Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 15, 1995 TAG: 9510130100
SECTION: BOOK PAGE: F5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: REVIEWED BY NEIL HARVEY
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"Burning Angel" is mystery writer James Lee Burke's eighth novel in his spooky, increasingly dark series about Louisiana's Detective Dave Robicheaux. The story begins as Sonny Boy Marsallus, a hipster grifter who fled town after running afoul of bigger, family-oriented criminals, mysteriously returns to New Orleans to give Robicheaux a cryptic notebook. The local "sinister forces" want to get their hands on the book and as they pursue it, murders occur and shady land deals take place; there are run-ins with various hit men and thugs; moody atmosphere abounds and there's more tough-guy talk than you can swing a loaded bat at.
Not all of this is told as clearly and economically as it might've been: characters seem to keep having the same conversations over and over again, clues keep leading nowhere, and sometimes Burke pays more attention to the meals Robicheaux eats than to the matters at hand. This can be frustrating, but for the most part, the author manages to use what isn't explained to make "Burning Angel" compulsively readable. For instance, in one scene Robicheaux finds an important photograph, but the author doesn't reveal who's in the picture until several paragraphs later.
On the other hand, "Burning Angel" isn't helped by the fact that it's narrated by the book's least interesting central character. Just as Burke's novels are gaining best-seller momentum, Robicheaux is starting to seem a little like the same old same old: perpetually brooding, silent and sort of dull. The book's best sections are driven by Marsallus or by Dave's colorful sidekick, Clete. And although Robicheaux exceeds his authority and/or gets suspended in a lot of the books, this time around he makes some colossally, unrealistically stupid mistakes.
I liked "Burning Angel," but, oddly, I often caught myself wishing the main character would take a walk and let the other, more interesting guys have a little spotlight.
Neil Harvey is a Blacksburg writer.
by CNB