The Glass Rainbow

A Dave Robicheaux Novel

By: James Lee Burke

Narrated by: Will Patton

Length: 15 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

James Lee Burke’s eagerly awaited new novel finds Detective Dave Robicheaux back in New Iberia, Louisiana, and embroiled in the most harrowing and dangerous case of his career. Seven young women in neighboring Jefferson Davis Parish have been brutally murdered. While the crimes have all the telltale signs of a serial killer, the death of Bernadette Latiolais, a high-school honor student, doesn’t fit: she is not the kind of hapless and marginalized victim psychopaths usually prey upon. Robicheaux and his best friend, Clete Purcel, confront Herman Stanga, a notorious pimp and crack dealer whom both men despise. When Stanga turns up dead shortly after a fierce beating by Purcel, in front of numerous witnesses, the case takes a nasty turn, and Clete’s career and life are hanging by threads over the abyss.

Adding to Robicheaux’s troubles is the matter of his daughter, Alafair, on leave from Stanford Law to put the finishing touches on her novel. Her literary pursuit has led her into the arms of Kermit Abelard, celebrated novelist and scion of a once prominent Louisiana family whose fortunes are slowly sinking into the corruption of Louisiana’s subculture. Abelard’s association with best-selling ex-convict author Robert Weingart, a man who uses and discards people like Kleenex, causes Robicheaux to fear that Alafair might be destroyed by the man she loves. As his daughter seems to drift away from him, he wonders if he has become a victim of his own paranoia. But as usual, Robicheaux’s instincts are proven correct and he finds himself dealing with a level of evil that is greater than any enemy he has confronted in the past.

Set against the backdrop of an Edenic paradise threatened by pernicious forces, James Lee Burke’s The Glass Rainbow is already being hailed as perhaps the best novel in the Robicheaux series.

More mayhem? Listen to more of James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux thrillers.

©2010 James Lee Burke (P)2010 Simon & Schuster

Critic reviews

"MWA Grand Master Burke offers everything his readers expect - brilliant prose, prosaic situations that suddenly become mystic experiences, and a complex plot that repeatedly plumbs the depths of human depravity and the heights of nobility - in his superlative 18th novel featuring Iberia, La., deputy sheriff Dave Robicheaux." ( Publishers Weekly)

"[S]uperb suspense leading to a gripping, set-piece finale that is a masterpiece of texture and mood, with the high-energy climax in the foreground both contrasted against and supported by the intensely lyrical, heavily melancholic prose that swells and recedes underneath the action. Not to be missed by any follower of the landmark series." ( Booklist)

Superb and Really, Really Burke

I love the Dave Robicheaux series and have read them all, listened to most. The Glass Rainbow is one of the best - with all of Burke's lush prose, evocative settings, and probably the best detail on Clete Purcell of all of the books. The relationship between these two ageing lions is handled more tenderly in this book than in some of the others, and it's fun to hang with the two of them.

I am a fan of Burke's gritty, luminous Louisiana and the way Dave himself often brings a teaspoon of magic realism into the story. Burke's prose sometimes becomes so big in other books that it can lose the plot for a short while, like a dropped stitch when knitting, but that doesn't happen in this book - overall it is tighter and the plot clicks along at an exciting pace. I agree with another reviewer who's not a fan of Alafair - Dave comes by his obdurate and biblical morality honestly through life experience - in a 20-something it's self-righteous and annoying.

Patton is a fantastic narrator who shifts character voices with subtlty. I stayed up late to finish this one; I hope Burke is able to construct a Robicheaux commentary on the Gulf Oil Spill to accompany Tin Roof Blowdown's Katrina commentary. Go Dave, go Clete.

WILL PATTON *******

Burke is a great writer, but Will Patton.... In my humble opinion, by far the best narrator on audible(or anywhere else for that matter). the story is another great one from Burke. Love the Dave Robicheaux series, and this one doesn't dissapoint. Keep 'em coming. :)

I Just Could Not Stop Listening!

As soon as I finished this book cliff hanging book I purchased the next one! How could I not? Brilliant narration, plenty of suspense, lots of southern charm & history. At times I could not tell who was the bad guy/good guy (or women). The Cleat & Dave characters were action packed throughout the book & easy to follow in their concept for justice & having both experience & age in their corner just made things they went through just that more believable. The plot got thicker than the fog down south which added more & more mystery to each chapter. The only thing that kept me from listening to this book non-stop was my desperate need to sleep at times. Good thing I keep my kindle close to me in bed.
In the next book I can't wait to see if Dave shoots Cleat if he starts smoking again.

Best written, but weirdest.

First, I have to say it--Will Patton, visit Louisiana. No one says "Pe-CAN." People from the Irish Channel don't sound like hyperactive gutter junkies. It's not Georgia or Kentucky or wherever that accent is from.

