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greggmpls's review against another edition
4.0
I won this in a Goodreads First Reads Giveaway. Thanks!
James Lee Burke has created an outstanding cast of characters in this story that takes place in the wastelands and small towns of the Texas-Mexico border area. Burke writes with an almost poetic narrative of the beauty and danger of the people and compares them quite well with the equally challenging and sometimes awe-inspiring landscape. The value of your life depends on who or what you run into on any given day.
Fans of "No Country for Old Men" should enjoy this book as well.
James Lee Burke has created an outstanding cast of characters in this story that takes place in the wastelands and small towns of the Texas-Mexico border area. Burke writes with an almost poetic narrative of the beauty and danger of the people and compares them quite well with the equally challenging and sometimes awe-inspiring landscape. The value of your life depends on who or what you run into on any given day.
Fans of "No Country for Old Men" should enjoy this book as well.
jcbmathcat's review against another edition
3.0
This book was a selection for our mystery book club.
I felt as if this qualifies as a novel more than as a mystery, even when looking at "mystery" as "solving a puzzle" and not necessarily as "solving a murder."
Once you learn the meaning behind Feast Day of Fools, the title becomes a perfect fit for the storyline.
I have not read a Hackberry Holland book before and enjoyed Burke's story and character development. At times, his lush language got in the way and distracted me, but I know many people rave about his use of language and allegory. I like a good story. Burke tells a good story. I could use less descriptors at times, but this is minor.
It helped to have a list of characters. They were plentiful and at times, the plot seemed like a Keystone Kops story, as everyone seemed to be hunting down everyone else.
There was violence and some of it was graphic. Again, it fit with the title of the book.
When I was nearing the end, I realized I could not go to bed until I finished the book. The body count started to ratchet up, and it seemed as if there might not be anyone left standing.
It might have been helpful to read the first two books in the series, especially because of one particular character from Rain Gods. To say more might constitute a spoiler.
Most people know James Lee Burke for his Dave Robicheaux series, but Hackberry Holland is definitely a memorable character and his stories deserve to be read.
I felt as if this qualifies as a novel more than as a mystery, even when looking at "mystery" as "solving a puzzle" and not necessarily as "solving a murder."
Once you learn the meaning behind Feast Day of Fools, the title becomes a perfect fit for the storyline.
I have not read a Hackberry Holland book before and enjoyed Burke's story and character development. At times, his lush language got in the way and distracted me, but I know many people rave about his use of language and allegory. I like a good story. Burke tells a good story. I could use less descriptors at times, but this is minor.
It helped to have a list of characters. They were plentiful and at times, the plot seemed like a Keystone Kops story, as everyone seemed to be hunting down everyone else.
There was violence and some of it was graphic. Again, it fit with the title of the book.
When I was nearing the end, I realized I could not go to bed until I finished the book. The body count started to ratchet up, and it seemed as if there might not be anyone left standing.
It might have been helpful to read the first two books in the series, especially because of one particular character from Rain Gods. To say more might constitute a spoiler.
Most people know James Lee Burke for his Dave Robicheaux series, but Hackberry Holland is definitely a memorable character and his stories deserve to be read.
vivling's review against another edition
4.0
Wow. I was not thinking I would enjoy this book. First time reading this author, and I came in at the middle of a detective series. I think I had gotten it at a garage sale for a buck, and it sat in my unread book pile for years. But I had to find a book set in my home state for a book challenge group, and this was the first in the pile for Texas, so voila.
It took me about two weeks to really bother with it - I didn't like the writing style, didn't think I liked the characters, looked at reading it a chapter at a time until I got it done chore type of thing. And then.... it clicked. Reading James Lee Burke is like watching Mad Men. The story is told in what isn't said. And I was hooked.
I mean, there is Texas desert, and FBI and Russian gangsters and evil drug cartels and freakin' Al Qaeda. Air America and Nicaragua drug running in the history. I don't even like kitchen sink style thrillers! But I loved this one. I'll be looking up more to read from this author.
It took me about two weeks to really bother with it - I didn't like the writing style, didn't think I liked the characters, looked at reading it a chapter at a time until I got it done chore type of thing. And then.... it clicked. Reading James Lee Burke is like watching Mad Men. The story is told in what isn't said. And I was hooked.
