas - and Hackberry goes off to fight Pancho Villa and Mexicans - Bessie joins Cody in New York.



There Bessie befriends several young boys - Benny Siegel, Meyer Lansky, and Owney Madden - who will grow up to be infamous gangsters.



(Note: Bessie also meets Davy Crockett in this book, when he's on the way to the Alamo, and Bessie makes fun of his coonskin cap.)



Trouble in New York sends Bessie back to Texas, where the Hollands' get involved in the oil business, teenage Bessie starts a film company, and the Hollands' problems with Winthrop Fowler and Indian Joe escalate.



The story is replete with violence of all kinds: shootings, beatings, rape, hangings, torture, arson, murder, etc.....and Bessie does what she feels is necessary. That aside, Bessie is a VERY smart Baptist girl who's unfailingly polite. For instance, when Bessie meets a man called Digger Dog, she addresses him as Mr. Dog. Bessie is also well-read, quotes literature and the Bible, and wields her tongue like a sword. Besse's put-downs are apt (and fun), though the low-lifes she targets often don't 'get it.'

Bessie is a memorable character, and this book is a fine addition to the Holland Saga. The story is compelling and Burke's descriptions of the Texas landscape and New York streets are colorful and detailed.



Burke is a literary treasure, and I highly recommend this novel.

You can follow my reviews at https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot.com

[Tupelodan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another Burke masterpiece featuring the Hollands, including an adventure in New York City, that somehow finds its way to Texas. Hackberry’s daughter Bessie is the narrator-protagonist but Hackberry is, as always, the center of the action. And there’s a lot of action. All told in Mr. Burke’s inimitable style, including, of course, a walk-on by a three-legged raccoon.

[Bob Box · Rating 5 out of 5]

Burke is at the peak of his power creating unforgettable characters that illuminate the struggle between good and evil. As a lifetime fan I think this is one of his best .

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rape of women, rape of boys, more rapes and still more violence

Okay, Texas was probably very violent in 19th century but I'd rather read a textbook version of these events

Also the ghostly spirit Mr Slick was a weird character.

[Dan Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Holland Family Novel told from the view of a 14 year old girl in south Texas. Somewhat of a different book from this author, but he still has it. James Lee Burke can grab hold of you and not let you go until you finish.

[Amber Koproske · Rating 5 out of 5]

A west is wild tale where a girl is guided by a eccentric spirit.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

It pains me to rate a James Lee Burke book anything other than a 4 or 5, but quite honestly, I don’t find his Holland family books on the same level as the Robicheaux novels.

And this one is more of a mess than most.

The writing, of course, is as lyrical and earthy and real as ever. It’s the erratic storyline that keeps Bessie from being one of his top novels. And his compression of Texas geography was a little off putting as well.

I look forward to another adventure with Dave and Clete, and i may reread some of that series someday. But not the Holland novels.