Heaven's Prisoners

Dave Robicheaux #2

by James Lee Burke

James Lee Burke’s second Robicheaux novel takes the detective out of New Orleans and into the bayou as he seeks a quieter life.

Vietnam vet Dave Robicheaux has turned in his detective’s badge, is winning his battle against booze, and has left New Orleans with his wife for the tranquil beauty of Louisiana’s bayous. But a plane crash on the Gulf brings a young girl into his life—and with her comes a netherworld of murder, deception, and homegrown crime. Suddenly Robicheaux is confronting Bubba Rocque, a brutal hood he’s known since childhood; Rocque’s hungry Cajun wife; and a Federal agent with more guts than sense. In a backwater world where a swagger and a gun go further than the law, Robicheaux and those he loves are caught on a tide of violence far bigger than them all...

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Thriller, Mystery Thriller, Detective, Noir

321 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 1988

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

[carol. · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Burke writes, I see dead people. And sand sharks, and listing planes and oil-slick bubbles of air. The book opens with a small plane going down near Dave's trawler, and Dave and his wife Annie checking for survivors. Its a vivid scene.

This is the second book starring Dave Robicheaux, described by a local stripper as "I know you were a good cop and all that bullshit,' she said, 'but there's a lot of stuff you guys never see. You can't. You don't live in it, Streak. You're a visitor." Unfortunately for Dave, he's about to take an extended vacation.

Burke challenges me; as a new writer to me, I haven't get been able to predict where he is going or how he'll get there. The first book had a strong level of violence, not merely implied, but described, and not merely murders, but torture. I don't like to go to those places, which lends itself to reading distraction; putting the book down and walking away. But its a hard-fought distraction and I always find myself returning to his vividly created world.

I enjoy Burke's descriptions; the lush world-building of southern Louisiana, past and present. But in this story it gets a little lost, and Burke can't quite keep his focus tight enough on the plot. This is, perhaps, one of the ways Burke and Lawrence Block, of Matt Scudder fame, differ; while Block is able to build a solid feel for period New York City, he doesn't lose focus on the mystery. In this case, the true focus is Dave Robicheaux, the detective, and his ability to wrestle with the demons that drive him. "I wondered if I would ever exorcise the alcoholic succubus that seemed to live within me, its claws hooked into my soul." But he knows "I was not simply a drunk. I was drawn to a violent and aberrant world the way a vampire bat seeks a black recess within the earth." I like it, a lot, but it isn't my normal escapist fiction. The story driver is Dave himself, and his inability to turn the other cheek, so to speak, and his attraction to the violence. At one point, it is nailed quite nicely when someone says, "You know what your problem is? You're two people in the same envelope. You want to be a moral man in an amoral business. At the same time you want to blow up their shit just like the rest of us."

There's lines I just loved: "I walked into the confessional and waited for the priest... I had known him for twenty-five years, and I trusted his working-class instincts and forgave him his excess of charity and lack of admonition, just as he forgave me for my sins."

And a very powerful thought for those in public safety:
"The truth was that I enjoyed it, that I got high on my knowledge of man's iniquity, that I disdained the boredom and predictability of the normal world as much as my strange alcoholic metabolism loved the adrenaline rush of danger and my feeling of power over an evil world that in many ways was mirrored in microcosm in my own soul." Heady stuff for a mystery-thriller, and one that bears thinking on.

I also admire Burke's acknowledgement of political events and how it continues to effect Robicheaux's life today: "Why did Dave Robicheaux have to impose all this order and form on his life? So you lose control and total out for a while, I thought. The U.S. Army certainly understood that. You declare a difficult geographical and political area a free-fire zone, than you stand up later in the drifting ash and the smell of napalm and define with much more clarity the past nature of the problem."

I understand both Burke and Robicheaux's preoccupation with the culture of their childhood, time past, with seeing an entire way of life slowly slip into the mud. For both of them, there were negative aspects--Burke is quick to acknowledge the racism--but also good things, particularly of a time when the moral code felt more straightforward. That's the illusion of childhood, of course, and perhaps by the end Dave realizes that as well.

Still, as a genre reader, this strays a bit too far into Southern gothic literary fiction for my pleasure, although it is a taste that's growing on me. While I like the tour of Louisiana, I would have preferred a stronger balance between the mystery and the character turmoil; a little more outward focus and a little less inward. Still, no one can say that Burke doesn't breathe life into his setting and characters; I felt like I'd know most of them on the street (not that I'd likely wander down those particular streets) and be able to find my way to his tour boat. Food especially--this time it's fresh seafood, roadside strawberries and ice cream (the first book it was po'boys and Dr. Pepper with limes and cherry juice). Now I have a food craving.

