A Morning for Flamingos

If there is any author's books that could be used as a workshop for writing hard-hitting detective stories, than James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux series is that. Any one of his books would be a good one for a mystery writing workshop. He is also one of the only authors that I've read who writes a literary mystery. His descriptions of places, people, and actions project into your head as you read and i saw everything in living colour. In this book, Dave has to do some real soul-searching as he nearly loses life on a Bayou night when what was supposed to be a routine prison transfer, goes horribly wrong. When he recovers, he is on a personal vendetta to get the prisoner that got away, and who almost killed him. At the same time, he finds show more himself pulled into a dangerous DEA sting that pits him up against the who's-who in the New Orleans mafia. During all the close calls and all the mayhem, Dave manages to keep his humanity, and with the help of his friend, Clete, also manages to stay alive to fight another day. I cannot recommend this entire series enough. It's the absolute best out there of the hard-hitting, no holds barred, noir mystery genre. show less

After the emotional wringer of Heaven's Prisoners and the extreme stress of Black Cherry Blues, the previous two books in the Dave Robicheaux series, I was prepared for this one to go to some pretty dark places. And to be sure, there is some brutal action here—a shooting, a drowning, both vividly described—but there's also a gentleness and even a peace that I'd never guessed were coming, a generosity in the resolution that I found welcome. That resolution is so atypical of the thriller formula that it may leave some readers dissatisfied where it only left me surprised. Check it out for yourself, and test your tolerance for shades of gray.

James Lee Burke's 'A Morning for Flamingos' continues the winning streak for novels in the Robicheaux series. It's the 4th, each is better than the last, and there's a couple dozen more to go.

'Flamingos' begins with Dave Robicheaux back on the local police force. Along with an incompetent partner, he's transporting a couple prisoners to a different facility when they manage to escape. One's a stone-cold killer, the other a young kid who decides to give Robicheaux a break by not killing him when he had the chance. In the subsequent effort to track down the escapees, Dave is talked into embedding himself as a disgraced cop-on-the-make in the local Mafia organization by the Feds. As with all the Robicheaux novels to date, violence, show more romance, tough talk, backstabbing, etc. ensue. Good guys win in the end, but not without some important topics being approached, particularly those related to soldiers who fought in Vietnam. It's a sort of time capsule of a period when Vietnam was still in mind, when crack cocaine was just ramping up, and when cops' jobs and approaches were considerably different.

Robicheaux is a fascinating character. His key trait seems to be adherence to his principles, which fortunately are in alignment with our laws. He's a real badass who's happened to get shot and beaten up in every book so far, but he always manages to recover. He has a 'softer' side, if you want to call it that, with a young girl he adopted at home, and is on his 3rd wife by the end of Flamingos. He makes questionable decisions at times, which typically are principle-driven. In that respect he reminds me a bit of the Reacher character in Lee Child's series. In thinking about it, I guess his 2nd true trait is that he's action-oriented. There's not a lot of introspection involved in what he gets undertakes, although his past (he's a recovering alcoholic and Vietnam vet) does tend to haunt him. All in all, a great character in my favorite genre.

I continue to marvel at Burke's writing. It's relatively easy in this genre, at least judging by what's out there now, to let the story drive the writing and most of the prose tends to be very straightforward and simple. Burke seems incapable of that style. His descriptive technique, particularly when talking about the Louisiana physical environment and the local language, adds a layer to his books that is extremely rare. show less

Robicheaux nearly dies when a prisoner transport goes south, but he’s to ornery to die, right? Then, Dave goes undercover as a bent cop to get to a mafia-run drug operation. The only thing that saves his bacon and maintains his cover is the fact that the crooks know that Dave always plays a little too close to the lines – they assume he doesn’t have any moral line he won’t cross. But Dave has his own moral code, sometimes it matches up with the law’s and sometimes it doesn’t. When it doesn’t match up, Robicheaux finds creative ways to balance things. Honestly, one of the most endearing traits for this hard-boiled cop is his ability to still find sympathy, even empathy, with some of the guys he’s working.

5 show more bones!!!!!
Highly recommended show less

This series is well worth the second look I'm giving it, reading it in order including the scattered installments I'd already read. The man can just flat-out write. While the books contain all the gritty action and language and nastiness typical of the genre, Burke always manages to bring in a positive note at the end of, or even in the midst of, the turmoil. These are books that make one think; beyond the fistfights, gunshots, and plot twists, complex issues are explored. The bad guys aren't all totally bad, and the good guys -- even (especially) the protagonist -- have major flaws. And the descriptions put you right on the scene.

This one starts with Dave transporting two condemned prisoners to Angola, the tough Louisiana prison where show more executions take place. One of the prisoners is a long-time friend, one is evil almost beyond description. But you can't count on them reaching their destination. Add in a DEA agent trying to recruit Dave for a drug sting, a drug-dealing mobster with a disabled son, an old flame of Dave's who married into the mob, and assorted other shady characters, and you have the ingredients for a thriller only James Lee Burke could concoct. show less

With some series, you fall in love with the main characters. Watch with interest as they confront their problems, admire their decisions, root for them during lows, and celebrate the victories. Dave Robicheaux is the protagonist in James Lee Burke’s series of the same name, and I’m not particularly sure I like him (Robicheaux, that is, not Burke). I do know one thing, however–I’m in love with Burke’s ability to bring a setting to life. In fact, if Burke ever leaves the mystery gig and heads into travel writing, I’ll be there in a hot minute:

“It has stopped raining now, and the air was clear and cool, the sky dark except for a lighted band of purple clouds low on the western horizon. I drove through the parking lot to the show more back of the building, the flattened beer cans and wet oyster shells crunching under my tires, and through the big fan humming in the back wall I could hear the zydeco band pounding it out.”

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further uncensored thoughts at : http://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2014/06/02/a-morning-for-flamingos-by-james-lee-b... show less

No. 4 in the Dave Robicheaux series. Dave is sober throughout this story, and never seems tempted to take a drink. But he is still being tormented by Viet Nam memories. He leaves his adopted daughter Alafair with a cousin and goes undercover for the DEA to bust a Mafia drug ring. He’s recruited by Minos Dautrieve, who we first met in Heaven’s Prisoners. His own reasons for getting involved in this are tied to an incident in which his partner was killed and Dave himself badly wounded while transporting two prisoners to the death house at Angola Penitentiary. One of those prisoners, Tee Beau Latiolais, a young black man, had been convicted (wrongly, Dave believes) of a murder, and it was through his subterfuge that Dave’s life was show more spared. Now, of course, Dave owes him one, and is determined to find out who really killed Tee Beau’s supposed victim. The DEA does not come off well, as far as backing up its operatives in a pinch. But Dave’s Mafia target, Tony Cardo, turns out to be a complicated individual with demons of his own, and a physically disabled little son he adores, leading Dave into the moral ambiguities Burke loves to explore. Dave re-connects with his first love, Bootsie, who is now a Mafia widow and can’t see her way out of the “family”. Thanks to an epilogue that ties up many loose ends, this book has a “they lived happily ever after” feel to it, as if Burke may have thought he was going to end Dave’s story here. show less