Sunset Limited

Rating:
Summary: Don't Start Here
Review: "Sunset Limited" is my first book by Burke. In many ways, it is excellent. Burke has the ability to make you feel like you're in the middle of the scenes he describes. He conjures up mist rising from a Louisiana bayou so that you not only see it, you smell it and feel it as well. His characters come alive in a very human way. There are manipulators and pawns, perpetrators and victims. Innocents sometimes pay a heavy price for the misdeeds of others, but even a killer like Swede Boxleiter has redeeming qualities. And Burke's story never has a dull moment. Tension is constant and there is plenty of action.

With all these strengths brought to bear,"Sunset Limited" has a lot going for it, but it also has some shortcomings. This is the 16th Dave Robicheaux novel. A consequence of this is that some things are taken for granted, like the nickname "Streak". Several characters use it on Robicheaux, but if you're unfamiliar with the series, its significance is lost on you. This isn't a big deal, but it is symptomatic of the fact that terms and local expressions abound in this book. To the extent that it can sometimes be difficult for the uninitiated to follow the meaning. Another thing that struck me was that there are a lot of characters in the story, and some just seem to fade in or out without adequate introduction or resolution. For example, "Cool Breeze" Broussard is a pivotal character early in the story, but he just seems to disappear about midway through and you never see any more of him. In the end, the story itself seems to fade away almost like "Cool Breeze". I felt that a lot was left unresolved when the book was done, and it left me with a vaguely unsatisfied feeling. Real life is often like this,a nd some readers may like it this way, but I don't read fiction to get reality. I like stories with all the loose ends tied up.

When I got "Sunset Limited", I was not aware that the Dave Robicheaux character had such a lengthy history. In retrospect, this book was probably not the best place to make his acquaintance. The story is fast-paced and I enjoyed it, but I felt that a lot of loose ends remained when I finished the book, and I probably would have gotten more from it if I had read other books in this series before this one. This is a good book, and I think fans of this series will certainly enjoy it. If you're a newcomer to the Robicheaux novels, however, I suggest that you start with an earlier one. For myself, some earlier Robicheaux books are definitely on the agenda.

Rating:
Summary: Don't Start Here
Review: "Sunset Limited" is my first book by Burke. In many ways, it is excellent. Burke has the ability to make you feel like you're in the middle of the scenes he describes. He conjures up mist rising from a Louisiana bayou so that you not only see it, you smell it and feel it as well. His characters come alive in a very human way. There are manipulators and pawns, perpetrators and victims. Innocents sometimes pay a heavy price for the misdeeds of others, but even a killer like Swede Boxleiter has redeeming qualities. And Burke's story never has a dull moment. Tension is constant and there is plenty of action.

With all these strengths brought to bear,"Sunset Limited" has a lot going for it, but it also has some shortcomings. This is the 16th Dave Robicheaux novel. A consequence of this is that some things are taken for granted, like the nickname "Streak". Several characters use it on Robicheaux, but if you're unfamiliar with the series, its significance is lost on you. This isn't a big deal, but it is symptomatic of the fact that terms and local expressions abound in this book. To the extent that it can sometimes be difficult for the uninitiated to follow the meaning. Another thing that struck me was that there are a lot of characters in the story, and some just seem to fade in or out without adequate introduction or resolution. For example, "Cool Breeze" Broussard is a pivotal character early in the story, but he just seems to disappear about midway through and you never see any more of him. In the end, the story itself seems to fade away almost like "Cool Breeze". I felt that a lot was left unresolved when the book was done, and it left me with a vaguely unsatisfied feeling. Real life is often like this,a nd some readers may like it this way, but I don't read fiction to get reality. I like stories with all the loose ends tied up.

When I got "Sunset Limited", I was not aware that the Dave Robicheaux character had such a lengthy history. In retrospect, this book was probably not the best place to make his acquaintance. The story is fast-paced and I enjoyed it, but I felt that a lot of loose ends remained when I finished the book, and I probably would have gotten more from it if I had read other books in this series before this one. This is a good book, and I think fans of this series will certainly enjoy it. If you're a newcomer to the Robicheaux novels, however, I suggest that you start with an earlier one. For myself, some earlier Robicheaux books are definitely on the agenda.

Rating:
Summary: Don't Start Here
Review: "Sunset Limited" is my first book by Burke. In many ways, it is excellent. Burke has the ability to make you feel like you're in the middle of the scenes he describes. He conjures up mist rising from a Louisiana bayou so that you not only see it, you smell it and feel it as well. His characters come alive in a very human way. There are manipulators and pawns, perpetrators and victims. Innocents sometimes pay a heavy price for the misdeeds of others, but even a killer like Swede Boxleiter has redeeming qualities. And Burke's story never has a dull moment. Tension is constant and there is plenty of action.

