Purple Cane Road

A Dave Robicheaux Novel, Book 11

By: James Lee Burke

Narrated by: Nick Sullivan

Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

Dave Robicheaux has spent his life confronting the age-old adage that the sins of the father pass on to the son. But what was his mother's legacy? Dead to him since his youth, Mae Guillory has been shuttered away in the deep recesses of Robicheaux's mind. He's lived with the fact that he would never really know what happened to the woman who left him to the devices of a whiskey-driven father. But deep down, Dave still feels the loss of his mother and knows that the infinite series of disappointments in her life could not have come to a good end.

While helping out an old friend, Dave is stunned when a pimp looks at him sideways and asks if he is the son of Mae Guillory, the whore a bunch of cops murdered 30 years ago. Her body was dumped in the bayou bordering Purple Cane Road, and the cops who left her there are still on the job.

Dave's search for his mother's killers leads him to the darker places in his past, and solving this case teaches him what it means to be his mother's son. Purple Cane Road has the dimensions of a classic - passion, murder, and nearly heartbreaking poignancy - wrapped in a wonderfully executed plot that surprises from start to finish.

©2000 James Lee Burke (P)2012 Simon & Schuster Audio

One of best Robicheaux books, except the reader

What did you love best about Purple Cane Road?

This Robicheaux book has a very good plot, and was easy to follow.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Nick Sullivan?

Will Patton

Any additional comments?

After listening to perhaps 200 books, this is the first review I have written. The reader, Nick Sullivan, has done well over 100 books, so he is not a beginner. But my feeling is that he would be better suited for something by Crighton or some other suspense thriller author, and I have probably heard him before.. He just does not make it in this book. His interpretation of a Creole accent was distracting, no matter how accurate it may have been -- I don't know. And he ruined my concept of Helen Soileau. I note he does not read any more Burke-Robicheaux books.

That said, the plot in this book is fantastic, and I would put it in the list of best of the Robicheaux books, the others for me being Neon Rain and Pegasus Descending. A while back I decided to read (listen to) all of them, from the beginning, this being the latest. I have at least 8 to go (though I've already read Pegasus - my first one - can't wait to read it again).I have a list of all the books, in order, with readers.

I note that Mark Hammer comes back for 2 books, and then it is Will Patton all the way. I like both of them, Patton for his slow style and drawls, Hammer takes it a little quicker, and I like that too..His accents are fantastic. Clete just comes alive for me when either of them read. But just give me Will Patton, and I can go down to Louisiana for a while in my mind, anytime I want.

love this series!

love this series. interesting and gripping. narrator is awesome and believable. i highly recommend this book!

Pronunciation

The pronunciations of some of the words in the script aren't true to the region or dialect.

No Mark Hammer

I just couldn't get into Nick Sullivan's version of Dave Robicheaux's life. It was as if someone had invaded his story and was telling it to me third hand.

Good book; wrong narrator

Nick Sullivan is a good narrator, but Will Patton and Mark Hammer bring Dave Robicheaux to life with their great Cajun dialect.

I miss Will Patton

Story was great, as always, but the narrator left a lot to be desired. Didn’t sound at all like the cast of characters.

Give the narrator a break

I took a rather long break between listening to Sunset Limited and Purple Cane Road so the voices of both Mark Hammer and Will Patton before him were no longer in my ears. Based on other’s reviews I thought I would be disturbed by Nick Sullivan’s narration but I thought he did a fine job - especially making Robicheaux a sympathetic character. If you can get passed comparing narrators I recommend giving Nick Sullivan a chance.

I never get enough of Robicheaux

the story, like most of the series, is heartbreaking and exciting at the same time. Louisiana is always one of the characters, with its rhythms, smells and humidity. it's part of what makes the stories so compelling. it feels like I am there, even when it's snowing in my reality. Robicheaux is such a complex character with his darkness, devotion to his family and his strange sense of right and wrong and his internal struggles. one of my favorite characters of all time.

Excellent book badly narrated

Would you try another book from James Lee Burke and/or Nick Sullivan?

I love the Dave Robicheaux books by James Lee Burke but the narration is not good.

Would you be willing to try another one of Nick Sullivan’s performances?

Nick Sullivan did a poor job. Mispronunciations abound. Slight improvement on proper nouns, but common southern words are butchered. Sorry, it's BRIM not BREEM for the freshwater fish "bream". The attempt at a Southern accent is laughable. Some of the characters sound like Chicago instead of New Orleans.

Was Purple Cane Road worth the listening time?

Yes, because Dave Robicheaux is such a wonderful character, and James Lee Burke is such a master of descriptions, characterizations, and dark plots.

Any additional comments?

I just wish that anyone trying to narrate a James Lee Burke novel would do some research ahead of time to figure out how to pronounce things.

Interesting twists

The story is good and not too predictable but every white person is portrayed as a rasist, every Christian a fraud and every Louisianian as a bumbling fool. It got tiresome.