Jolie Blon's Bounce (Paperback)

These days, a new Dave Robicheaux novel is like a phone call from a distant aunt. It's nice to hear from her, but she keeps telling the same old stories over and over again and you wind up preferring that maybe the calls were less frequent, or of shorter duration. "Jolie Blon's Bounce" is like that. It's still Burke and it's still welcome, but you've heard all the stories, read all the lovely descriptions, wondered about the vaguely supernatural elements, thrilled at Dave's headstrong determination to do exactly the most self-destructive thing at any given moment, despite what his family, friends and colleagues tell him. There's nothing new.

The story is about a poor black person accused of a crime and the rich white people who have a dark secret and may actually be the criminals. No, wait. That's ALL of them. Let's try it again...

"Jolie Blon's Bounce" finds Dave investigating the murders of a young, white, teenaged girl and of a prostitute, the daughter of a New Orleans gangster. Everyone figures local hophead and musician Tee Bobby Hulin as the murderer; everyone except Dave, who wants so much to believe in the boy's innocence that he follows a few unorthodox leads.

Along the way he encounters Legion Guidry, a former plantation manager who may or may not be the demon Legion from the Bible, a man who violates and twists his way through New Iberia like a thread of mold. He threatens, bullies, beats and kills any number of people before turning his charms on Dave himself, who nearly does not come away from the encounter intact.

Throw in Clete Purcell, Dave's old partner, the Private Investigator daughter of another mobster, a malevolent Bible salesman, the prostitute's grieving father, the local police, and Dave's curiously bitchy family and you have a nice, murky roux, full of red herrings, macguffins and dead ends.

As usual, Dave sews it all up in his unique, ethically challenged way. But what has begun to strike me about these books is how surly and dislikeable is the lead character. Dave barely communicates his thoughts to anyone, is rude and disrespectful to people he doesn't like and is merely grumpy and hostile to people he loves. He pontificates to those close to him, all the while dipping his toe in the same toxic water from which he warns them. With each new book I wonder why his wife Bootsie hasn't filed for divorce - they only seem to have sex when she's mad at Dave and they don't talk or show affection any other time. Dave's daughter, Alafair, once a cool character, has grown into a charmless teenager who finds every reason to pick a fight and no reason to show us, the reader, what a great guy Dave is under the surface. If you liked the other books in the series, you are bound to like this one, but be warned: the books are getting darker and I'm not sure even Dave can see the light anymore.