Swan Peak: A Dave Robicheaux Novel Summary and Reviews

Swan Peak: A Dave Robicheaux Novel
by James Lee Burke

Swan Peak: A Dave Robicheaux Novel
List Price: $25.95
Our Price: $13.00
You Save: $12.95 (50%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $12.98 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


or

Book Summary Information

Author: James Lee Burke
Edition: Hardcover
Published: 2008-07-08
ISBN: 1416548521
Number of pages: 416
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Book Reviews of Swan Peak: A Dave Robicheaux Novel

Book Review: "The world respect(s) brute force and brute force alone, no matter what people claim."
Summary: 4 Stars

(3.5 stars) Following the decimation of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina, described in James Lee Burke's last novel, The Tin Roof Blowdown (Dave Robicheaux Mysteries), long-time New Iberia Parish detective Dave Robicheaux has accepted an invitation to recover emotionally on a ranch in western Montana. Robicheaux's long-time buddy Clete Purcell, who accompanies him, has not even started to recover. For Purcell, "the booze he drank and the weed he smoked and the pills he dropped didn't work anymore," and Robicheaux is desperately afraid for his friend.

Within days of their arrival in Montana, the past catches up with them. Clete Purcell runs afoul of two thugs, one of whom once worked for a Nevada gangster who was killed with his entourage when their small plane crashed in the mountains. Purcell has long been suspected of having been involved in the crash. These two thugs now work for wealthy Ridley Wellstone, who is financing a charismatic ministry operated by his young wife. Running parallel to these two plot threads is the story of Jimmy Dale Greenwood, a young man horribly abused by a "gunbull" during a two-year prison sentence. His abuser is now in the same area of Montana, near Missoula and Flathead Lake, as Jimmy Dale. In yet additional plot lines, two young college students are found tortured and murdered in the hills behind the ranch where Robicheaux and Purcell are staying, and a Hollywood producer making a film nearby, and his companion, are shot and burned at a highway rest stop. As these disparate plot threads begin to overlap and explode in violence, Robicheaux and Purcel are up to their eyeballs in the action.

Author James Lee Burke's vaunted ability to create vibrant characters and convey atmosphere through stunning descriptions is on full display here in Big Sky Country, with its fiercely independent residents and its spectacular natural resources. Despite the setting, however, the novel is extremely dark, filled with tormented, if not tortured, characters, all of whom are at the mercy of forces they cannot control. Extreme coincidence guides much of the action here, and though there are a few hints that one or two characters may, in time, set their lives in order, most "want their enemies hosed down with a flamethrower." Long biographies of the many individual characters provide their unfortunate backgrounds and suggest reasons for their violent behavior, though they do not do not explain the rare glimpses of empathy we see in some characters.

A climactic scene of non-stop action, killing, and near death experiences attempts to show the ultimate connections among the characters and the plot lines, but the author never explains how some of the characters actually extricate themselves from the critical scene. Even Dave Robicheaux, the narrator, admits, "In truth, I cannot tell you with any exactitude what happened [that night]." Somehow, after following so many damaged characters and complex plot lines for four hundred pages, I expected a little more. Mary Whipple

Literature & Fiction Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in 10 good crime novels to curl up with
Beneath a Buried House ImageBeneath a Buried House
by Bob Avey
Deadly Niche Press; Published: 2008-06-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $17.95
Lost Light (Harry Bosch) ImageLost Light (Harry Bosch)
by Michael Connelly
Grand Central Publishing; Published: 2006-10-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.48
Price in other shops: $13.99
Tripwire (Jack Reacher) ImageTripwire (Jack Reacher)
by Lee Child
Jove; Published: 2007-05-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.98
Price in other shops: $7.99
Invisible Prey ImageInvisible Prey
by John Sandford
Berkley; Published: 2008-04-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.50
Price in other shops: $9.99
Killing Floor (Jack Reacher) ImageKilling Floor (Jack Reacher)
by Lee Child
Jove; Published: 2006-04-25; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.92
Price in other shops: $7.99
Swan Peak: A Dave Robicheaux Novel ImageSwan Peak: A Dave Robicheaux Novel
by James Lee Burke
Simon & Schuster; Published: 2008-07-08; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.97
Price in other shops: $25.95
Two for the Dough (Stephanie Plum, No. 2) ImageTwo for the Dough (Stephanie Plum, No. 2)
by Janet Evanovich
St. Martin's Press; Published: 2007-05-29; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.84
Price in other shops: $7.99
Three to Get Deadly (Stephanie Plum, No. 3) ImageThree to Get Deadly (Stephanie Plum, No. 3)
by Janet Evanovich
St. Martin's Press; Published: 1998-07-15; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.64
Price in other shops: $7.99
Fade Away ImageFade Away
by Harlan Coben
Dell; Published: 2008-08-26; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.96
Price in other shops: $22.00
Darkly Dreaming Dexter ImageDarkly Dreaming Dexter
by Jeff Lindsay
Vintage; Published: 2006-09-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.44
Price in other shops: $12.95
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
Compulsion: An Alex Delaware Novel (Alex Delaware) ImageCompulsion: An Alex Delaware Novel (Alex Delaware)
by Jonathan Kellerman
Ballantine Books; Published: 2008-03-25; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.50
Price in other shops: $27.00
The Whole Truth ImageThe Whole Truth
by David Baldacci
Grand Central Publishing; Published: 2008-04-22; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.90
Price in other shops: $26.99
Moscow Rules ImageMoscow Rules
by Daniel Silva
Putnam Adult; Published: 2008-07-22; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.25
Price in other shops: $26.95
Hold Tight ImageHold Tight
by Harlan Coben
Dutton Adult; Published: 2008-04-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.95
Price in other shops: $26.95
The Brass Verdict: A Novel ImageThe Brass Verdict: A Novel
by Michael Connelly
Little, Brown and Company; Published: 2008-10-14; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $17.81
Price in other shops: $26.99
The Broken Window: A Lincoln Rhyme Novel (Lincoln Rhyme) ImageThe Broken Window: A Lincoln Rhyme Novel (Lincoln Rhyme)
by Jeffery Deaver
Simon & Schuster; Published: 2008-06-10; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.99
Price in other shops: $26.95
The Tin Roof Blowdown (Dave Robicheaux Mysteries) ImageThe Tin Roof Blowdown (Dave Robicheaux Mysteries)
by James Lee Burke
Pocket; Published: 2008-06-17; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.42
Price in other shops: $7.99
Phantom Prey (Lucas Davenport Mysteries) ImagePhantom Prey (Lucas Davenport Mysteries)
by John Sandford
Putnam Adult; Published: 2008-05-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $8.00
Price in other shops: $26.95
Nothing to Lose (Jack Reacher Novels) ImageNothing to Lose (Jack Reacher Novels)
by Lee Child
Delacorte Press; Published: 2008-06-03; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.30
Price in other shops: $27.00
Chasing Darkness: An Elvis Cole Novel (Elvis Cole) ImageChasing Darkness: An Elvis Cole Novel (Elvis Cole)
by Robert Crais
Simon & Schuster; Published: 2008-07-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.95
Price in other shops: $25.95