Heaven's Prisoners (Dave Robicheaux Book 2) Kindle Edition

James Lee Burke has sold millions of copies of his David Robicheaux detective series. He’s obviously an excellent storyteller, but what I think makes him truly exceptional is his skill at describing characters and setting; Here is a character description selected at random:“He was perhaps thirty and wore hillbilly sideburns, a black fedora, and a black t-shirt with the faces of the Three Stooges embossed whitely on the front.”When Burke sets a scene, you get architecture, flora and fauna, and a mélange of smells and sounds:“Palm fronds and banana trees hung over the stone walls and iron gates of the courtyards; it was always shady under the scrolled colonnades that extended over the sidewalks, and the small grocery stores with their wood-bladed fans always smelled of cheese, sausage, ground coffee, and crates of peaches and plums.”In Heaven’s Prisoners, Robicheaux, a recovering alcoholic is a recently retired New Orleans police detective running a bait shop with in the bayou country with his new wife Annie. A plane crashes in the bayou where they are fishing and Robicheaux rescues a young girl who is trapped in the plane. It’s a riveting scene and is the launching pad for the story. Robicheaux is a believably flawed character and Burke keeps the reader turning the page. An entertaining story with heart.

This is the third Dave Robichaux book I have read, and several times in each book I have almost given up on reading. I start to feel as though I need to take a shower because of all the violence, sin, and tardiness. So what makes me keep reading? I care about Dave Robicheaux. He is constantly fighting his inner demons: his alcoholism, his nightmares of fighting in Viet Nam, his entanglement with mob bosses, drug dealers, prostitutes, and pimps, his failed marriage. But he struggles to make sense out of life, to bring order to this disordered world, to grasp the ideals of justice, goodness, and meaningless. Burke's masterful writing holds me there. It is poetic and magical, and brings Louisiana bayou country to life. There was one part of the story that puzzled me. The ease with which Dave and Annie rescued a little girl from a plane crash and just took her home and made her theirs...really??

He has a moral compass, living in violent world believing the best defense is an offense—that normally works with the usual lowlifes who then move on to easier prey. Unfortunately he sometimes unwittingly pushes buttons that are fronts for aggressive organizations that push back even harder, usually ruthless drug kingpins that are informants for federal agencies, causing himself and his loved ones significant harm. You know this is all going to happen, the building tension the downside to these stories, but the beautiful descriptions of rural southern Louisiana, pearls of wisdom, sparkling dialogue, and psychological introspection keep me churning through the series.

Recently I told an author friend of mine that I was numbed by the poor quality of recent thrillers I had read and he told me to "read something by James Lee Burke - the man's a master". That was great advice. Burke doesn't write your normal type of crime thriller, he is a fabulous storyteller and a master of prose who writes stories of literary quality full of great characters, violent emotions with almost poetic descriptions of the landscapes where the action happens.Dave Robicheaux has retired from a long career as a homicide detective and is running a boat, bait and food business catering for tourists to the bayou area of southern Louisiana. He is very happy in his new marriage to Annie and is winning his long and hard battle with alcohol. Dave and Annie are on their boat one day trawling for shrimp when a small plane crashes nearby. Dave saves a six-year-old girl's life but her mother and three other people in the plane perish. Annie looks after the small girl who can only speak Spanish and names her Alifair, after Dave's mother.When the police search the plane they only find three bodies. One man was missing. Dave remembered him clearly, he wore a pink shirt which had been ripped in the crash to show a tattoo over one nipple and his neck was broken. As usual Dave couldn't leave this alone and it unleashes the devils of gang vengeance which strike at Dave and his family.This is a dark story which is sometimes violent and faces up to the despair of loss and the demons of alcohol. It is also very philosophical about life and its dangers and weaknesses, which is rare in a thriller. I found parts of the book both compassionate and tear-jerking.I strongly recommend this book as one of the most compelling and intelligent thrillers I have read for some time. This is the first of Burke's novels that I have read and it won't be the last. I will especially remember his vivid descriptions of the Louisiana bayou where I could almost smell the water, the moss, the trees and the flowers that Burke so loves. Another author who does this so well is the great Pat Conroy with his landscapes of the Carolina wetlands.While this book was written in 1988, well before Hurricane Katrina, Burke may have had a premonition of the future when he felt a big storm building up and quoted the lyrics of this song - "Don't come `round tonight, it's bound to take your life. A bad moon's on the rise, I hear hurricane's a blowing, I know the end is coming soon, I feel the river overflowing, I can hear the voice of rage and ruin."

I don't know how I ever missed this book 'til now. I've been reading the Robicheaux books for years now, but this one is really special. He somehow combines his perfect pacing while spinning a setting so incredibly moving it feels like an oil painting by an old master. Dave seems more able to verbalize his conflicts and grieving heart than in any other of his novels. James Lee Burke is my idea of the best Southern Crime Mystery writer of all time.N o other author can take me down and roll me into the bayou or float me down Bourbon like he can.

I bought this for my wife, having read the whole series on kindle - more the 20 books and they keep coming (two more due in 2019). Think Bosch with a deep-Southern drawl. Robicheaux is a tough guy scarred by tragedy, who still cares deeply about his family and the communities around him.If you need a taster before you read try watching 'In the Electric Mist' which is a film of one of the later books in the series with Tommy Lee Jones as Robicheaux.

I can picture in my mind the flowers, trees, and surroundings. I can almost smell the air. James Lee Burke has a talent for description. I loved Neon Rain and Heaven's Prisoners is following on in superb manner. Brutal, yes, but it comes across as real.

Just started reading James Lee Burke books and have found them very literal as well as good plots. Have started from the beginning of his detective books[ Dave Robicheaux] and will work my way through the list in order if they continue to be so good.

There is depth to the background of the protagonist, Dave RobisomethingFrench, and the writing avoids obvious cliché with incomprehensible dialect which is good fun. The story is tangled but engaging. Where it falls down is the characterisation of most of the other players. Significant relationships are established in moments. I know it's "just" a detective novel, but I like them to have a bit more credibility. It was diverting though and I am sure I will read another, but not right now.

Our Louisiana detective brought out of temporary calm "civilian" life by some traumatic experiences. Back into action with a vengeance - literally. Introducing the fictional version of Dave's adopted daughter Alifair. This sets the tone and style for much that follows in succeeding books. The atmosphere and scenery of southern Louisiana is lovingly described. Robicheaux is one of the great fictional detective heroes. Once you've read this - you're hooked!