Rain Gods - Softcover

Burke, James Lee

4.02

5,521 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1439128308 ISBN 13: 9781439128305

Publisher: Pocket Star, 2010

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"America's best novelist" (The Denver Post ) brings back one of his most fascinating characters-- Texas sheriff Hackberry Holland, cousin to lawman Billy Bob Holland--in this heart-pounding bestseller.

In a heat-cracked border town, the bodies of nine illegal aliens--women and girls, killed execution-style--are unearthed in a shallow grave. Haunted by a past he can't shake and his own private demons, Hack attempts to untangle the grisly case, which may lead to more bloodshed. Damaged young Iraq vet Pete Flores, who saw too much before fleeing the crime scene, and his girlfriend, Vikki Gaddis, are running for their lives. Sorting through the lowlifes who are hunting down Pete, and with Preacher Jack Collins, a Godfearing serial killer for hire, in the mix, Hack is caught up in a terrifying race for survival--for Pete, Vikki, and himself.

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Review:

In the pantheon of American crime writing giants, it might be argued that James Lee Burke reigns supreme. Elmore Leonard's position is, of course, secure, but wonderful though his books are, they don't have the ambition and sheer heft of Burke. And the man who was perhaps Burke’s nearest rival, James Ellroy, is much less consistent (even the author now admits that his last book, the infuriatingly written The Cold Six Thousand, was a misfire). We've been avidly consuming Burke's vivid and sprawling pictures of American society (and its miscreants) at least as far back as Lay Down My Sword and Shield in 1971, and -- intriguingly -- Burke's new book, Rain Gods, travels back to that earlier volume and plucks out a character to be centre stage in the new book: he is the cousin of Burke's beloved protagonist Billy Bob Holland. Hackberry Holland is the sheriff of a small Texas town, and he is quite one of the most idiomatic (and fully rounded) characters that the author has created (some British readers may find his moniker irresistibly comic, but the slightest acquaintance with the book will soon get them past that).

Holland comes across the bodies of nine Thai women who have been cursorily interred in shallow graves near a church. These murdered prostitutes, Holland knows, are the tip of an iceberg, and represent the greatest professional challenge he has ever faced. And the detailed map of corruption and intimidation that he comes up against stretches from a criminal in New Orleans (for whom the most extreme violence is quotidian) to a troubled veteran of the Iraq war struggling with his own demons (as is Holland himself --- he is, after all, a James Lee Burke protagonist). But by far the most sinister of his opponents is an assassin who lives by the tenets of the Bible, and goes by the soubriquet The Preacher.

Admirers of Burke (and they are legion) tend to ignore reviews and simply buy each new book. First-time buyers, however, should note that this is the author on kinetic form, delivering all the elements that he is celebrated for with pungency and panache. There is even a bonus for those who are resistant to the slightly proselytising religious strain in Burke's work: his malevolent bible-quoting villain here firmly puts paid to the idea that Burke is subtly doing a little PR work for the Catholic Church. This is the great James Lee Burke on something like vintage form. --Barry Forshaw

Review:

."..readers will find some of the best and most memorable prose of Burke's career...It is the narrative...that is the biggest strength of this character-driven novel. Burke is at heart a poet capable of describing the light and the dark in equal measures of the beautiful and horrific, one who can both gradually illuminate the darkness and cast dark shadows across the sun, often within the space of a single short paragraph. "Rain Gods" is a work of deep, violent and, yes, beautiful magic, a wondrous manifestation of one of our best American authors becoming even better, as improbable and impossible as that may seem."--Joe Hartlaub, Bookreporter.com

""Rain Gods" is Burke's most intricately plotted crime novel yet... And as always in a James Lee Burke novel, one of the main characters is the landscape itself, lovingly described in lyrical passages..."--"Associated Press"

"James Lee Burke has written a riveting novel with broad sociological and biblical themes that evoke past American greats, such as Steinbeck and Cain."--"Lincoln Star Journal"

"If James Lee Burke has the deepest regional voice in the genre -- and I do believe that's so -- it's because he understands those feelings that keep people connected to the places where they have, or once had, roots...Preacher is one of Burke's most inspired villains..."--Marilyn Stasio, "New York Times Book Review"

.".."Rain Gods "is its own stylish slice of contemporary Texas noir."--"Los Angeles Times"

."..totally riveting..."--"New York Daily News"

."..colorful prose, venal characters, haunted landscape, total entertainment."--"San Diego Union Tribune"

"As always, Burke's portrayal of the ugliness of human behavior set against the higher moral standards of those who fight evil is irresistible."--"USA Today"

."..there's something so winning about Hackberry Holland, something so perfect for the times in which we're reading...anger and bitterness fuel a fair amount of James Lee Burke's fiction, showing how the best and the worst of us are driven by demons -- the memories of bad family history; of wars past and present; the pull of the bottle; the furious engine that drives some to desire money or power, by whatever means; the slow, seeping poison of grief and regret. In "Rain Gods", Burke once again renders the cautionary tale he has perfected over 28 books."--Susan Larson, "New Orleans Times Picayune"

"Burke is a deliberate storyteller; he doesn't skimp on the action, but his exploration of human foibles is deep, and his characters are true..."Rain Gods" is about catching the bad guys, but it's also a moving, melancholy examination of how we do wrong, then try our best to atone."--Connie Ogle, "Miami Herald"

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