And boy, can this guy ever write. Not really a comfortable story, and it felt a little screenplay ready--I just knew his wife would die. But ultimately enjoyable and complex enough to rate it an above-average read.

Cross posted at http://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2013/0...

[Bill Kerwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this, the second Dave Robicheaux mystery, Dave turns in his badge and heads for the bayou. Soon the tranquility is shattered, and he is out for revenge. Good effective mystery, and the Louisiana atmosphere is a plus.

[Scott Rhee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t live in a place where wisteria and hibiscus waft in a sultry breeze or the sunset turns the sky a purple haze over swampland, but I don’t need to because I read James Lee Burke novels.


wisteria

I know that I read “Heaven’s Prisoners” many years ago, but reading it again reminded me of how awesome Burke’s writing is. I had forgotten a lot of the novel, including who the killer was, and the fact that the murder at the heart of the novel is so gut-wrenching and brutal that pages before it happened, I started to remember and almost didn’t want to read further.


Director Phil Joanou's 1996 adaptation starring Alec Baldwin wasn't terrible.

Dave Robicheaux is retired from the New Orleans PD and living on the bayou with his wife, Annie. They own a bait shop and live in a big old plantation home out in the swamps. One day, in their fishing boat, a plane falls out of the sky. Dave jumps in and tries to save the passengers, but he only succeeds in saving one, a little girl. She speaks only Spanish. Dave and Annie name her Alafair.

The plane was carrying illegals—-guns, drugs, and people. The DEA and the bad guys think Robicheaux may have retrieved something from the plane. He did, of course, but not what they think. Rescuing the little girl has threatened the peace of Robicheaux’s safe little world, and that can not stand.

It all connects to a local crime boss named Bubba Roc, a former heavyweight that Dave used to box with back in the day.

One night, Robicheaux makes the mistake of taking a midnight stroll, leaving his wife and Alafair alone in the house. It’s a mistake he will live with forever.


Original book cover art from the 1988 mass market paperback

Now, he’s on a mission of revenge, and God help the poor bastards who did him wrong.

This is the second book in the Robicheaux series, originally published in 1988. Word of warning: that one scene is still a gut-wrencher. Prepare to shed some tears.

I “read” this as an audiobook on CD, read by Mark Hammer, whose soft, slow Southern twang is absolutely integral to the enjoyment of it.

[Cathrine ☯️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75★
A clue to detective Dave Robicheaux’s personality can be found in the following dialog with the local sheriff:
S: “I’m not going to give a man a badge so he can be an executioner,” he said.
D: “I wouldn’t need a badge for that.”
S: “Are you going to tell me you can investigate your own wife’s murder with any objection?”
D: “I was never objective in any homicide investigation,” I said. “You see the handiwork and you hunt the bastards down.”

Written in 1988 some of the language is dated. Though it seems obvious that JLB respects men of any color and ethnicity, I got annoyed with multiple references like: the negro was fishing, the negro at the bar, the negro this and the negro that. Plus, Dave doesn’t shop at just any market—it’s a negro market. I live in California and even in the 80s no one I hung out with used so many labels. Then I was forming Botox brow lines with the term “nigger-knocking.” Anyone familiar with the author knows that you’re going to need help from Urban Dictionary so never having heard the phrase I looked it up. Not what I imagined and such a surprise to realize I had done it in my youth; knocking on a door or ringing the bell, then running away before the inhabitant answers. Vernacular is in abundance. I also did not like how quickly Dave hooks up with another woman after his wife is murdered. No punches are pulled as our complicated hero does not always save the day and his alcoholism (a demon JLB is personally familiar with) rears its nasty head. He describes it as a tiger walking around in its cage smelling of dung with the fetid odor of rotted meat on its breath. As expected, testosterone is also in abundance.

In my opinion, better developed and not as chaotic as the first one in the collection. I really want to get to #6 in the series because a film was made starring Tommy Lee Jones and I love that man. A film was also made from this one starring Alec Baldwin. I haven't seen it but with all due respect, that seems like a miscast. Adventures with Dave to be continued.