I mean, there is Texas desert, and FBI and Russian gangsters and evil drug cartels and freakin' Al Qaeda. Air America and Nicaragua drug running in the history. I don't even like kitchen sink style thrillers! But I loved this one. I'll be looking up more to read from this author.
robinhigdon's review
3.0
there were about four too many "bad guy" groups running around in the desert all after the same guy. much of it was superfluous
rketterer47's review
3.0
This book's prose was something of note. It was written quite nicely, and I enjoyed picking apart each piece of it. Descriptions, comparisons, everything... It was enjoyable. The story was also quite enjoyable. I wouldn't call this book spectacular by any means, but I did enjoy reading it. I always like a good mystery :)
ssindc's review against another edition
4.0
This was a pleasant surprise. Not a happy book, but a fully engaging one. The story line was compelling (yet, alas, brutal), the characters were sufficiently compelling, the time(s) and place(s) interesting, and the prose was solid throughout and sublime, if not exquisite, in spots. As I (quickly) progressed through it, I was reminded of both No Country for Old Men (although, frankly, this is far more nuanced and, ultimately, gratifying) and Lonseome Dove (without being quite so epic in scale); neither is terribly similar, but I found the feel, the immersion, and the art comparable.
Reviewer's lament: The book was lent to me with a strong recommendation (fully deserved, in retrospect), but, frankly, no explanation - I must say I'm surprised Burke never crossed my radar screen previously - my only regret is that I didn't realize the book was part of a series (although, as I read, I had an inkling that might be the case). My guess is that I'll go back and read the first two at some point; or maybe I'll try the book(s) about the protagonist's cousin (if I've got that right)...
Reviewer's lament: The book was lent to me with a strong recommendation (fully deserved, in retrospect), but, frankly, no explanation - I must say I'm surprised Burke never crossed my radar screen previously - my only regret is that I didn't realize the book was part of a series (although, as I read, I had an inkling that might be the case). My guess is that I'll go back and read the first two at some point; or maybe I'll try the book(s) about the protagonist's cousin (if I've got that right)...
catmum's review against another edition
5.0
Both mystical and violent, Burke's writing leaves you with Texas grit caught in your teeth. Preacher Jack Collins returns hunting those he considers even more evil than himself. And Hackberry Holland is hunting him, along with a man who would crucify another preacher in his own church.
The one I thing I wish is that when Burke decided to go back to the Hollands in Texas with Rain Gods that he had given Hackberry a son and made him the protagonist. At somewhere between 75 and 78, Hack can't really carry this series much further.
The one I thing I wish is that when Burke decided to go back to the Hollands in Texas with Rain Gods that he had given Hackberry a son and made him the protagonist. At somewhere between 75 and 78, Hack can't really carry this series much further.
rosethorne's review against another edition
4.0
Fascinating story, but a little hard get into. I kept putting it down for other easier-to-read novels until I got about halfway through. The pace picked up. I became very interested in the characters. And I finished it quickly after that. I would like to read the other books in this series.
nigellicus's review against another edition
5.0
A bit of a sequel to the previous Hackberry Holland book, Feast Day opens with a man digging up fossilised dinosaur eggs at night int he desert, only to witness a man being tortured to death. Another man goes on the run, hunted by bandits and gangsters and the US government, all making an unholy mess that Hackberry Holland has to clean up. The fugitive takes refuge with a Chinese woman who offers a way-station to illegal immigrants coming over the Mexican border, but ultimately ends up in the care of the deadly and insane Preacher Jack Collins, who cut a bloody swathe through the innocent and the guilty alike in Rain Gods with his Thompson sub-machine gun. The body count mounts, evil comes creeping in from all directions, bad men do bad things, other bad men seek redemption or spiritual purification, while the good just try to survive the storm.
Burke's books are instantly identifiable with their meditations on landscape and weather and reflections on the darker labyrinths of human morality. Mortality, too, looms large for his aging heroes as the struggle to understand and impart what, if any, wisdom they might have acquired over the years. Hackberry has lived a long and eventful life, with much to haunt him and much to regret and more than his share of nightmares from his time in Korea. He presides over his country and this novel like a cranky father figure who tries to hide his own demons from those he cares for. Anyway, it's another epic and poetic work of crime and passion and flawed humanity. Brilliant.
Burke's books are instantly identifiable with their meditations on landscape and weather and reflections on the darker labyrinths of human morality. Mortality, too, looms large for his aging heroes as the struggle to understand and impart what, if any, wisdom they might have acquired over the years. Hackberry has lived a long and eventful life, with much to haunt him and much to regret and more than his share of nightmares from his time in Korea. He presides over his country and this novel like a cranky father figure who tries to hide his own demons from those he cares for. Anyway, it's another epic and poetic work of crime and passion and flawed humanity. Brilliant.
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