The Glass Rainbow

Such a lovely title for such a dark novel! But then I suppose that a glass rainbow indicates the fragility of beauty, how easily it can be broken, an apropos metaphor for the tragic, violent deaths of the young women that haunt Dave Robicheaux in this latest entry in Burke's long-running, powerful series set in the mysterious, treacherous bayous outside New Orleans.

I usually listen to my Robicheaux novels because Will Patton does such an outstanding job in the narration. His vocal renditions range from world-weary to downright sinister with a guttural timbre that ratchets up my blood pressure and has me looking behind me when I exit the car. As Clete Purcell, Dave's longtime friend and polar opposite, Patton can bring the reader to tears describing the emptiness and desolation of his life. As Dave, Patton takes us into the heart of a man whose ferocious, protective love for his wife and adopted daughter Alafair, conflict with the deep anger of the Vietnam veteran and cop who sees an injustice and just has to right it.

One often wonders how much of these novels - and those of many, many writers - are based in at least some fact. Because of my work on the Southwest Florida Reading Festival ( http://www.readfest.org/ )and the years of writing to Alafair Burke in an attempt to lure her and her dad to Ft. Myers for a head to head presentation, I know that she is a law professor in New York and a well-known mystery writer in her own right. In The Glass Rainbow, Alafair is still in law school but is taking a semester back home to complete her first novel. She is dating a man from an old Louisiana family with a dark history that dates back to slavery. The Abelards have made their wealth on the backs of others for generations.

Dad doesn't like it and, to add to his discomfort, he is investigating the murders of two teenage girls, one of whom had crossed paths with Kermit Abelard and the ex-con turned novelist with whom he shares his home. The con, Robert Weingart, is about as slimy a character as you'll meet in literature but then Burke always fills his books with them. I guess it's so that we, the readers, won't feel quite so guilty at the jubilation we feel when Clete and Dave turn their violence outward.

I really thought that Burke could not get better than he was with Tin Roof Blow Down which I blogged about here a year or two ago, but The Glass Rainbow is right up there when it comes to unveiling a story that reveals his depressingly low opinion of human nature. Readers sense that James Lee Burke, or at least Dave Robicheax, has lived through the depths of despair and come out the other side a deeply damaged man trying to make sense of a deeply damaged world.

If this sounds too despairing to read, ignore me! Like my other favorites in this genre, George Pelecanos, Dennis Lehane, or Richard Price, Burke has an exquisite ear for what's real, balanced with a joy in the natural beauty of his surroundings, the smells, sounds and tastes of the bayou, that will just knock your socks off.

If I had any critique at all it would be that his female characters, while ostensibly strong (chief of police Helen Swallow), always seem to have a weakness pulling at them subconsciously. I would love to see him flesh out Dave's wife Molly, the former nun whose love is barely holding him together. Other than that, I can always count on James Lee Burke for a great ride.

Almost finished with my LJ book, a quick read by a South African named Damon Galgut. The book was a finalist for the Booker Prize - pressure!