I had mixed feelings on this book. On the one hand, Burke's prose has never been better. His descriptions, insights, metaphors, and most everything else is almost breathtaking. It's easily worth the read for that alone. The plot is solid, though unfulfilled at points, and the themes, while starting to sound familiar, are explored well, and it moves along at a clip that will prevent you from putting it down through the last quarter of the novel.

On the other hand, some of it is just weird. The supernatural self-indulgences almost cross the line into science fiction, while serving little purpose that couldn't have been accomplished through metaphor. It's not crippling, it's just distracting in a book that is bent on exposing the gritty reality of evil. Some of the cliche phrases are getting tired--how does everyone in the known universe know what "Take the mashed potatoes out of your mouth" means, and how and when to use it, anyway? All characters, no matter the background, sound like Dave. You will recognize every type of character and every profile from his past books, too.

And at the end I felt like there were unresolved issues, so that Burke needed to either write a little more or a little less.

But in the end, who cares? Burke is a beautiful writer who should be experienced and enjoyed. This book is the darkest and most introspective he's written, exploring emotions and fears that Burke seems to have rare insight into. You have to read it.

Lyrically beautiful

I have been in love with the Bobsey Twins (Dave and Clete) for many years now, but this is the first time I've listened to an audiobook of one of the novels. It was excellent -- I loved hearing it read out loud, which allows you a different experience, hearing the voices and accents. At the first sentence I was put off, thinking "That's not what Dave sounds like!" (or Clete either -- I'm still having a little trouble with the Clete voice), but Will Patton won me over after a while.

James Lee Burke's books are the only mysteries I'd ever be moved to read again, because they are much more than plot -- his writing is as lush and gorgeous as can be and so perfectly fits his scene and subjects. I once had an exchange of emails with his daughter (not Alafair), and told her, "Your dad really knows his Faulkner," and she said he would be really pleased to hear that. This is the only drawback to the audiobook -- at some points I would just like to go back and listen to that sentence/paragraph again and revel in the beauty of it.

But in the end, it's a fair exchange, and I don't know how I could have enjoyed this audiobook any more. So very highly recommended.

Will Patton needs a dialect coach

If you could sum up The Glass Rainbow in three words, what would they be?

Good Robicheaux story

Who was your favorite character and why?

Clete Purcell. Such gloriously complex character. Tragic and endearing.

How could the performance have been better?

Will Patton needs to be taught how t pronounce words that are common in Southern dialects. "Pecan" can be pronounced pi-kahn or pi-kan with the emphasis on the last syllable, or pee-kan with the emphasis on the first syllable. He seems to say it pee-kahn with no stress on either syllable. More annoying than that is the way he pronounces the word "Bream", the name of several small freshwater fish. I have never, ever heard it pronounces as anything but "brim" no matter where I have traveled and fished in the South. He varies between saying it "breem" and "beam". I don't know which is more disconcerting, but both of them strike a jarring note in Burke's authentically-written dialog and descriptions. Either get a new reader, or get Mr. Patton a dialect coach!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes.

Any additional comments?

I have never read anything by James Lee Burke that I did not like. So, either I am easy to please, or he is a very good writer. I tend to think it is the latter.

Hold Your Breat

JLB is not for the Twitter mentality with his descriptive prose and flawless dialogue. He transports you to the bayous and deep into the character's flaws and pulls you right in with them. Will Patton, the narrator, has become Dave Robicheaux and his voice haunts your inner eye's shadows.
This author specializes in psychopaths and the inner demons of the heroes without cheapening the books into trite thrillers. This book used a device JLB hasn't used for awhile, foreshadowing events that left me holding my breath until the last punctuation mark.

another stellar Dave Robichaeux story

What can you say about this series that hasn't already been said? Mr Bruke has great insight into human nautre and communicates it only he can through his Robicheaux novels. I've listened to a bunch and this one ranks right up there. Will Patton's narration is also excellent. I already can't wait until the next one, in fact, maybe I'll go listen to an old one I missed. It'll be a sad day when thre are no more Dave novels to be had.

A great combination

A tropical setting, lush writing and expressive reading combine to the point that one could forget he was listening to a narration and actually "see" the story unfold in his mind's eye.

Well worth the retreat into nostalgia!

After the many months of anticipation and waiting for Burke's latest rendition in the Dave Robicheaux world, the last thing I thought I do would be to put down 2018's "Robicheaux: A Novel" right then and there. But when his introduction said that the "literary antecedent of this work" was his earlier novel, "The Glass Rainbow", I knew I had to retrieve it from my Audible library and listen again. I was not disappointed as each word and expression voiced by Will Patton, Audible's best narrator by far, had me reliving another of James Lee Burke's finest novels. Five stars all around!