Reviews
"Burke possesses a unique voice with such deliberate word choice that it creates its own atmosphere." --Lone Star Literary Life, "For five decades, Burke has created memorable novels that weave exquisite language, unforgettable characters, and social commentary into written tapestries that mirror the contemporary scene. His work transcends genre classification." -- Philadelphia Inquirer, "Burke's gritty coming-of-age tale is a typically entertaining read that may cap a trilogy but also begs for a sequel." -- Kirkus, "Mr. Burke has crafted another epic tale in an unforgettablelandscape about an imperfect man's search for redemption. Once again, everymember of the sprawling cast of characters, minor to major, makes animpression, and rings true…Mr. Burke's novels always offer a compelling story.But, the reader is rewarded with a multitude of haunting themes that run deepand wide. Pick and choose the ones you wish to explore. They are skillfully andnon-intrusively woven into the narrative. But these layers are what alwayselevate a James Lee Burke novel above any genre tale." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, James Lee Burke is the heavy weight champ, a great American novelist whose work, taken individually or as a whole, is unsurpassed., "This book, with its larger-than-life characters, is a grand adventure, a sweeping love story and a tale of youth recollected in relative tranquility--its noirish reality tinged with a rosy glow, part of which comes from spilled blood." --The Wall Street Journal, "Burke's writing [is] Faulkner-esque in its beauty, its feel on the ear like a southern breeze blowing through magnolia blossoms and oil fields." -- Missoulian, "Burke's writing [is] Faulkner-esque in its beauty, its feel on the ear like a southern breeze blowing through magnolia blossoms and oil fields." -- Missoulian, "The master storyteller continues the six-title "Holland Family" series with this visceral coming-of-age set in 1950s Texas. Wealth and privilege clash with poverty and ignorance as young Aaron Broussard finds first love, confronts his foes and saves a friend. This being Burke, the mob lurks in the background. He is best known for his 20-title Dave Robicheaux thriller series, yet his body of work has transcended genre to become what critics and academicians regard as literature." --Sacramento Bee, "James Lee Burke is the heavy weight champ, a great American novelist whose work, taken individually or as a whole, is unsurpassed." --Michael Connelly, A big, broad, engagingly overstuffed new novel set with rousing confidence in midcentury Texas. . . . Like much of Burke's fiction, it's saturated with the romance of the past while mournfully attuned to the unholy menace of the present. . . . The opening sequence is extraordinarily taut and vivid [and]Burke knows how to keep a story humming along. . . . The novel is full of prose as strong and precise as Hershel Pine's pipeline welds . . . and then there's Burke's sense of place, which is so richly interwoven with his sense of history., "What brings the myth-laden story to life is Burke's lyrical prose and his ability to use description to mirror emotion. That and what is perhaps the best last paragrapgh in this author's landmark career." --Booklist, Starred Review
