Burning Angel

A Dave Robicheaux Novel, Book 8

By: James Lee Burke

Narrated by: Mark Hammer

Length: 14 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's Summary

James Lee Burke's blockbuster best-seller at a new low price!

Detective Dave Robicheaux becomes entangled in the affairs of the Fontenot family, descendants of sharecroppers whose matriarch helped raise Dave as a child. They are in danger of losing the land they've lived on for more than a century. As Dave tries to discover who wants the land so badly, he finds himself in increasing peril from a lethal, rag tag alliance of local mobsters and a hired assassin with a shady past.

©1996 James Lee Burke (P)2012 Simon & Schuster Audio

HAUNTING: A Mystical Bayou Cop Story...

In one of his best earlier (the sixth) Dave Robicheaux stories, “In the Electric Mist With Confederate Dead” James Lee Burke began to explore the thin line between spirituality and mysticism. In the process he created a new genre - the metaphysical cop story. Here in the eighth Robicheaux he revisits that idea. I’m glad. You will be too, especially if you’ve started the series from the beginning.

In fact, I’d recommend that you skip right over “Dixie City Jam,” Burke’s seventh and slowest novel and come from “Electric Mists” to “Burning Angel”. You’ll miss nothing in the epic evolution of Dave, Bootsey, Alafair, and Cleetus but you’ll get to enjoy Burke’s growing his ability to explore this lyrical new story arc.

Of the eight Burke novels, I still think that the first and that “Electric Mist” are the most haunting. But with the exception of “Dixie City Jam”, they are among the absolute finest work in American detective fiction … EVER! Uh-huh…. EVER! And as always,The late Mark Hammer’s lyrical talent to create this back-bayou Louisiana world is magical. If you enjoy detective/police/thriller/mystery fiction… the Dave Robicheaux series is a must start.

Excellent

Overall a great read, I love the details of each character's life and how they interact. I especially like the complicated Dave Robicheaux and his constant fight to stay on the straight and narrow.

Overflowing with the richest characters in fiction!

Riveting stories, rich characters and perfect narration by Mark Hammer. The scene descriptions put you feel like you are actually there. Really enjoyed hearing the James Lee Burke talk about his persistent pursuit of his art, during the 13 year that publishing companies were not responding positively. For his readers and listeners, it was well worth the wait. As close to perfect for me, as humanly possible! Congratulations to all involved. I have laughed out loud, gotten damp eyes and enjoyed every moment listening. Thank you James Lee Burke.

Ugg

What would have made Burning Angel better?

The narration was dull and boring. It needs someone livelier.

What didn’t you like about Mark Hammer’s performance?

He sounds bored and dull.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Burning Angel?

I’m unsure. Maybe I just don’t like the subject.

better story than narration

This was was a struggle for me. While the story was as expected for Robicheaux, the narration was horrid. I do want to complete the saga but not sure I can. Being from Louisiana, I love recognizing towns & streets. Hearing the mispronunciation is tough. And what is with the over pronunciated "eww" in words like suit, super, et al? Just no! I love listening while on car trips but will probably find another book to follow.

Disappointed

I tried, I really did, but there was nothing for me to like about this book.

My favorite

James Lee Burke’s novels are my absolute favorites! Especially the Dave Robicheaux novels. I don’t have time to read books, so I listen to the audio books in my car. I have listened to them all more than once and am currently going back and listening in order. Mr. Burke’s use of simile and metaphor is so intricate and imaginary. I can literally see the scenes he paints come to life in my mind. Will Patton’s performance in reading some of the novels is spectacular. His accents bring the characters to life!

Enjoyed it way more the 2nd and 3rd time around!

Great story! Initially I found it somewhat confusing but I gets better with each lesson. The key is to listen to the little stories within the bigger story. It's kinda like Where's Waldo except in this case Waldo is Sonny

disappointed

very disappointed in this story after reading so many other enjoyable Burke novels.

lazy writing, bad editing, sloppy plot

Apparently JL Burke never met a simile he could refuse - I've never seen such an overuse of similes, and to me it's a sign of lazy and heavy-handed writing.; It's a lot more difficult to write a description without a simile than with it, and it's more didactic and heavy handed to write a simile that leaves nothing for the imagination to create or enjoy. While some might say that it results in wonderful description, I say it results in a paint-by-numbers picture rather than a work of art.

And the sloppy plotting......oh, where to begin? Did everyone forget that Sonny has a look alike cousin? Why did the professional assassin make such an amateurish job of trying to kill Dave? What did anyone's recollections of their military past add to the various story lines? And why were there so many subplots?

As for the editing of the audiobook, there were extremely extended pauses - some of 6-7 seconds that made me wonder if the app had stopped working. And at one point, I heard a muted "what's wrong" at the end of the chapter, as if either the mike was still active or the editor had not trimmed out that piece of audio.

I like Mark Hammer's lazy and slow reading pace - it seems very appropriate for a deep south storyline. But he still has problems differentiating voices, and it got confusing sometimes - a really good narrator should allow you to recognize the character without hearing the name spoken.