Dixie City Jam

As he approached the seventh entry in his more or less annual Dave Robicheaux series of Louisiana thrillers, James Lee Burke seems to have felt he had a problem to solve. After the digression into the magic realism of In the Electric Mist, a return to a more standard hard-boiled mystery would seem to be in order. But who would make an interesting villain? You can't just have an ordinary sociopath. It's always a sociopath.

Wait! Let's make him a Nazi sociopath.

Mmm, not enough. Let's make him a gay Nazi sociopath.

No, wait--how about a gay Nazi sociopath who's a sadist and an expert torturer!

But what would such a character want from Dave? Hmm, Dave dives--let's say there's a sunken Nazi U-boat drifting around the Gulf coast for the last show more fifty years, and only Dave knows where it is. And the gay sadist Nazi sociopath wants it because--well, he's a Nazi! And, of course, the U-boat is full of Nazi treasure, which U-boats are known to carry.

The subtleties that make Burke's work interesting are mostly abandoned. Once again, there's an Italian mob family also involved. In every book, New Orleans has a new mob family that has always run things. Robicheaux always knows the leaders personally, and not infrequently, beats them up with something like impunity, which is usually explained as the result of pragmatism on the part of the criminals, although the same criminals are described as able to hold grudges for years and settle them in frightening and disgusting ways, regardless of surface appearance.

Preposterousness, of course, is not a dealbreaker when it comes to thrillers like this. But it should be more artfully disguised. Burke has always been great at making things emotionally realistic, however over-the-top the situation. Yet in one scene, Robicheaux returns home after a particularly brutal session with the villain, and the effect on his wife and 12-year-old daughter of seeing him badly injured is never acknowledged. That's the kind of easy out I wouldn't have thought Burke would allow himself. I think Burke erred, a few books back, in giving his hero a wife, a small daughter, and a well-known home address, given the danger he's frequently in, and the meanness of the characters he contends with. Their characterization suffers, as it does here, as they repeatedly become targets to be protected.

Has Burke put his real gifts aside and fallen into mere formula? show less

#7 in the Dave Robicheaux I’m sitting in your chair. I thought you were gone. I didn’t want to make Sophie move. I really can’t believe how this series keeps on getting better and better even as it gets more and more violent, and with more and more reprehensible people. James Lee Burke writes like no one else. The book starts with a young Dave Robicheaux who discovers a sunken boat in one of the bays close to where he lived. The boat is a German U-boat from World War II. From there, we jump ahead to the adult Dave. He is married and living with his wife Bootsie and his daughter Alifair and running a bait shop. Somehow trouble always finds its way to Dave Robicheaux’s door. In this particular case it is an elderly preacher who show more rambles on about demons and salvation and who is somehow connected to one of the scariest individuals he’s ever had to deal with—a psychopathic, neo-Nazi killer by the name of Will Buchalter. Trying to nail this criminal puts Dave and his family and friends in extreme danger. One of the best things about James Lee Burke’s books is the characters that he creates and in this one we’re introduced to an interesting one that I hope to see in future books. He is a young man who is known as Zoot. He is the son of Lucinda, a cop that that Dave is friends with. HBoth the woman and her boy are great characters and I hope to see more of them in future books. And you bet I’ll be reading future books! show less

My first James Lee Burke and my first Dave Robicheaux. I was impressed by the quality of the prose, by its occasionally gentle insights into the human condition, by the evocative lyricism of the New Orleans setting and its language. Great characters, great pacing. I was utterly capitivated by the opening chapter, which describes Robicheaux's first encounter with the Nazi U-Boat, but this plot device eventually became as a silly as an Indiana Jones movie. Ultimately there are lots of silly things about this book, but it grabs you. Will probably read at least one more in the series, and more by Burke.

Another ghost from Dave’s past, a World War II Nazi submarine, rattles its way to the surface briefly, just as it did during a youthful dive with his father. The thing is little more than a curiosity for Dave, as all things historical in the bayou is for him. But it turns out that a neo-Nazi hate group is angling to bring the thing up for some reason, and there’s some interest in it from an activist with ties to one of the local mafia organizations, too. Everyone thinks Dave knows where the submarine is located, and he sort of does, but he’s not playing ball with anyone.

5 bones!!!!!
Recommended

I love James Lee Burke! I've read almost all of this series. His character, Dave Robicheaux struggles with being a recovering alcoholic and suffers from PTSD. As an author I feel Burke is extremely honest and open, while revealing a character who is not. His work gives me great insight into an addictive, conflicted, sometimes violent personality. But this character is also loving and passionate and devoted to those he loves. I would say redemption is one of Burke's main themes.

I highly enjoyed this book. Between its setting in the jazz city of New Orleans and the washing up of a submarine the action is intense at times while reflective at others. It is a quirky kind of book, but I would definitely read it again.

Dave Robicheaux is a detective working in the New Orleans area of America. A sunken Nazi submarine has been discovered just off the Louisiana coast. Various factions are interested in raising it,including crime-bosses and Neo-Nazis. Robicheaux knows the approximate position of the sub and this knowledge brings him and his family to the attention of some very nasty people.
This is my first reading of a book by James Lee Burke and I report with mixed feelings. The writing is without doubt superb with great descriptions of the area. My reservations are with the characters however. They are (with a couple of exceptions) whether hero or villain,completely and utterly vile ! The so-called good and law-abiding characters are just as likely to show more kill and maim,as are the bad guys.
I am therefore in a quandery with this one - On one hand,here we have a obviously good writer who has produced a very readable and exciting book. On the other side of the coin we have one of those stories that leave a nasty taste in the mouth and characters with which one has little or no sympathy.
Although the rating as given is not perfect , my 3½ is the nearest to my overall feeling with this one. show less