After a lacklustre couple of outings in the Dave Robicheaux series since the peak of 'Purple Cain Road', James Lee Burke has come back with a vengeance in this latest outing. It was always going to be intriguing how Hurricane Katrina impacted upon his mythical Louisiana landscape, but thankfully, it only seems to have given JLB's writing an extra intensity.
If the pace of 'Pegasus Descending'is slightly slower than some of the earlier series (reflecting Robicheaux's advancing years), then Dave's philosophical reflections and the book's general atmosphere more than compensate. In its leisurely pace and discursiveness, it reminded me of Philip Marlowe in Chandler's 'The Long Goodbye'. The sensuous descriptions of the South and New Orleans are the things fans of the Robicheaux series love (along with the wonderful Cajun names), but JLB may have outstripped even himself here. The elegiac tone is perfect for the coming desolation of Katrina, though this is never overstated.
The only slight jarring note, for me, was the book's end, which resembled a Shakespearian tragedy. After a wonderful slow-burning build-up to the story, the climax was rather abrupt and laid the 'evil destroys itself' theme on a little thick. Mythical motifs are integral to the book, of course (though Bellerephon was a new one to me).
Essentially the Robicheaux books are the same (or a very similar) story over and over again. JLB's villains are never just run-of-the-mill bad guys, but Biblically evil. There is always the old-money patriarch with a shady past, the white mafioso thug that Dave grew up with, and the black or Cajun outsider, either criminal or musician, on the run and deeply misunderstood. All the boxes are checked here, and we love it. Burke seems to be aiming for a kind of ideal, and he may finally have created it here, with the perfect story he has always wanted to write.
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