[Paul Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Most people think of violence as an abstraction. It never is. It's always ugly, it always demeans and dehumanises, it always shocks and repels and leaves the witnesses to it sick and shaken. It's meant to do all those things'.
 
Heaven's Prisoners is the second in the Dave Robicheaux series by James Lee Burke and while not as powerful as Neon Rain, it's still a bloody intense story.
 
Robicheaux has left the New Orleans PD and bought a boat and bait business on a bayou in New Iberia. Now married to Anne Ballard, life is quiet, relaxing, but one thing I've come to learn about Dave Robicheaux, serenity is fleeting and tribulation is never far away.
 
Dave and his wife are out boating on the gulf when they see a plane plummet into the water, he goes to help but the four adults are already dead, he is able to rescue one young girl who they sort of adopt and name Alafair, she becomes a part of their family. He is questioned by the authorities and it becomes obvious a cover up is underway but why? He starts to investigate, against his wife's wishes and soon enough there's a tornado of trouble heading his way. But he just can't leave things be and it costs him dear.
 
Robicheaux is no longer under the restraints of the law and he throws himself into potentially violent situations with reckless abandon, the adrenalin, the danger and the sense of righteousness all seemingly addictive but at what expense.
 
He's a brilliant character but there's a few minor flaws in this story, when tragedy occurs the recovering alcoholic once again jumps of the proverbial wagon. Exactly like he did in the first story when I was intensely disappointed with him, this time it was almost expected along with the spur to once again kick it. With what happens you can't help but think he brings it on himself, leading to an intense sadness but he's a character who'll never change, resolute and confrontational as ever, and it makes for a gripping read. His meddling and refusal to walk away being the primary driver to everything bad that happens. There's a hell of a lot of revenge action going on inevitably followed by retaliation and of course it is our hero who risks most. It all comes down to three woman and an old school friend, one a crime lord known as Bubba Rock, Bubba's extremely dangerous and promiscuous wife, a prostitute that Dave helps out after getting her in trouble and his very own wife.
 
I love James Lee Burke's stuff but I'm hoping there's not a standard template to this series because if he hits the bottle in the next book I think I'll scream. And if I hear the word Bayou once more then that's fucking it, when you read your mind can gloss over repeated use of words but in audio it's there, more pronounced and in your face, you can't ignore it. So I'm on Black Cherry Blues already and things are looking good so far, let's hope it stays that way.
 

Also posted at http://paulnelson.booklikes.com/post/...

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a revised review as of 4/14/2013 with images added for flavor which are from the old movie version and while the movie is worth a look I strongly suggest you read the novel first.



After book one Neon Rain our hero, David Robicheaux (hereinafter DR), has retired from the NOLA police department and opened a bayou fishery up by tapping into his pension. He's also married to his love interest from book one but DR can't avoid a mystery and one stumbles upon him while he's out fishing on the bayou (they rescue a child from a small plane that sinks in the bayou) and just like any good fictional detective he pokes his nose into places and violent, corrupt people get angry. 





This particular volume focuses upon forming a family, remorse and the repercussions of leading a violent life. People who want a happy ending, well, wait. Didn't you read the first novel and realize you were in the wrong emotional section? Heh. Anyway, as usual this is a melancholy piece of beautiful writing with moral questions posed to its readers but not forced down your throat. Get it?

Yeah, Teri Hatcher is in this film before her later implants but again I seriously suggest you read the book first. The movie may very well ruin your appetite to read the novel. No pun intended.



I would present that the real strengths of this tale (other than it being a solid mystery) are its usual focuses upon the bayou, New Orleans (NOLA) and DR's alcoholism for a dark tragedy comes down upon him and he finds himself drinking that "golden fire" once more (he alludes to drinking before the series started and having an alcoholic father). Rarely have I read something that has made me understand the addictions of alcohol and how hard it is to shake off. But even all those reading pleasures are a still a notch down from the character of New Orleans/The Bayou with its balmy heat waves, summer rains, Poorboy sandwiches, evening skies that are the color of torn plums, cicadas in the purple haze, fireflies lighting up the trees, and, of course, the charm of not just New Orleans but its French Quarter. That makes it a pleasure to read and bumps up the overall quality of the novel. I look forward to reading the next one. 



