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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
This was my least favorite of the Dave Robicheaux books. I am very glad I did not read this series in order as I would have given up after this one. Although justified, Dave is angry and ugly in this book with little, if anything, to balance on the positive side. And this early in the series, we don't even have Cletus to make Dave look good in comparison.
Michael Jordan was a career eighty percent free-throw shooter. Which is quite good. For me, Heaven's Prisoners was something akin to watching Jordan shoot a boatload of free throws. Free throws are an essential part of the game--crucial--but, in the end, not why I watch in the first place.
James Lee Burke is multifaceted and very talented. His dialogue is good enough for the price of the ticket itself. And being one who loves a story full of rich dialogue, his makes me smile on repeated occasions. Prisoners, though, is full of thick prose, and while is sets the atmosphere immaculately, it crowds the page in a way that chokes out the lean meat of his interesting story.
I realize for some, thick, literary prose is why you crack the spine. And if so, you've never seen so many flowers and birds and fish. Light reflects off water everywhere you look. And the description is engaging, original.
Free throw. Swish. Free throw. Swish. Free throw. Swish. These are supposed to break up the action not become the entire game. Why can't the referees swallow their whistle and let the players play?
When Prisoners gets to the story and its crackling dialogue, it's fun. I'm not sure if I even like its main character, but I certainly see his pain. I'm not sure if the dogged way the plot plays out, while crafty, is still not forced. I'm not even sure as beautiful as our protagonist's world is that it's plausible that our protagonist is the character who would notice such things. All of these issues might go down easier if Burke wasn't so fond of getting to the foul line and swishing those free throws. Still, the talent is there even if the balance is off.
For more literary readers, this may be just the tonic you're looking for or even a nice change of pace. For me, I came for dunks of dialogue and sweet fade-away jumpers of character exploration. If some of that space Burke dedicates to imagery had gone there, Prisoners would've ranked much higher for my experience.
Recommended only for readers who lean toward the literary in their mystery. Other readers are likely to be lost in dense thicket of scenery.
James Lee Burke is multifaceted and very talented. His dialogue is good enough for the price of the ticket itself. And being one who loves a story full of rich dialogue, his makes me smile on repeated occasions. Prisoners, though, is full of thick prose, and while is sets the atmosphere immaculately, it crowds the page in a way that chokes out the lean meat of his interesting story.
I realize for some, thick, literary prose is why you crack the spine. And if so, you've never seen so many flowers and birds and fish. Light reflects off water everywhere you look. And the description is engaging, original.
Free throw. Swish. Free throw. Swish. Free throw. Swish. These are supposed to break up the action not become the entire game. Why can't the referees swallow their whistle and let the players play?
When Prisoners gets to the story and its crackling dialogue, it's fun. I'm not sure if I even like its main character, but I certainly see his pain. I'm not sure if the dogged way the plot plays out, while crafty, is still not forced. I'm not even sure as beautiful as our protagonist's world is that it's plausible that our protagonist is the character who would notice such things. All of these issues might go down easier if Burke wasn't so fond of getting to the foul line and swishing those free throws. Still, the talent is there even if the balance is off.
For more literary readers, this may be just the tonic you're looking for or even a nice change of pace. For me, I came for dunks of dialogue and sweet fade-away jumpers of character exploration. If some of that space Burke dedicates to imagery had gone there, Prisoners would've ranked much higher for my experience.
Recommended only for readers who lean toward the literary in their mystery. Other readers are likely to be lost in dense thicket of scenery.
I liked this one better than Neon Rain. Now on to Black Cherry Blues.
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Heaven’s Prisoners is a conflict between ugliness in violence, alcoholism, and not leaving things alone and beautiful, soulful writing. Burke captures nature, both physical and human, in elegant rifts of prose. The mystery element of this book is good. Despite the fantastic writing in many moments, the protagonist is hard to like too often. 3.5 stars and a question on whether to continue on with this series.
The prose is beautiful - amazingly, stunningly beautiful. 5 stars.
The plot is boring and ploddy. The main character is an aging alcoholic fighting a variety of demons, but yet the women just fall into his bed. There is apparently no air conditioning in 1980's Louisiana, everyone spends many pages sweating through their seersucker suits and drinking beer during the day. There is also no social services either, and small children appear and are handed off to strangers without a care in the world.
5 for the prose, 2 for the story, 3 overall. I'm hoping the series gets better...
The plot is boring and ploddy. The main character is an aging alcoholic fighting a variety of demons, but yet the women just fall into his bed. There is apparently no air conditioning in 1980's Louisiana, everyone spends many pages sweating through their seersucker suits and drinking beer during the day. There is also no social services either, and small children appear and are handed off to strangers without a care in the world.
5 for the prose, 2 for the story, 3 overall. I'm hoping the series gets better...
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
James Lee Burke, what can I say I love him. He is a flawed individual constantly trying to be a better person. Who does fail in this constantly but you know he has a soul, which he constantly fights for. Brilliant.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Another reviewer said exactly how I feel. That I can't muster up much enthusiasm for Dave Robicheaux, and that I need my mysteries to be
more cerebral.
I had heard James Lee Burke interviewed on BBC's book review podcast, and
the three panelists were positively gushing over him. So I gave him another shot, after being unimpressed with The Neon Rain many years ago.
I made it through more than half the novel before giving up.
I don't like Robicheaux. He's too much of a loose cannon, and there's
lots of gratuitous violence. I like mystery/suspense novels to have
more psychological aspects than slam-bang shoot 'em up, punch 'em up action. I also find Burke's style to be repetitive: At the end of most
dialogue sequences, there follows a description of the sky, smells, and
sights of what's going on around him. While his descriptions are quite
impressive (especially the many unique and poetic ways he could describe clouds), nonetheless it got to be formulaic.
Hard-boiled isn't for me. I thought that maybe I hadn't given Burke much of a chance (I probably still haven't), but I don't see much in what I look for in crime novels, so I think this is it.
more cerebral.
I had heard James Lee Burke interviewed on BBC's book review podcast, and
the three panelists were positively gushing over him. So I gave him another shot, after being unimpressed with The Neon Rain many years ago.
I made it through more than half the novel before giving up.
I don't like Robicheaux. He's too much of a loose cannon, and there's
lots of gratuitous violence. I like mystery/suspense novels to have
more psychological aspects than slam-bang shoot 'em up, punch 'em up action. I also find Burke's style to be repetitive: At the end of most
dialogue sequences, there follows a description of the sky, smells, and
sights of what's going on around him. While his descriptions are quite
impressive (especially the many unique and poetic ways he could describe clouds), nonetheless it got to be formulaic.
Hard-boiled isn't for me. I thought that maybe I hadn't given Burke much of a chance (I probably still haven't), but I don't see much in what I look for in crime novels, so I think this is it.