Jolie Blon's Bounce

By: James Lee Burke

Narrated by: Mark Hammer

Length: 14 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

When a beautiful teenage girl is killed, the victim of a particularly savage rape, New Iberia, Louisiana police detective Dave Robicheaux senses from the very start of the investigation that the most likely suspect - Tee Bobby Hulin - is not the actual killer. Though a drug addict and general ne'er-do-well, Hulin doesn't fit the profile for this brutal crime. But when another body turns up - a drugged-out prostitute who is the daughter of a local mafia bigwig - all clues point to Tee Bobby Hulin. The dead girl's father sets out to find - and punish - the killer.

Before Robicheaux can bring the killer or killers to justice, he battles a painkiller addiction, a habit brought on by a humiliating beating he suffers at the hands of a diabolical character known only as Legion. Once the overseer on a local sugarcane plantation, Legion scrapes by through doing odd jobs. In temperament, he's still the malevolent bully, seemingly possessed with supernatural skills of survival.

When Robicheaux's longtime buddy Clete Purcel drops by New Iberia for a visit, he is quickly drawn into the struggle between evil forces - including Jimmy Dean Styles, a black man intent on maintaining his empire of corruption; Joe Zeroski, a trailer park mafioso with palatial aspirations; and Legion Guidry, in whom Robicheaux faces an enemy unlike any he has ever known. And soon, what began as a duel of wits turns into a dance of death.

Gothic, dense, brutal, touching, and always compelling, Jolie Blon's Bounce is classic storytelling from a writer who has been dubbed "the Faulkner of crime fiction."

©2002 James Lee Burke, All Rights Reserved (P)2002 Recorded Books Inc., All Rights Reserved, AUDIOWORKS Is an Imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio Division, Simon & Schuster Inc.

Critic reviews

Audie Award Winner, Mystery, Fiction, 2003

"To read a Burke novel is to enter a timeless, parallel universe of violent emotions and lush, brooding landscapes." (Publishers Weekly)

"Listening to Mark Hammer reading Burke's twelfth novel about Cajun cop Dave Robicheaux, it's easy to imagine you're on the shore of Bayou Teche, hearing a weathered cop tell of past adventures.... With a deliberate pace, Hammer pulls us in, capturing Robicheaux's spiritual exhaustion yet compelling us to hang on his every word." (AudioFile)

"Dave Robicheaux...[is] easily one of the most complex and compelling protagonists in mystery fiction. This is classic James Lee Burke, the master stylist, writing at the top of his game." (Amazon.com)

One of the best !

Great story with a touch of the supernatural. The three plot lines intersect nicely and the characters are great (as usual).

Enjoy.

Good store, but...

I enjoy Burke's books and this one was no exception. However, the narrator was extremely hard to understand. He sounded like he had a bowl of mush in his mouth. I am from the South and if I had this much trouble understanding the narrator, others may think Hammer is speaking another language.
I would suggest reading the book.

Miss Will Patton.

Good story, twisty, dark...but I miss Will Patton. His nattating voice is perfect for Robicheaux, as well as Purcell and the many others.

Mark Hammer<br />

I tried to get through this and had to stop because of the narration. was not going to give a bad review but now that I see Mark Hammer is continuing with the series, I'm sick that I won't be continuing my journey with Dave and Clete. Specifically, this guy sounds much older and much tireder than the leading characters. He seems to be out of breath most of the time and he has a very limited range of voices. Will Patton's narration was more of an acting performance. I never got the impression that he was reading a story, his characters came alive, they were more than just words on a page. Honestly, the narration by Mr. Hammer does not do the the stories justice. What a pity!

Another remarkable work!

Burke never fails. Great story, well developed characters, both old and new. I listened to this book. The narrator is outstanding. Burke has the ability to use language with a skill few contemporary writers can match.

No other make you taste Louisiana !

This author really grasps the atmosphere of the real life. beautiful work. I'm looking fowrword reading another, another.
I need to go back to the humidity and iced sweet tea
perhaps a paddle fan and rocker. thanks for bringing me back to the old feel of small towns with a great police officers with respect for the good people he severse. Brava!!

listen, you. me

shades of Elmore Leonard. the best Dave R. I'm working my way through the dave r stories excited for more. i thought; electric mist with confeds was awesome, this one took me away. pumped up for the next. I'm far away from a good po' Bay sandwich, I want one so badly. shrimp and oyster po' boy. please. Mark Hammer is the s it. you people are crazy. but in usa we need to respect the fact that others don't agree with you.

Boring!!!!!

What disappointed you about Jolie Blon's Bounce?

The characters were flat and poorly developed, and often times behaved in conflicting and contradictory ways, and a significant part of the story seemed to be quite unimportant to the plot and could have been left out all together. I had to make an effort to listen to the book until the end, and I only did so because I had already paid for it (but it was hard!).

Has Jolie Blon's Bounce turned you off from other books in this genre?

Certainly to HIS books, it has.

What three words best describe Mark Hammer’s voice?

Versatile, nuanced, pleasant. I only chose this book because I wanted something read by Mr. Hammer, since I really enjoyed his reading of "Chiefs".

What character would you cut from Jolie Blon's Bounce?

Don't get me started!

Bad Narration

I LOVE the James Lee Burke (Dave Robicheaux) novels. I love the ones that Will Patten read. He was great. The new narrator Mark Hammer is terrible!!!! I got 10 minutes in and could not continue. I am off to buy all the paperbacks that he narrates. I will just read them myself.

A Rare Disappointment

I have become a James Lee Burke fan over the past few months, particularly via audio book. I have lived and played in the Louisiana, east Texas, and Montana settings and he makes them even more interesting that these lovely places are in real life. However, this book was a big disappointment for one reason; the reader. He seemed uninspired and often sounded as if his speech was slurred. It did injustice to the prose. For me, it was too annoying to even finish the book. It would be so nice to re-issue this audio book with Will Patton as the reader.