With all these strengths brought to bear,"Sunset Limited" has a lot going for it, but it also has some shortcomings. This is the 16th Dave Robicheaux novel. A consequence of this is that some things are taken for granted, like the nickname "Streak". Several characters use it on Robicheaux, but if you're unfamiliar with the series, its significance is lost on you. This isn't a big deal, but it is symptomatic of the fact that terms and local expressions abound in this book. To the extent that it can sometimes be difficult for the uninitiated to follow the meaning. Another thing that struck me was that there are a lot of characters in the story, and some just seem to fade in or out without adequate introduction or resolution. For example, "Cool Breeze" Broussard is a pivotal character early in the story, but he just seems to disappear about midway through and you never see any more of him. In the end, the story itself seems to fade away almost like "Cool Breeze". I felt that a lot was left unresolved when the book was done, and it left me with a vaguely unsatisfied feeling. Real life is often like this,a nd some readers may like it this way, but I don't read fiction to get reality. I like stories with all the loose ends tied up.

When I got "Sunset Limited", I was not aware that the Dave Robicheaux character had such a lengthy history. In retrospect, this book was probably not the best place to make his acquaintance. The story is fast-paced and I enjoyed it, but I felt that a lot of loose ends remained when I finished the book, and I probably would have gotten more from it if I had read other books in this series before this one. This is a good book, and I think fans of this series will certainly enjoy it. If you're a newcomer to the Robicheaux novels, however, I suggest that you start with an earlier one. For myself, some earlier Robicheaux books are definitely on the agenda.

Rating:
Summary: Not bad, but don't expect a happy ending
Review: 'Sunset Limited' is pretty good - not great, but pretty good. Burke has moved even further than his previous novels into the realm of atmosphere and psychological context, sacrificing narrative coherence along the way (whether this is a worthwhile exchange depends on your point of view).

This is the sixteenth book centering on Burke's increasingly battered hero, Dave Robicheaux; he is still haunted by old demons, although generally he seems to have found a way to live with most of them. His sometime-friend, Clete Purcel, is still half-heroic, half-pathetic.

The plot centres around a series of decades-old crimes, particularly the grisly murder of a union activist. This leads the book into a series of narrative strands, but sometimes Burke seems to be straining to connect them: there are more than a few unlikely coincidences, and some incidents seem to go nowhere. It is characteristic of the book that the initial reason for Robicheaux's involvement - to locate and perhaps clear a petty crim called Cool Breeze Broussard (Burke has not lost his talent for wonderfully appropriate names) - fades away at the book's half-way point.

But there are villains aplenty: in fact, there are few sympathetic characters here. Some of the bad guys are rich and clever, some are poor and stupid, and some of the worst carry a badge. You can't trust anyone these days, and justice prevails only occasionally.

All this darkness of spirit would be somewhat suffocating, except that Burke has a knack of inserting passages of striking beauty. He has a remarkable feel for the social and physical texture of Louisiana, and a grasp of detail which is almost Chandleresque. Neither has he lost his ear for dialogue: each character has a noticeably different way of speaking, or even of being silent.

'Sunset Limited' - the title is symbolic of a journey into a painful past - is not as good as Burke's 'Black Cherry Blues', 'The Lost Get-Back Boogie' or even 'Heaven's Prisoners', but most readers will find the journey worth the pri! ce of the ticket.

Rating:
Summary: Love Dave!!
Review: A friend of mine turned me on to James Lee Burke with Cimarron Rose and I loved it so much I have gone and read everything he has written. Even when the story line or the ending aren't as good as some of the others, I still can't put down his books. He really brings to life the characters and their surroundings without being judgmental in the process. He doesn't hold back any punches.

I loved this book as much as the others.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic
Review: A wonderful mix of character and wonderful plotting (character is what mysteries have that other suspense genres don't). The best page-turner I've read since Craig Furnas's THE SHAPE and Michael Crichton's AIRFRAME. SUNSET LIMITED isn't just perfect summer reading, it would make for perfect winter reading, too.

Rating:
Summary: Fun, but not the strongest of Burke's novels
Review: After having read all of the Dave Robicheaux novels, I was somewhat disappointed with this latest novel. While it was good to re-enter the world of Burke's novels, I felt there was something missing. The characters, as usual, were strong, but the plot seemed to fall short of the typical Burke novel.

Rating:
Summary: the weakest Robicheaux tale yet
Review: After reading most of Burke's Robicheaux novels in a row this summer, I found SUNSET LIMITED to be the weakest. The plot was confusing and Burke is throwing around to many charakters and names. But most of all I was missing Burke's atmospheric description of the southern landscape Robicheaux is living in.

Rating:
Summary: Time for something new
Review: Although Burke's witing is as stunningly beautiful as ever, he has exhausted the character of Dave Robicheaux. There's been nothing new in the last few entrants in the series; it's basically been the same plot with different characters. Even Cimarron Rose was really a Robicheaux novel; Burke just changed the setting and the protagonist's name. I hate to say anything negative, because I love Burke's writing. His early novels were excellent; it's time to write a different story.

Rating:
Summary: Dave and James seem to be getting tired.
Review: As a die hard Dave Robicheaux fan I was somewhat disappointed with this last installment. It seemed to me that Mr. Burke assumed that every reader had the background knowledge of his previous books and spent very little time developing the characters during the first 100 pages. The story did come together eventually but the reader was left with a less than "wow" ending. I have found that successful, prolific writers begin to lose their edge after so many best sellers. I hope that this isn't happening to James Lee Burke.