• Dixie City Jam

  • A Dave Roubicheaux Novel, Book 7
  • By: James Lee Burke
  • Narrated by: Mark Hammer
  • Length: 14 hrs and 46 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (679 ratings)

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Dixie City Jam  By  cover art

Dixie City Jam

By: James Lee Burke
Narrated by: Mark Hammer
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Publisher's summary

They're out there, under the salt - the bodies of German seamen who used to lie in wait at the mouth of the Mississippi for unescorted American tankers sailing from the oil refineries of Baton Rouge out into the Gulf of Mexico. As a child, Dave Robicheaux had been haunted by the sailors' images. Years later, Robicheaux, a detective with the New Iberia sheriff's office, finds himself and his family at serious risk, stalked for his knowledge of a watery burial ground by a mysterious man named Will Buchalter - a man who believes that the Holocaust was one big hoax.

©1994 James Lee Burke (P)2012 Simon & Schuster Audio

What listeners say about Dixie City Jam

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  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Jury out on this one

I love the way James Lee Burke writes, and I love the characters in his stories, Cletus Purcell has to be one of the great literary personalities of all time. The setting it enthralling as ever, but the foe in this story is just a little to much of a ghost and Dave R. is just walking into too many traps set for him in this one without seeing the writing on the wall. All of that said, I still liked the book, enjoyed Cletus having a prominent role and enjoyed the various characters and how they were developed. I really love the narration in this series and really do not understand the controversy, it is first rate as far as I am concerned. All things considered I am looking forward to the next in the series as even a flat spot in this collection is better than the best works by most authors.
Recommended.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Eloquent√ Lyrical√ Sloooooooooow √√√

Maybe I overdosed on James Lee Burke. This is my sixth Dave Roubicheaux novel and the last three I listened to back to back to back. Mark Hammer's tongue is wrapped around bayous, filagreed iron window screens and Spanish moss. He speaks through a veil of humidity and swampy muscle. He somehow makes the rich vocabulary and elegant metaphoric Roubicheaux musings seem plausible from the mind of this hard-scrabble back gator country lawman.

This time it took just a tad too much to do it. Burke is a poet first, a sociologist second, a dramatist third, a gently liberal social commentator, and ... oh yeah... a detective mystery procedural writer. Here it is the last that seems to be stretched a lot too thin. The characters were either too complex for the plot, or too comic-book skinny to hold up its pants.

I'm going to take a break from Dave, Bootsey, Alafair, and Cleetus. If you've not listened to a Roubicheaux novel... start from the beginning. You'll think, feel, and even tear up. But maybe you'd do well after the first five to pause before beginning this one. Just like I'll take a break before downloading the seventh....

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

The dangers of doing the right thing

What did you love best about Dixie City Jam?

James Lee Burke's writing is like poetry. Amidst the ugliness of hate and crime, he describes the surroundings so beautifully. Dave's thoughts about his past, his culture, his family, and his struggles are blended so seamlessly. I, also, really enjoy the relationship between Dave and Clete. Every interaction between them is entertaining.
I hope Brother Oswald makes future appearances in the Robicheaux series-loved his commentary on Dave's intellect, lending subtle humor to a dark story.

What other book might you compare Dixie City Jam to and why?

Any of John Sandford's "Prey" books. The writing style is very different but a lot of similar themes and has the common thread of a character study of the protagonist throughout the series.

What does Mark Hammer bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I have come to appreciate Mark Hammer's narration more than I have in the past, having preferred Will Patton. But, Hammer's performance blended with James Lee Burke's poetic prose resulted in a great listening experience. You really feel inside the story and where it's happening, and you feel that you are experiencing Dave's life and thoughts along with him.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Tommy talking about the part he played in Hippo's brother's death and his regret.

Any additional comments?

I liked how the author makes the characters multidimensional. The criminals sometimes show grace and humanity, and the "good" guys sometimes are self-serving and flawed.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Not the author’s best

It’s sad when a good writer descends into the clichés of political bigotry (capped off with a final good people kumbaya moment), particularly when the author has grown wealthy by creating fantasies of mayhem, torture, perversion and rationalized vigilantism. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the vigilantism, but the preachy “Republicans are evil” passages are sooo tired, especially from a character whose primary claims to fame include explosive failures of self-control and serial episodes of energetic disrespect for the rule of law.

Most of the story is apolitical, but (even disregarding the political whining and the stereotyping) this book is not nearly as good as the previous novels in the series. I found the plot too weak, the violence scenarios too improbable, the romances mainly unattractive, the rescues too convenient, the very world in which they all took place too shallow to care much about. Where is the author’s formerly charming facility for describing local landscapes and cultural habits—were the dull stereotypes of this book just a half-hearted, uninspired attempt by a tired, distracted or overly-comfortable author ? I hope this book represents only a limited departure from earlier, better expressions of the author’s talent.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Audio, audio...it's the voice

Where is Will Patton when there is a Dave Roubiceaux book, I listened all the way to the end, but for me it was not an enjoyable experience. I though the story was a little disjointed, and with a different voice than how I perceive the main character should sound...No, in the future it will be Burke and Patton or no purchase

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Will Patton IS Dave Robicheaux!

Nobody does Dave Robicheaux better than Will Patton. In fact, no one else should ever attempt to replace Will Pattonbecause it can’t be done.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

this one is scary

Would you consider the audio edition of Dixie City Jam to be better than the print version?

un known

What three words best describe Mark Hammer’s performance?

flat-nasal-ugggggg

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

whole book is very scary and all I can think of is if Will Patten had read this with a actors flare.. holy cow it would have blown me away.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Dave against the Neo-Nazis

When Dave Robicheaux made the mistake of letting people know he had an idea as to where a World War Two U-boat sunk in the Caribbean might be found, suddenly he has too many people wanting him to lead them to it, including a man calling himself Will Buchalter. With informants dying on him left and right and apparently Bootsie intending to enter the alcoholic state he's fought so hard to put behind him, Dave doesn't know quite whom to trust--and with reason.

Action packed as usual. Although I realized in this one I was perhaps quicker on the uptake and even less trusting than Dave himself, as I had the accomplice pegged pretty quickly on while Dave was still trying to sort out his feelings toward the individual.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Great Addition to the Series

This one will keep you on the edge of your seat, waiting and hoping that Roubicheaux can pull it off again and save those that he loves. There's a lot of dark characters in Dixie City Jam and brings the evil up to a new level. You thought that the persecution of the Jews ended in WWII? Nope . . . there are still those who hate the Jewish People, and its never more clear than in this story. Some of the time its really hard to see who are the bad guys and who are the good ones. The story takes so many twists and turns its hard to know what to expect next. Great story and excellent conclusion that is well worth the wait.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Dark undertones

I enjoy Burke’s writing and use of language as well as his humor. Mark Hammer does great as Robicheaux.
This story pushed up to the edges of tedious but, for me, never crossed over. The villain smacked of Jason Voorhees but ‘finally’ got the point. Overall I enjoy the writing…

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