Some excerpts I particularly enjoyed: 

p. 3

Until her innocent love made me feel that all my years, my love handles, my damaged liver were not important after all. Maybe I had grown foolish, or perhaps fonds is a better word, in the way that an aging animal doesn't question its seduction by youth. But her love wasn't a seduction; it was unrelenting and always there, even after a year of marriage, and she gave it eagerly and without condition. She had a strawberry birthmark high upon her right breast, and when she made love her heart filled it with blood until it became a dark red.

p. 64

They all had the same numb expression, the same drowning eyes, the same knowledge that they somehow deserved their fate and that they were absolutely alone in the world.

p. 88-90

I shook open the paper and tried to read the sports page, but my eyes wouldn't focus on the words. My skin itched, my face burned, my loins felt as though they were filled with concrete. I folded the paper, dropped it on the bar, and walked back outside into the late-spring night.

I could smell the odor of dead fish on the wind.

It was a generous and kind note. I should have been content with it. But it disturbed me as much as it reassured me, because I wondered if Annie, like most people who live with alcoholics, was not partly motivated by fear that my unpredictable mood might lead all of us back into the nightmarish world that AA had saved me from.

p. 102

I sat at my kitchen table with a glass of iced tea and mint leaves and looked out the window at the blue jays swooping over the mimosa tree in the backyard. The ducks in my pond were shaking water off their back and waddling onto the bank in the shaded created by the cattails.

p. 124

“You remember what you had to say about Kansas? 'This is probably the only place in the United States that would be improved by a nuclear war.”

p. 165

It was a morning of abstinence in which I tried to think in terms of five minutes at a time. I felt like a piece of cracked ceramic. In the clothing store my hands were still trembling, and I saw the salesman step back from my breath. In an open air food stand on the beach, I drank a glass of iced coffee and ate four aspirins. I squinted upward at the sunlight shining through the branches of the palm tree overhead. I would have swallowed a razor blade for a shuddering rush of Jim Beam through my system.

p. 218

And like most middle-aged people who hear the clock ticking in their lives, I had come to resent a waste or theft of my time that was greater than any theft of my goods or money.

p. 266

The air was purple, swallows covered the sky, and a wind had come up and was blowing the insects back into the flooded trees so that the bream and sunfish and goggle-eye perch were feeding deep in the shadows. The western sky was a burnt orange, and cranes and blue herons stood in the shallows on the tips of the sandbars and islands of cattails.

p. 292

I brood upon it and sleep little. I wait like a denied lover for the blue glow of dawn. 


CHARACTER/PLOTTING: B; STORY/PLOTTING: B minus to B; SETTING: B plus to A minus; OVERALL GRADE: B plus; WHEN READ: February to March 2011 (revised review 4/14/2013).

[Matt Allen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Michael Jordan was a career eighty percent free-throw shooter. Which is quite good. For me, Heaven's Prisoners was something akin to watching Jordan shoot a boatload of free throws. Free throws are an essential part of the game--crucial--but, in the end, not why I watch in the first place.

James Lee Burke is multifaceted and very talented. His dialogue is good enough for the price of the ticket itself. And being one who loves a story full of rich dialogue, his makes me smile on repeated occasions. Prisoners, though, is full of thick prose, and while is sets the atmosphere immaculately, it crowds the page in a way that chokes out the lean meat of his interesting story.

I realize for some, thick, literary prose is why you crack the spine. And if so, you've never seen so many flowers and birds and fish. Light reflects off water everywhere you look. And the description is engaging, original.

Free throw. Swish. Free throw. Swish. Free throw. Swish. These are supposed to break up the action not become the entire game. Why can't the referees swallow their whistle and let the players play?

When Prisoners gets to the story and its crackling dialogue, it's fun. I'm not sure if I even like its main character, but I certainly see his pain. I'm not sure if the dogged way the plot plays out, while crafty, is still not forced. I'm not even sure as beautiful as our protagonist's world is that it's plausible that our protagonist is the character who would notice such things. All of these issues might go down easier if Burke wasn't so fond of getting to the foul line and swishing those free throws. Still, the talent is there even if the balance is off.

For more literary readers, this may be just the tonic you're looking for or even a nice change of pace. For me, I came for dunks of dialogue and sweet fade-away jumpers of character exploration. If some of that space Burke dedicates to imagery had gone there, Prisoners would've ranked much higher for my experience.

Recommended only for readers who lean toward the literary in their mystery. Other readers are likely to be lost in dense thicket of scenery.

[Jenna Leone · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars. I liked this one better than I liked the first one, but there are still a few cringey elements, largely due to the time period when this was written. But I own, like, ten more books in this series. So I'm going to continue with it, lol.

