Pegasus Descending - Softcover

Burke, James Lee (Author)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0753822083 ISBN 13: 9780753822081

Publisher: Orion (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Lt, 2007

Synopsis

A superb Dave Robicheaux mystery from the multi award-winning crime writer.

Dave Robicheaux left his drinking days behind him many years ago, but he still feels guilt over a tragic event he wasn't sober enough to prevent. Dallas Klein, a gambling addict and bar buddy of Dave's when Dave was posted to Miami PD, was killed in an armed robbery he'd been forced to engineer. Two decades later, several incidents in Dave's life in Iberia Parish link to those involved. First he meets Dallas' daughter, Trish, who keeps odd company and is blackballed by the local casinos. Then the supposed suicide of a young girl appears to be connected to the man Dallas owed money to back in the Miami days.

Dave's inability to let things alone gets him involved with two very powerful criminals, both wanting to protect their sons from the trouble they court, and both with the attitude of the privileged and white. When a young black drug dealer gets on the wrong side of the boys, tensions run high and there are more needless deaths - causing Dave to come to blows with the FBI, the DA's office and a thug who has little regard for any life but his own.

Praise for one of the great American crime writers, James Lee Burke:

'James Lee Burke is the heavyweight champ, a great American novelist whose work, taken individually or as a whole, is unsurpassed.' Michael Connelly

'A gorgeous prose stylist.' Stephen King

'Richly deserves to be described now as one of the finest crime writers America has ever produced.' Daily Mail

Fans of Dennis Lehane, Michael Connelly and Don Winslow will love James Lee Burke:

Dave Robicheaux Series

1. The Neon Rain
2. Heaven's Prisoners
3. Black Cherry Blues
4. A Morning for Flamingos
5. A Stained White Radiance
6. In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead
7. Dixie City Jam
8. Burning Angel
9. Cadillac Jukebox
10. Sunset Limited
11. Purple Cane Road
12. Jolie Blon's Bounce
13. Last Car to Elysian Fields
14. Crusader's Cross
15. Pegasus Descending
16. The Tin Roof Blowdown
17. Swan Peak
18. The Glass Rainbow
19. Creole Belle
20. Light of the World
21. Robicheaux

Hackberry Holland Series

1. Lay Down My Sword and Shield
2. Rain Gods
3. Feast Day of Fools
4. House of the Rising Sun

Billy Bob Holland Series

1. Cimarron Rose
2. Heartwood
3. Bitterroot
4. In The Moon of Red Ponies

* Each James Lee Burke novel can be read as a standalone or in series order *

About this title

Review:

Admirers of James Lee Burke long ago ran out of adjectives to praise their hero, and the only puzzling thing about his remarkable literary achievement in the crime writing field is that although his sales are more than respectable, many a lesser writer outsells him. This is doubly ironic, as a book like Pegasus Descending proves that, unlike that other much acclaimed master of the American crime novel, James Ellroy, Burke is remarkably consistent. While Ellroy's more recent books have struck off into some very strange territory that has alienated many of his readers, Burke continues to do just what his readers expect: deliver the most pithy and sweeping writing to be found in the crime field.

In Pegasus Descending, we are once again back in the comfortable (if eventful) company of Dave Robicheaux, Burke's long-time protagonist. Dave has finally brought his excessive drinking under control, but still suffers from guilt over a tragic event that he was unable to prevent due to his drunkenness. A friend of Dave’s, a gambling addict, had died in an armed robbery that he had been forced into. After the passage of many years, various events in Dave's life have brought him back into the orbit of the individuals responsible for this violent death.

As readers of Burke will realise from this, Dave is completely unable to let the past rest, and becomes dangerously involved, this time with some very sinister men. In such books as Lay Down My Sword and Shield, The Lost Get-back Boogie and Cimarron Rose (the latter book won the prestigious Edgar award, as did the equally impressive Black Cherry Blues), James Lee Burke has carved out a territory that is very much his own. While the plotting of his novels is as adroit as one could wish, Burke is one of the latter-day descendants of Raymond Chandler who has learned a very important message from the Master: it’s character and atmosphere that counts most in sprawling American narratives like this, and in this area, Burke is nonpareil among current practitioners. As ever, observations on the social mores of the day are folded into the narrative, but at the centre of it all is, as ever, the wonderfully drawn Dave Robicheaux. --Barry Forshaw

Review:

James Lee Burke is the heavyweight champ, a great American novelist whose work, taken individually or as a whole, is unsurpassed. (Michael Connelly)

A gorgeous prose stylist. (Stephen King)

Richly deserves to be described now as one of the finest crime writers America has ever produced. (Daily Mail)

The gentle giant of US crime writers, Burke always ensures that his Louisiana detective Dave Robicheaux grapples with hot topics as much as with his own inner demons. (i newspaper)

There are not many crime writers about whom one might invoke the name of Zola for comparison, but Burke is very much in that territory. His stamping ground is the Gulf coast, and one of the great strengths of his work has always been the atmospheric background of New Orleans and the bayous. His big, baggy novels are always about much more than the mechanics of the detective plot; his real subject, like the French master, is the human condition, seen in every situation of society. (Independent)

The king of Southern noir. (Daily Mirror)

His lyrical prose, his deep understanding of what makes people behave as they do, and his control of plot and pace are masterly. (Sunday Telegraph)

One of the finest American writers. (Guardian)

When it comes to literate, pungently characterised American crime writing, James Lee Burke has few peers. (Daily Express)

About this edition

• Publisher: Orion (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Lt
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0753822083
• ISBN 13: 9780753822081
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 432