Motives did not quite gel, but still good read. Love Cletus and Helen and some of Dave's other odd allies. ( )

Beautifully written. And the subject matter is fearsome: Dave Robicheaux's way of treating with his world here clashes, even in dream, with a whole lot of forces, mores, and assumptions that pervade the world he lives in. 'Even inside the dream I know I'm experiencing what a psychologist once told me is a world destruction fantasy. But my knowledge that it is only a dream does no good; I cannot extricate myself from it.' He lives in a beautiful and deadly world, in which the great chain of being operates on the principle of 'eat or be eaten'. But in the waking world at least Dave has to find a way to go on living in it. So he begins to make his choices, essays small interventions. He quickly finds himself in more than one another country, where nothing is as it seems and he must risk everything he loves to right imbalances, until his whole world makes sense to him again. And meanwhile, everything he is and loves remains at risk. At every turn he must decide what to let go of, what he needs to keep. 'It was all that quick, as though a loud train had gone past me, slamming across switches, baking the track with its own heat, creating a tunnel of sound and energy so intense that the rails seem to reshape like bronze licorice under the wheels; then silence that's like hands clapped across the eardrums, a field of weeds that smell of dust and creosote, a lighted club car disappearing across the prairie.' A little masterpiece, this one, and maybe the only pure magic realism novel in the whole series too. ( )

My first Dave Robicheaux mystery. James Lee Burke's minimalist writing style effectively portrays reality where not all questions are answered. The unnamed character in the book is the nature and scenery which provides a poetic background for the story.
The main character in this story is Sonny Boy Marsallus. A one time street hustler who became transformed into a shadowy character who exists on the edge of the supernatural. The story mixes tales of mafiosi, government spooks, and a love story that crosses racial boundaries.
The ending provides resolution of some of the plot lines but leaves some to be continued. I particularly enjoyed the portrayal of Robicheaux's relationship with his daughter which like everything else in the book has the imperfections of reality.
I look forward to the other two of these mysteries I now own and exploring further into the long running series. ( )

One of the best Dave Robicheaux novels I've read. Quick paced and full of the descriptive power that gives these novels such a sense of place. Though I figured the assassin with a third of the book to go the way the final scene was played out was the mystery that kept me reading. Along with all the odd violent southern characters that populate his novels as well. ( )

This novel was my introduction to both James Lee Burke and Dave Robicheaux. It was 1998, and I read this book by flashlight riding out the entirity of Hurricane Georges. I absolutely could not put it down, and I remember becoming annoyed that I had to move locations because a tree limb broke through my bedroom window. It's marvelous how something so simple as a book can make one forget that one is under the threat of a natural disaster for just a little while. ( )