[Barry who enjoys well-written thrillers, mysteries , & espionage & loathes romance, horror & supernat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read most of James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux series but, somehow I had managed to skip, Heaven's Prisoners, the second book in the series. In reading it, I enjoyed taking a look at Robicheaux's life much earlier in his career as a cop in New Iberia, Louisiana than in more recent books. I also enjoyed the fact that it was one of James Lee Burke's earlier works.

Burke is an absolute artist with words, painting elegant and compelling pictures that are so vivid that reading his work is almost like watching the story unfold in real life. If he did not write mystery stories, I suspect that he would have been hailed as one of America's finest contemporary writers. He has lived much of his life in New Iberia and his writing reflects his intimate knowledge of its sites, settings, tastes, range of people, culture, smells and feel.

I won't go into the story but suffice it to say that it was superbly composed, filled a gap in my Robicheaux experience and was entirely uncompromised by the fact that I read it far out of sequence.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second Dave Robicheaux novel had a handicap for me, during the reading I realized I had seen the movie not so long ago which took some of the excitement away as I generally remembered the plot. That said the book contains a far stronger wallop and content which Hollywood would never allow to be filmed.

DR is retired from the detective business and is running a fishing and boat-rental business in Louisiana Bayou country with his beau who he met in the previous novel. They see a small plane crash into the sea and all they can save is this little girl. And the story is not at all about the little girl named Alafair, after Daves mum. The trouble starts when the authorities claim that there were only three dead people in the plane when Dave clearly knows there were four. Robicheaux decides to go looking for an answer which has powerful consequences for him and his loved ones.

The world of the Bayous comes to life on the pages, as are the seedy bars and world Dave visits in this book. You feel his love for Alafair and his Beau who finally gets the child she never could get. A points a beautiful written novel that does have its moments of terror & death. Again a powerful insight in the head of a drunk and sometimes irresponsible character that gambles too much with the lives of his loved ones in search for the truth.

Well recommended

[William · Rating 1 out of 5]

RANT WARNING


Fuck you sideways, Burke. The misogynistic murder of Annie in this second book is cheap and gratuitous abuse of your readers. Bite me.

REJECTED WITH OUTRAGEOUS PREJUDICE

Brutally murdering the gumshoe's beautiful young wife is not clever, or new, or advancing the character of Robicheaux at all. It's a fucking nasty, misogynistic cliché.

It would be nice for a goddam change to have a gumshoe without a brutally murdered wife.

Fuck you Burke

Recommend another series to me. I'm done with Burke.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, this one wins the prize for robbing one of the holiday spirit. Phew, what a dark and gritty ride this book is, interspersed with profound thoughts.
I had read later books in the Robicheaux world and wanted to read the first two, so now I have some key blanks filled in like the rescue of his "adopted" daughter from a submerged plane.
Man, what emotional hits this book is filled with. I must now cleanse and jump into a very light and enjoyable collection of Christmas tales with Sherlock.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

"... the innocent who suffer for the rest of us become anointed and loved by God in a special way; the votive candle of their lives had made them heaven's prisoners"

James Lee Burke's novels are a wonderful reading experience. He is a gifted author and master story teller. I have never been to New Orleans, or any part of Louisiana for that matter, but when reading one of Burke's books I feel like I am right there. I can see the sunrises and sunsets. I can hear the music and the rain on the tin roof. I can smell the food. I am totally immersed in the story. It is not just the scenes. James Lee Burke creates some of the greatest characters in fiction.

This is the second novel in the Dave Robicheaux series. He has quit the New Orleans police department and along with his wife, Annie, he has opened a bait and boat rental business on a bayou in New Iberia. The story opens while they are out on the bayou and witness a small plane crash. Robicheaux has scuba gear on his boat and dives down to the crash site. The only survivor is a small girl whom he pulls from the plane. The other occupants, four adults, are all dead. When federal authorities report that there were only three bodies pulled from the wreck Robicheaux begins investigating. He may have turned in his badge but apparently he hasn't changed. His investigation brings him to the attention of the DEA, Department of Immigration, and the mob. And soon he is confronting Bubba Rocque, a local hood he has known since childhood. His obstinacy and continued pursuit at first leads to tensions in his marriage and then tragedy. One of the main characters in the story tells him "You hurt for other people and for some reason you feel guilty about them". I think this trait is one of the reasons Dave Robicheaux is such a compelling character.

