The Bayou Trilogy: Under the Bright Lights, Muscle for the Wing, and the Ones You Do [Paperback]

"This was Frogtown, where the sideburns were longer, the fuses shorter, the skirts higher and expectations lower, and he loved it"

On the steamy and seedy shores of the Louisiana Bayou, Detective Rene Shade walks a fine line between law and loyalty in Saint Bruno where he was born and raised. This trilogy combines three loosely connected stories of crime and justice in the shadows of Frogtown and Pan Fry.
The first story, Under the Bright Lights, has Shade, and his partner How Blanchette, investigating the murder of a city councilman. The Mayor would be happiest if the whole business could be blamed on a trigger happy burglar, but it's not how Shade sees it going. The Councillor's death seems to be linked to a power play in the criminal underbelly that is in danger of triggering a war. Shade chases his suspects right into an armed confrontation in the middle of the Marais du Croche, a swamp beset by lethal cottonmouths and hungry crocodiles.
Muscle of the Wing partners a reluctant Detective Shade with a boyhood friend, Shuggie Zeck, whose business interests are being devalued by a mysterious gang of hold up men. In a town where payback and kickbacks grease the system for politicians and criminals alike, Shade can read between the lines of his Captains orders. This investigation isn't about justice so much as vengeance.
In The Ones You Do (Criminentlies), Detective Shade is brooding over his 90-day suspension when his father, the legendary John X Shade returns to the city with a daughter and annoyed ex associates in tow. This tale features the Shade family, itself a microcosm of the environment they live in. These eccentric characters underscore the themes of loyalty, redemption and belonging that flow through the trilogy.

Daniel Woodrell envelops the reader with his atmospheric depiction of the steaming, soiled bayou and it's unique characters. His style is vividly descriptive, and its a surprising pleasure to immerse yourself in the gritty underbelly of his world. The heat, the sweat, the fear become almost tangible with his eloquent turn of phrase. The language he uses has a cultural lilt, wit and earthiness that defines his characterisation. There is a sense of raw authenticity in Woodrell's examination of the realities of life in Saint Bruno and he captures the indistinct boundaries for those that dwell in the less respectable area's of society masterfully.
Far from being a one dimensional character representing the law, Detective Rene Shade is a skillfully drawn character of principle and personal conflict. Throughout the trilogy, Woodrell reveals the flaws and strengths that define Shade. He is a nuanced character who is engaging and likeable.
Shade is surrounded by family, friends and enemies, the ordinary and the eccentric. Eldest brother Tip, runs a drinking dive named The Catfish while youngest brother, Frankie is a lawyer. Their father, John X Shade is a pool hustling legend who is defined by his absence. Shade has grown up in the town he now polices and his childhood friends are as likely to be his enemies as his informants. Woodrell's characters are all boldly drawn with attention to detail and credibility.
Wonderfully written and an engrossing read, Woodrell has a gift for story and prose. The Bayou Trilogy is an atmospheric, brash and exciting adventure through the nadir of the criminal underbelly in the deep south, and I look forward to reading more by this author.

Shelleyrae @ Book'd Out

There is no doubt that Woodrell is the iconic voice of rural America, "a backcountry Shakespeare" who captures the fluidity of language, character and lifestyle in novels that ring with authenticity and the daily violence of hardscrabble existence. This trilogy highlights three novels: Under the Bright Lights, Muscle for the Wing and The Ones You Do, stories connected by place, St. Bruno, Louisiana, the Shade family and other assorted characters. Francois Shade is a rising star in the DA's office; Tip runs the Catfish Bar, a club that caters to the criminal element as well as locals; and Rene, a St. Bruno detective who takes his job seriously. The Shade family skeleton is John X., the paterfamilias who makes an appearance in The Ones You Do, with a reputation as a ne'er-do well and a raft of excuses for a profligate life, best acquainted with abandonment and callous opportunism for all his sly humor: "It ain't the ones you do you regret, but the ones you don't."

The most common (and likable) character in the Bayou Trilogy is Rene Shade, a man who hews to the tenets of law enforcement, dancing around the notion of marriage with his very independent girlfriend. It is Rene, usually referred to as Shade, who walks us through the treacherous territory of colorful local history and a thriving criminal element that is often as violent as it is ill-conceived, a lifestyle bred of opportunity and immediate gratification. The cast is an indelible mix of personalities, from the brutal and venal to the needy and alcohol-hazed, men and women who live near the edge and by their wits. These folks are honed by experience and poverty, the lure of easy money and the high cost of doing business with killers.

It is in the raucous blend of robberies, murders, prison life and the thankless job of law enforcement that the vagaries of human nature emerge. Woodrell writes with wisdom and affection, of a time and place in the American landscape, nuance decidedly irrelevant when staring down the barrel of a shotgun. I almost gave this trilogy five stars, but for the last volume, The Ones You Do, where John X steals the thunder from my favorite character, Rene Shade. I was caught up in the idiosyncratic chaos of St. Bruno's miscreants, reluctant to scale the excitement back for John X's more nostalgic adventures. If you like your contemporary fiction toothy, graphic and raw, Woodrell delivers with a vengeance and the insider knowledge of one born to conflicted loyalties. Luan Gaines/2011.

Some writers have the gift to write dialogue so good you hoot first, then immediately want to write it down or mark up the book with highlighter. When George Pelecanos is really bringing it, whether in his novels or the scripts for the greatest TV show ever, The Wire, his work has that quality. Well, in one man's not so humble opinion, Daniel Woodrell can match up one-on-one with the masters of the genre, and I'm even willing to throw in Leonard and Chandler.
Other reviewers have gone into great detail about the trilogy's plot lines, so there is no reason to go over the same ground. The point I want to make is if you love great characters, some truly idiosyncratic descriptions of places, and, yes, marvelous dialogue, get this book immediately. And what makes it even better, the price is ridiculously low to have such a fine time.