The Neon Rain

A Dave Robicheaux Novel

By: James Lee Burke

Narrated by: Will Patton

Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

New York Times best-selling author James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux novels began with this first hard-hitting entry in the series.

In The Neon Rain, Detective Robicheaux fishes a prostitute's corpse from a New Orleans bayou and finds that no one, not even the law, cares about a dead hooker.

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

©1987 James Lee Burke (P)2009 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

"With its fine local color and driving action, this novel is both chilling and first-rate entertainment." ( Publishers Weekly)
"One of Burke's best." ( New York Times Book Review)

Excellent

What a refreshing experience! This is a new author for me and I am delighted to have found him. The narrator is first rate. The only thing wrong was that it had to come to an end as all stories must.

The reader makes the story shjne!

A little too violent for my taste. Wonderful, amazing reader!!!!!! I will try more soon

An exceptional read!!

A wonderful adventure. The story was captivating and eloquently written. The narrator was great at his ability to transform the listener.

mouth noises galore

First off let me say Will Patton is a fine narrator and this is my first James Lee Burke book and will likely get me hooked on the series. Parron did a good job with the story and character voices. But I want to say that whomever was in the studio with him as it was recorded did a horrible job in reducing and eliminated lip smacks and mouth noises. There were SO MANY as to become irritating and distracting. If Will were not so good that would have made me give one star. It was poor editing and control of that issue and it continued throughout the book. I had to try and ignore it but found myself audibly exasperated with it after a short time. Overall, good book, good story, good performance other than the constant mouth noises and distracting breathing at times.

Robicheaux is a winner

I love the Robicheaux series. You can listen out of order and each story stands alone. however you begin to understand the characters more as earlier stories fill in information. Will Patton is great as the narrator.

Burke and Patton - Willing Combination

What did you like best about this story?

James Lee Burke is so poetic and captures the southern landscape and people like few other authors. Dave Robicheaux is a beautifully imperfect protagonist and, can I say, I just love Cletus and his uncensored nature. This story combines mystery with humor and self imposed justice in a prose-like manner that keeps you regretting any time you have to hit pause.

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

Oh, geeze! I think I could listen to Will Patton read the back of a cereal box and think it was the best writing I'd heard all year. His voice is PERFECT for the southern dialects and the different characters. When he is reading the descriptions of the landscape, the weather and other observations, you can just "feel" it and see it vividly. I truly think people who merely read James Lee Burke's books are really missing out on a great experience.

Any additional comments?

I haven't listened to a James Lee Burke book I didn't love and I credit that to not only the excellent writing but also to the voice of Will Patton. I'm so glad he's the one performing all of these books. They just wouldn't be the same without him.

Southern Gangsters

This was my first read to intro to Burke. I read it some 20 years ago and it started a love of the trials of Det. Dave Robicheaux. I appreciated the narrator's use of voice and thought that when his padner Clete Purcell called out "Streak" that was how it was supposed to sound. I have always enjoyed Mr. Burke's descriptive of life in the bayou country, such that some of the speech patterns have slipped into my head as well. It is spoken at a nice pace and I loved every minute. I plan to purchase the whole series. Yours, Mr. Bill

Wonderful writing, the perfect narrator, but, oh my, so much violence

I will have to ration this author’s books the way I ration letting myself have red meat. Both are absolutely delicious but can be harmful to your health in excess. I refer to my mental distress while reading this sad, soulful story. I immediately cared about the detective as Will Patton brought him alive along with several other interesting characters. By the way, don’t let the 1987 publish date put you off. Sadly, the world has changed very little since this was written. Intense, heartbreaking and so very real.

Awesome

what can I say, a double one-two punch of James Lee Burke and Will Patton with Dave and Clete....

You won't be disappointed

Anything written by James Lee Burke will be, at the very least, great ... anything read by Will Patton, will be wonderfully entertaining ... they make a wonderful team!