Swan Peak (Dave Robicheaux, No. 17)

Swan Peak (Dave Robicheaux, No. 17)

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Editorial Reviews

Trouble follows Dave Robicheaux.

James Lee Burke's new novel, Swan Peak, finds Detective Robicheaux far from his New Iberia roots, attempting to relax in the untouched wilderness of rural Montana. He, his wife, and his buddy Clete Purcell have retreated to stay at an old friend's ranch, hoping to spend their days fishing and enjoying their distance from the harsh, gritty landscape of Louisiana post-Katrina.

But the serenity is soon shattered when two college students are found brutally murdered in the hills behind where the Robicheauxs and Purcell are staying. They quickly find themselves involved in a twisted and dangerous mystery involving a wealthy, vicious oil tycoon, his deformed brother and beautiful wife, a sexually deviant minister, an escaped con and former country music star, and a vigilante Texas gunbull out for blood. At the center of the storm is Clete, who cannot shake the feeling that he is being haunted by the ghosts from his past -- namely Sally Dio, the mob boss he'd sabotaged and killed years before.

In this expertly drawn, gripping story, Burke deftly weaves intricate, engaging plotlines and original, compelling characters with his uniquely graceful prose. He transcends genre yet again in the latest thrilling addition to his New York Times bestselling series.

Customer Reviews

Bring Dave and Clete HOME

Reviewed by J. Sheppard, 2010-02-26

I love and I've read all of James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux mysteries...WHEN THEY ARE SET IN NEW IBERIA, LA. His descriptions of his surroundings are part of what I love about his books (even though, sometimes it IS hard to imagine these old guys fighting like young Steven Seagals). I just don't get it...Swan Peak was just like all the others except he's changed the scenery, but I just couldn't imagine Dave and Clete doing the things that they usually do, in Montana. If this book HAD been set in New Iberia, I suspect I would have given the book more of a chance, but I just can't get with this renegade Louisiana detective in Montana. I just want James Lee to bring Dave and Clete back HOME.

Better than "Moon for Red Ponies", but far from best

Reviewed by joe-maryland, 2010-02-10

I give this 3 stars because it is still a cut-and-paste like his last book I read, but this one is a *little* better. If you have not read JLB books before, do NOT get this one. The series has been going on a long time, it makes not a lot of sense if not read in order, and the earlier ones are so so much better.
Why not 5 stars?
- The characters are old now and timeline make no sense. They were kids in the 1940s and evidently STILL have not recovered from serving in 'Nam. This book is set in 2007. Can you imagine a 70 year old +/- psychotic Nam vet and semi-rogue cop going into a biker bar, kicking as5, and walking out with the girl?
- In an earlier review, I wondered why Clete always ends up in bed with a bad-guy wife or girlfriend and the evil rich guy's wife is always ill or crippled. This book hardly gets going when Clete is in bed with the bad guy's wife, bur this time the evil guy is the crippled one ROFLMAO!
- Speaking of evil rich guys, you cannot be rich and not be evil in JLB's world.
- All the vastly overdone descriptions of the landscape are as overdone as ever.
- Characters STILL smell like testoserone like every other book.
- Troyce Nix, Iraq veteran and torturer at Abu Ghraib, somehow becomes a "founding officer" of a contract prison and proceeds to rape and brutalize inmates. This guy ends up being a good guy??? Say what?!?
- The dialogue can get really really bad when he tries to deal with people NOT born in the late 1930s. Double Puke-O ..........????

Good Read!

Reviewed by Melvin Hunt, 2010-02-06

In this newest book the Louisiana crime fighters have moved to s new state.Clete Purcel and Dave Robicheaux now
call Montana home. They have plans to fish and relax in their new homw state. The state of Montana is shattered when two college students are found murdered. Clete and Dave become the target of a cunning and vicious oil tycoon. Ridley Wellstone and his goons keep coming into the picture and providing problems. They are always one step ahead of the law. Clete has always been a suspect in the plane crash that killed Sally Dio a hoodlum from Galveston. Mix into this story line Jimmy Dale Greenwood a former singer who has escaped from prison by cutting up Troyce Nix a part owner of the prison. Jimmy Dale's former singing partner is also in play. She was Jimmy Dale's love interest, Her name is Jamie Sue Wellstone who has married into the Welstone family. One question that sticks out is whether or not Sally Dio is dead or alive. All of this comes to a smashing conclusion. Be sure to read this book.

ANOTHER ONE TO RECOMMEND

Reviewed by D. Meyers, 2010-01-25

Reading a J.L. Burke novel is like visiting old friends. The main characters are always solid and the author easily includes references to other books without becoming confusing. I am a true fan of Burke's writing even though the plots are similar - if not predictable. He incorporates poetry, philosophy, theology, and prison slang in a masterful way. These are books that I usually don't want to put down but also don't want to be over. After all the development, as is often the case in this genre, the climax and resolution occurs in a couple of paragraphs. Maybe life is like that. The epilogue was especially appreciated in weaving the loose ends.

Big Oil, Bad Religion

Reviewed by Gary Griffiths, 2009-12-20

You don't need to get further than the first paragraph's "uncontrolled decent into a basement where the gargoyles turned somersaults like circus midgets" to be reminded that James Lee Burke can twist a phrase as well the best contemporary writers of American fiction. And "Swan Peak" displays JLB at his lyrical best, taking the increasingly sullen Dave Robicheaux and wife Molly from Louisiana bayous and hurricanes to vacation among the mountains and rivers of Montana. Not that the perpetually uptight and introspective Robicheaux can really be expected to "vacation." And sure enough, almost before their first trout fly has hit the water, Dave and pal/human mayhem machine Clete Purcel find themselves up to their hip waders in the grisly murder of a pair of local college students.

Burke is at his best when recounting violent tales of revenge and frontier justice, with or without redemption, especially when Clete plays more than a cameo role. So by that standard, there is lots to like here - a long and multi-threaded but not tedious story with an equally long cast of damaged characters. From an escaped con with a big heart and his sadistic jailer to a once up-and-coming country music starlet to the aristocratic oil baron clan that has embraced her, Burke weaves another sordid tale of greed, depravity, and murder. Meanwhile, a deliciously oily evangelical preacher "Reverend Click" provides the perfect target for Robicheaux's indignant rage, while an unleashed Clete Purcel make Tiger Wood's sexual exploits look like a double bogie.

If there is weakness here, it is the author's seemingly endless harangue on the evils of capitalism, leading to some familiar and stereotyped fat cats who callously rape the earth for their profit while grinding the noble working class under the heels of their five-thousand dollar eel skin boots. One wonders if Burke has lost any sense of irony, lecturing about those who control other's lives just as Dave Robicheaux is shoving another guy's head into a flaming oven. But I quibble. If it feels like JLB is preaching more than the Reverend Click he so despises, it can be forgiven considering the power of Burke's prose combined with a good-old-fashioned thriller with not much mystery but ample action and suspense. While "Swan Peak" may not live up to the lofty standards of "Last Car to Elysian Fields" or "Jolie Blon's Bounce", this is a fast paced and entertaining installment of American crime fiction that will not disappoint.