James Lee Burke - Rain Gods

This would be a good place to start with him: a non-series novel very comparable to Cormac McCarthy's No Country For Old Men, but also featuring the almost apocalyptic Biblical tones of some of McCarthy's other books (and he really is comparably good). The landscape is Texan, the characters varied and hugely powerful, and ( Read more... )

James Lee Burke - White Doves at Morning

It's nice to see a blurb from a newspaper calling him America's best novelist, given that he is a crime writer. Not that I quite agree, but he is superb. This is not a crime story but a Civil War novel, based to some extent or other on his own ancestor in and around New Orleans. It's not an adventure story: ( Read more... )

( James Lee Burke - Half of Paradise )

( James Lee Burke - Swan Peak )

James Lee Burke - The Tin Roof Blowdown

Note before starting: this could be gruelling. He's strong on misery and endurance, unflinching in the face of the most unpleasant experiences, and one of the best writers of descriptive prose I've ever read. The lead character is Dave Robicheaux, a detective who works in New Orleans and nearby bayous. This ( Read more... )

James Lee Burke - Two For Texas

This early historical novel (the Alamo is a reference point) is much less impressive that all of his later work. There's some fine description, and the early section in a prison is strong, but the characters are a touch underwritten and there is none of his potent sense of evil. I read Larry McMurtry on the same ( Read more... )

( Donald Westlake - What's So Funny? )

Donald Westlake - Humans

Westlake's introduction sets this up as a deliberate attempt to step outside his comfort zone - which is actually pretty broad anyway, covering the whole gamut of crime fiction, from very funny comedy capers to ultrahardboiled (under the Richard Stark name). Anyway, this is a fantasy: God decides he's had enough of this ( Read more... )