Dave Robicheaux is a Vietnam veteran who appears to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. He often has dreams about his experiences from the war. He is also a recovering alcoholic. In the novels I have read his recovery seems to be tenuous and there are slips. There are mentions of Alcoholics Anonymous and some slogans but no sponsor or working the steps to recovery. At some point in the stories he seems to have a slip, goes on a bender, hits bottom, and then sobers up again. Fortunately for fans of the series he always appears to be able to realize when he hits bottom and can sober up again. I am not sure how often that happens in reality. Dave Robicheaux comes across as a genuine and caring person but a person with a lot of demons that he must deal with. I am looking forward to reading the next novel in this series ... Black Cherry Blues

[Karl · Rating 5 out of 5]

This first edition hard cover is signed by James Lee Burke.

[Cathy DuPont · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unfortunately, I started reading this Dave Robincheaux series out of order simply because Black Cherry Blues was an Edgar Award winner.

First book was Neon Rain which was great. This was the second book then Black Cherry Blues, the third in the series.

Personally, this one is a favorite. No, changed my mind, Black Cherry; no, Neon; what can I say? They are all so, so good and can see all of them nominated for the award and/or receiving the award.

Dave is one flawed individual but he knows it and is continually trying to be a better human being. He conscience guides him, sometimes into more trouble but he still he moves forward.

Can't recall how many are in the series but look forward to reading them all because Burke's writing is about as flawless as his character isn't. A reviewer said it's 'gritty' and I can't improve upon that description. I like the rough and tumble writing and although I know very, very little about Cajun anything, am learning slowly since the locale is New Orleans and New Iberina with side trips near and far depending on the book.

Do urge you, if you decide to read Burke, to start with The Neon Rain.

As an aside, he's first cousin once removed to Andre Dubus III, the writer of House of Sand and Fog, and Burke's daughter is also an accomplished writer. A writing family, no doubt, so talent runs in their blood along with that French connection.

[Ahmed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Readers expecting a standard detective novel will be amazed at the literary quality of Burke's characters and landscape. Even those who know nothing about Southern Louisiana or Cajun culture will feel that they have been there. The story is tautly constructed but the dialogue and descriptive passages have such powerful imagery. This is my second reading in the Dave Robicheaux series and I plan to catch up with the series.

[Dimitar Angelov · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

Страхотен Бърк! Това е мъжка книга или може би е по-точно да се каже - книга за мъже. Всичко е на високо ниво - сюжет, персонажи, но за мен най-ценното са диалозите и размислите на автора. Наглед, това е трилър, но зад тази фасада се крие много повече. Рядко си подчертавам и отбелязвам параграфи в крими или трилъри. Някои разсъждения и коментари за войната, за живота след преживяна война, за алкохолизма, за престъпността и за борбата срещу нея просто са златни. В книгата има и много южняшки хумор, който ме е карал да се смея с глас. Отдавна ми прави впечатлението, че между нас българите и хората от Американския юг има нещо общо - може би селските ни корени. Книгата на Бърк е писана в края на Студената война и отразява духа на този период. Тук няма "либерална коректност" и нещата се назовават с техните имена.

[The Girl with the Sagittarius Tattoo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did something very unfair to William Kent Krueger's Cork O'Connell: I read a Dave Robicheaux book right after. Dave will kick Cork's ass every single time - and James Lee Burke's style of gritty, Southern-fried, hard-drinking and highly violent plotting is just right for me.

I had learned long ago that resolution by itself is not enough; we are what we do, not what we think and feel.

Heaven's Prisoners finds Robicheaux gone from NOLA, living in his childhood home on the New Iberia bayou and recently wed to Annie. Having turned in his cop's badge, he's now the owner of a bait-and-boat-rental shop near a picturesque little river ramp. Dave's an AA convert who gets to make sweet, sweet love to Annie every morning and night... ah, life is good!

But this is a Dave Robicheaux book, so shit hits the fan pretty quicklike. This time, it comes in the form of a prop plane with engine trouble that ditches in the water by Dave and Annie's place. They don't think twice before rowing out to the crash site and looking for survivors. The only one is a 6yo girl whose mother's last act was wedging her into a tiny air pocket inside the cabin. After getting her to the hospital, Dave tells them she's their daughter Alafair Robicheaux, which raises the nuns' eyebrows: Alafair only speaks Spanish.

