Good writing but dark -- lots of Vietnam flashback and alcoholism stuff. ( )

This is the first book in the Dave Robicheaux series. Robicheaux is single, working as a Detective for the New Orleans PD and living on a houseboat on Lake Pontchartrain. The book opens with a hit man awaiting execution telling Dave there is a contract out on him. Robicheaux had found the body of a young prostitute and his attempts to investigate her murder made him very unpopular with a wide cast of characters including a local Sheriff, New Orleans mobsters and the New Orleans Police.
Building on this premise Burke writes a fast moving story full of violence. Robicheaux becomes the target of some ex-government agents left over from the days of the contras and is framed for murder. He goes back on the bottle and becomes involved with a part-time cello player named Annie Ballard.
The story lacks some of the style that Burke developed over the life of the series but does provide good entertainment. The dialogue and the characters have a hard edged realism that is present in all of the Robicheaux books. While I enjoyed the story I probably will not read it again. It is a good cop story but lacks the depth of the later books in the series. ( )

pretty good story, but too gritty for my taste. ( )

This is a well written book. I enjoyed the story, the characters. Enough large world issues, but nothing to stretch credibility. ( )

I liked Dave Robicheaux. He doesn’t mess around. When he hears that he may be on someone’s hit list, he doesn’t skulk and sneak around, trying to find out what’s going on. Not Dave! He goes and asks the guy directly. He has a lot to deal with in this book... a dead girl, mobsters, drug and gun runners, kidnapping, a questionable partner, a new girlfriend, his own demons... and in the end he does pretty well, but probably not in the way you would expect. Dave may be flawed, but he’s alright with me. ( )