Last Car to Elysian Fields A Dave Robicheaux Novel Dave Robicheaux Mysteries
July 10, 2009 by Model Cars · Leave a Comment
Last Car to Elysian Fields A Dave Robicheaux Novel Dave Robicheaux Mysteries
For Dave Robicheaux, there is no easy passage home. New Orleans, and the memories of his life in the Big Easy, will always haunt him. So to return there — as he does in Last Car to Elysian Fields — means visiting old ghosts, exposing old wounds, opening himself up to new, yet familiar, dangers.
When Robicheaux, now a police officer based in the somewhat quieter Louisiana town of New Iberia, learns that an old friend, Father Jimmie Dolan, a Catholic priest always at the center of controversy, has been the victim of a particularly brutal assault, he knows he has to return to New Orleans to investigate, if only unofficially. What he doesn’t realize is that in doing so he is inviting into his life — and into the lives of those around him — an ancestral evil that could destroy them all.
The investigation begins innocently enough. Assisted by good friend and P.I. Clete Purcel, Robicheaux confronts the man they believe to be responsible for Dolan’s beating, a drug dealer and porno star named Gunner Ardoin. The confrontation, however, turns into a standoff as Clete ends up in jail and Robicheaux receives an ominous warning to keep out of New Orleans’ affairs.
Meanwhile, back in New Iberia, more trouble is brewing: Three local teenage girls are killed in a drunk-driving accident, the driver being the seventeen-year-old daughter of a prominent physician. Robicheaux traces the source of the liquor to one of New Iberia’s “daiquiri windows,” places that sell mixed drinks from drive-by windows. When the owner of the drive-through operation is brutally murdered, Robicheaux immediately suspects the grief-crazed father of the dead teen driver. But his assumption is challenged when the murder weapon turns up belonging to someone else.
The trouble continues when Father Jimmie asks Robicheaux to help investigate the presence of a toxic landfill near St. James Parish in New Orleans, which in turn leads to a search for the truth behind the disappearance many years before of a legendary blues musician and composer. Tying together all these seemingly disparate threads of crime is a maniacal killer named Max Coll, a brutal, brilliant, and deeply haunted hit man sent to New Orleans to finish the job on Father Dolan. Once Coll shows up, it becomes clear that Dave Robicheaux will be forced to ignore the warning to stay out of New Orleans, and he soon finds himself drawn deeper into a viper’s nest of sordid secrets and escalating violence that sets him up for a confrontation that echoes down the lonely corridors of his own unresolved past.
A masterful exploration of the troubled side of human nature and the darkest corners of the heart, and filled with the kinds of unforgettable characters that are the hallmarks of his novels, Last Car to Elysian Fields is James Lee Burke in top form in the kind of lush, atmospheric thriller that his fans have come to expect from the master of crime fiction.
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars A GUMBO OF A PLOT
What a great crime story! Burke weaves a complex plot that not only involves current characters but has historical roots in scenes that are gritty as well as true to life. The reader is clear about the bad guys from the start but suspense builds as the exact nature of the crime is a mystery until the last chapter. The lives of many characters are intertwined in interesting connections, revealing Burke’s art as a story teller. The author is also an artist, painting word pictures that are sharp and descriptive while employing economy in his words. There is no fluff, reflecting the nature of the hard hitting, no nonsense main character. The descriptions of the treatment of Black prisoners is brutal and yet there is tenderness in the writing as grief over departed loved ones is explored. My favorite character was an IRA hit man who is presented in an almost likeable portrayal as he guards the decent people and eliminates even more dastardly beasts.
3 Stars Greaseballs
James Lee Burke is a talented writer. His descriptions of New Orleans and the bayou country are first rate. He creates fascinating characters and an interesting plot line. Like most crime and mystery novelists he has the problem of trying to tie up all the loose ends at the end. I did not find his resolution satisfactory in this novel. Others may disagree.
But I have a particular complaint. New Orleans was always the most ethnically diverse city in the old South. Cajuns, Creoles, American Blacks, Irish, Italians, etc. The Italian American population is quite large and have had an important role in the life of the city. I don’t object to Burke’s including the mafia in his novel. After all it’s a crime story. And I don’t object to his portrait of Mafiosi as coniving murderers. That’s what they are.But Burke deals sympathetically with every other group in the city showing the good and the bad, but the only Italian Americans in the book are moral degenerates. Only the mobster Sammy Fig is treated with any sympathy although not much. Burke uses the term “greaseball” far too much. Only the ignorant or evil characters in the novel use pejorative terms for the blacks, for instance, but even the heroes in the book consistently call the Italian American characters “greaseballs”. Once again since these characters are all criminals the term wouldn’t be too offensive if there were any Italian Americans in the book who weren’t “greaseballs”. I grew up in New York City the son of Italian immigrants. The word was used when someone was looking to start a fight and usually that’s what happened. I heard it in the Army too and in those days you couldn’t make a complaint against your drill sergeant so you just had to take it. I graduated from an Ivy League Law School and achieved success in my profession but the term still gets under my skin. At least when it’s used as here as more or less a synonym for Italian American.
4 Stars Held My Attention To The End
The Last Car To Elysian Fields has a main story line with several branches.Everything comes together at the end. The story is easy to follow and entertaining. Burke’s descriptions of the homes and the towns are good and make you want to go to Louisianna. There’s alot of violence and not just coming from the bad guys. There are “bad” guys who redeem themselves at the end. This is Dave Robicheaux after his wife Bootsie died. There’s a mystical element to this story towards the end. I read this story everytime I had a chance.
3 Stars Don’t Look Here for Fast Pace
“Last Car” is enjoyable but you have to put aside the standard mystery - thriller structure and just sit back and enjoy the ride. And by “ride” I mean a slow trip in a quiet canoe through the still waters of a swamp. The plot drifts and meanders, with Robicheaux moving things along ever so gently. What I’ll call the Max Call sections generated the most jolt and suspense but the various other threads of this multi-dimensional plot never quite packed the punch until the end, which takes some time to reach. Some beautiful James Lee Burke descriptions provide the glue and there’s no doubt where the “action” takes place, but if you’re looking for a feeling of tension and excitement, this might not be the ticket.
4 Stars Good but not his best
This is a wonderful story, but not the best JLB novel I’ve read. This has quite a bit of introspection and psychology, but not enough action. the imagery is unbelievable. Buy this and read this but demand more.