How can one innocent little girl turn everybody's lives upside down, in so many different and unexpected ways? I dunno, but what happens to Dave and Annie in this book is absolutely insane - and right around the halfway point in the book, I actually startled and yelled NO!!!!!

My husband is still recovering from a momentary heart stoppage.

This one was really, really good! You really should enjoy reading violent scenes and obscenity-laced coonass street slang to get the most out of this series - and most importantly, not be easily offended. These early novels are set in the late 80s/early 90s, and rural Louisiana had not undergone sensitivity training yet. In fact, it still may not have arrived.

But perhaps age has taught me that the earth is still new, molten at the core and still forming, that black leaves in the winter forest will crawl with life in the spring, that our story is ongoing and it is indeed a crime to allow the heart’s energies to dissipate with the fading of light on the horizon.

[Mal Warwick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many of the very best detective novels are to be found in character-centered series tied to a particular time and place. Think Harry Bosch in Michael Connelly’s contemporary L.A. Sonchai Jitpleecheep in John Burdett’s Bangkok. Quirke in Benjamin Black’s 1950s Dublin. Inspector Thomas Lynley in Elizabeth George’s England today. I could name dozens more. These novels excel in large part because the authors have become so deeply immersed in the cultures surrounding them that they can conjure up the sights and smells and feel of their settings, wedding their protagonists to the environment in an utterly natural fashion.

In James Lee Burke’s venerable Dave Robicheaux series, the sultry and languid setting of southern Louisiana costars with the detective. Follow Robicheaux through the French Quarter and deep into the bayous, and you’ll smell the swamps, hear the birds calling, and taste the shockingly spicy food.

Not that plot and substance are secondary in Burke’s writing. On the contrary, his complex plotting and Big Picture subject matter are provocative. No English drawing-room whodunits, these books! In Neon Rain, the first in the Robicheaux series, Burke took on the Iran-Contra affair and CIA complicity in the illegal drug trade to finance the Nicaraguan rebels. In Heaven’s Prisoners, the renegade detective tangles with the DEA and its infiltration of the 1980s Sanctuary Movement that enabled Salvadorans fleeing violent civil war at home to take refuge in US churches.

James Lee Burke is a serious writer whose subject matter and literary skills transcend the genre. He’s not alone in this way — the other writers I’ve cited above must have their say as well, as must others — but he’s one of the best.

[Bill · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another reviewer said exactly how I feel. That I can't muster up much enthusiasm for Dave Robicheaux, and that I need my mysteries to be
more cerebral.

I had heard James Lee Burke interviewed on BBC's book review podcast, and
the three panelists were positively gushing over him. So I gave him another shot, after being unimpressed with The Neon Rain many years ago.
I made it through more than half the novel before giving up.

I don't like Robicheaux. He's too much of a loose cannon, and there's
lots of gratuitous violence. I like mystery/suspense novels to have
more psychological aspects than slam-bang shoot 'em up, punch 'em up action. I also find Burke's style to be repetitive: At the end of most
dialogue sequences, there follows a description of the sky, smells, and
sights of what's going on around him. While his descriptions are quite
impressive (especially the many unique and poetic ways he could describe clouds), nonetheless it got to be formulaic.

Hard-boiled isn't for me. I thought that maybe I hadn't given Burke much of a chance (I probably still haven't), but I don't see much in what I look for in crime novels, so I think this is it.

[Piker7977 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall this is a pretty good book. I like Burke's prose as it bounces from hardboiled to lyrical. The descriptions of Louisiana and the bayou are captivating and Robicheaux's memories and nightmares of Vietnam are enchanting and haunting.

There is a lot of filler though. For instance the romantic scenes are of the grocery store aisle variety. I get a little tired of reading about the main character's "loins." It reminds me of awkward 'birds and the bees' conversations you have when you are a teenager.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second book in this series moves from a New Orleans setting to New Iberia and the bayou country. The writing beautifully integrates the culture, nature and cuisine of rural Louisiana into the the story, the plot involves revenge and violence among people who accept this as a necessary element of life. A statement to the protagonist, “You know what your problem is? You want to be a moral man in an amoral business.” seems like a pretty good summary of the inner conflicts of this character.

[Wayne Barrett · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great crime series made even better by its setting in the bayous of Louisiana. This one didn't have as much punch as the first book in the series, "Neon Rain", but Dave Robicheaux is still a hard-boiled, kick ass and take names character. I'm impressed enough by Burke's writing that I will be sure to continue on with the series.

