Last Car To Elysian Fields [Hardcover]

The refreshing thing about James Lee Burke's new Dave Robicheaux thriller Last Car to Elysian Fields is that Dave, in many details of the case, is allowed to make a mess of things. We always get uneasy when a series detective is too perfect and the death of his wife and the departure of his daughter to college have robbed currently dry alcoholic Dave of his good angels. His bad angel on the other hand, his roughneck detective friend Clete, is still in rumbustious, corner-cutting violent business as he and Dave connect up the dots and find the links between an IRA hit man with a conscience, a long-dead blues singer, a priest crusading against illegal dumping and yet another of Dave's disturbed upper-crust exes. The atmosphere is always important here--the glamour, glitz and squalor of New Orleans and the fragile beauty of the Louisiana coastline and swamps. What is particularly significant here, though, is a sense of the characters having spiritual lives as well as a daily grind of coffee and pancakes and sniffing the fresh sea air; James Lee Burke writes thrillers with real heart. --Roz Kaveney

'James Lee Burke has been knocking out consistently excellent Deep South thrillers for almost 40 years, and shows no sign of toning down the grit ... You'll get paper cuts from turning the pages so fast to find out what happens next.' (JACK magazine )

'Increasingly, his novels have become vehicles for a talent which is changing, still growing. Look carefully at what's on offer. What we are seeing is a good writer becoming a great one.' (Philip Oakes LITERARY REVIEW )

Robicheaux's return explores the dark side of human nature, including his own. Vintage Burke (DAILY MIRROR )

Burke's great strength is that he makes you want to spend as much time with Robicheaux and his other characters as possible. (Peter Guttridge THE OBSERVER )

This is a good, solid, gritty, forlorn cop story. As usual, Burke is at his most lyrical when describing landscapes and the natural world. (DAILY TELEGRAPH )

As always BUrke's lyrical prose confirms his status as one of America's finest writers in any genre. (Susanna Yager SUNDAY TELEGRAPH )

James Lee Burke's prose... has a muscularity and richness that is entirely appropriate to its Louisiana setting .... this is Burke back at his bayou best. (John Harvey THE INDEPENDENT )

There is no denying the sheer power of the writing which at times is beautifully poetic. There is a master craftsman at work here, and Burke's novels are an amazing achievement. (Mike Ripley BIRMINGHAM POST )

Passionate, angry and lyrical, Last Car to Elysian Fields reminds us what a great thriller should be. This is Burke at the peak of his form and that, really, should be all the recommendation anyone needs. (Simon Hynde DAILY EXPRESS )

This book demands to be read not simply for the gripping story ingredients but for the muscular poetry of its style and it overpowering sense of place. (Gerald Kaufman THE SCOTSMAN )

As always BUrke's lyrical prose confirms his status as one of America's finest writers in any genre.

'James Lee Burke has been knocking out consistently excellent Deep South thrillers for almost 40 years, and shows no sign of toning down the grit ... You'll get paper cuts from turning the pages so fast to find out what happens next.'

'Increasingly, his novels have become vehicles for a talent which is changing, still growing. Look carefully at what's on offer. What we are seeing is a good writer becoming a great one.'

Burke's great strength is that he makes you want to spend as much time with Robicheaux and his other characters as possible.

This is a good, solid, gritty, forlorn cop story. As usual, Burke is at his most lyrical when describing landscapes and the natural world.

James Lee Burke's prose... has a muscularity and richness that is entirely appropriate to its Louisiana setting .... this is Burke back at his bayou best.

There is no denying the sheer power of the writing which at times is beautifully poetic. There is a master craftsman at work here, and Burke's novels are an amazing achievement.

Passionate, angry and lyrical, Last Car to Elysian Fields reminds us what a great thriller should be. This is Burke at the peak of his form and that, really, should be all the recommendation anyone needs.

This book demands to be read not simply for the gripping story ingredients but for the muscular poetry of its style and it overpowering sense of place.

James Lee Burke is in top form in this page-turner steeped in the lush, unsettling atmosphere that his readers have come to expect. This time, Burke's renowned Louisana cop returns to the Big Easy in a spellbinding tale of conspiracy, passion, and murder. A rainy late-summer night finds Robicheaux in a New Orleans bar, about to confront the man who may have savagely assaulted his friend, Father Jimmie Dolan, a Catholic priest who's always at the centre of controversy. But things in a Burke novel are rarely what they seem, and soon Robicheaux is back in New Iberia, probing a car crash that killed three teenage girls. A grief-crazed father and a maniacal, conflicted assassin are just a few of the characters Robicheaux meets as he is drawn deeper into a viper's nest of sordid secrets and escalating violence that sets him up for a confrontation that echoes down the lonely corridors of his own unresolved past. A masterful exploration of the troubled side of human nature and the dark corners of the heart, and peopled by familiar characters such as P.I. Clete Purcel and Robicheaux's old flame, the now-married Theodosia LeJeune, LAST CAR TO ELYSIAN FIELDS is vintage Burke - a moody, hard-hitting novel that goes the limit in its provocative blend of human drama and relentless noir suspense.

James Lee Burke is the author of many previous novels, including twelve featuring Detective Dave Robicheaux. He lives with his wife, Pearl, in Missoula, Montana and New Iberia, Louisiana.