[Aditya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heaven's Prisoners is all about paradoxes. The pristine beauty of the setting (Louisiana) juxtaposed against the senseless violence and depravity that surrounds it. The battle between the seductive allure of alcohol and its destructive might. The mystery thriller that is mainly character driven taking pointers from its more literary cousins. And the most fascinating paradox of all is its protagonist, Dave Robicheaux.

Dave Robicheaux is such a compelling character as he is wrecked with guilt over doing the right thing. He realizes he makes the hard choices not because of any inherent sense of righteousness or moral certitudes. His choices are a lost soul's desperate attempt to find purpose, a vain man's broken pride's refusal to see the writing on the wall. His road to redemption is paved with self loathing. He seems tragic to me but might seem completely irresponsible to another reader. That's the beauty of the writing, a stock character, a crime protagonist archetype is given such surprising depth by Burke.

And characterization is not the only place where Burke excels, his insight and introspection is profound and his descriptions are second to none. There are writers who can paint a vivid picture with prose, that makes the reader feel like he is looking at an old photograph that conjures beautiful memories. But Burke goes beyond that, his descriptions smothers like a lullaby, engulfs like a fever dream and almost places you in the photograph itself. It is evocative and mesmerizing.

The plot feels a bit thin but is never shallow. The dialogue and the action flourish whenever they are given long expanses to shine in. The resolution caught me napping so it did hide its twists well.

Overall a brilliant read if one can stomach the excessive violence and bleakness that often envelopes the narrative but never deters from it. Rating - 5/5.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect imagery paints the scene in the second entry of James Lee Burke’s ongoing Dave Robicheaux mystery series. Often as bad as he is good, Dave Robicheaux proves to be an intriguing character on many levels. He has his demons, and he fights them nearly every day of his life. The supporting characters are as intriguing as the lead, and each one proves far from perfect. And the worst ones help determine a new definition of evil.

Were it not for his strong sense of character and command of the written word, this novel might have failed. But it doesn’t by any stretch of the imagination. It succeeds over and over again. If you like strong characters and a strong sense of place, then I highly recommend this gorgeous read into the depths of humanity.

[Valentin Derevlean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deși începe mai greu, e un roman foarte mișto. Sentimental, dur, întunecat. Multă răzbunare, multă suferință și câteva fraze geniale. Recomand oricui seria asta. E foarte bună. Sper să mai apară câteva volume.

[Nancy Ellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five stars because it is so beautifully written, in spite of the fact that it is a seriously depressing story. Dave and his new wife Annie have left New Orleans and own a small bait shop on the bayou. They witness a small plane crash and manage to rescue a little girl, but the four adults on the plane have drowned. One of the victims turns out to have been involved in serious crime, and when his death is deliberately covered up, Dave begins an investigation of his own which leads to some extremely dangerous people and eventually brings a flood of violence over him and everyone surrounding him. I can't say much more without including spoilers, but believe me when I say it is not good news for Dave, even though it does introduce a new character in the series in his adoptive daughter. In spite of this, Burke's writing is so beautiful, his descriptions of the bayou scenery, climate, lifestyles, and the amazing depth of his immensely flawed characters so captivating, that it is a joy to read the book. Just don't expect it to be cheerful!

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have never read a David Robicheaux detective/mystery novel, you don't know what you are missing. James Lee Burke is about to release the 18th novel featuring the Louisiana detective. I have read numbers 15, 16 and 17 and decided to go back to the beginning and read them all in chronological order. This book is number 2 in the series and I really enjoyed it. Burke's descriptions of life in Louisiana are heartbreaking beautiful. This book was written in 1988 long before Katrina's devastation and now the BP oil spill. As you read you realize that the beauty of this region will probably never be the same ... at least not in our lifetime. Found out that this book was also made into a movie ... I have it set to record on the DVR. Pick up one of the Robicheaux books and you just might find yourself hooked .... and craving Cajun food and Jax beer. Do they still make Jax?

[Sarah Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

So. These books can be problematic. Oh the racism. Okay, and the mysogyny.
Some of the plot twists really take some big time forgiveness by the reader.
At yet the book is weirdly beautifully written.

[Jason McCracken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than book #1 but difficult to believe the same New Orleans cop can somehow get involved in yet another global CIA conspiracy. Luckily there's more than enough nasty violence to help me get over it.