Heartwood (Billy Bob Holland Book 2)

Great read! But Burke 's books always are....many flawed characters interacting in intricate plots, and absolutely unequaled descriptions. Where does he get all those unbelievably imaginative metaphors!!?

If you're ever headed toward Deaf Smith, Texas, stop! Turn around or give it a wide berth. Too many violent and vicious low-life scrum live there, Forget trying to live a normal life. Watch out for the ghosts, too. They are the only ones with good sense. Of course, reading about this town is a different matter!

I found this book to informative, touching and easy to read. Ms. Kelly is very accomplished, but wraps the description of her accomplishments in a blanket of humility. I found her level of self-awareness to be profound, especially for someone at her level of fame who could easily not be. The people who have used the review process to trash this book, and worse the author, should be ashamed.

My wife and I enjoyed this book very much!

The pace and constantly changing direction in this novel is like a slow-moving meandering river and suits the well-described South Texas culture and landscape. Burke is an excellent writer and a good storyteller, I like the pace he set, and I enjoyed his vivid character portrayals. His phrasing at times, though, is obscure enough that I think only he knows exactly what he is trying to say. Almost all of the characters have pathetic lives, including the main character, Billy Bob Holland. The book did keep my interest, but the mood he set left me with an overall feeling of sadness. – David B. Crawley, M.D. – Author of “Steep Turn: A Physician's Journey From Clinic to Cockpit."

"Heartwood," (1999), by the bestselling American mystery author James Lee Burke, was the second in his Texas-set Billy Bob Holland series, following on the heels of Cimarron Rose(1997). Like most of this series, the book, a Southern noir, police procedural/mystery, was set in and around dusty Deaf Smith, Texas, in the hill country north of Austin. Mind you, Texas is home country for Burke, who was born in Houston, Texas, in 1936, and grew up on the Texas-Louisiana gulf coast in the oil business.

In these Billy Bob Holland books, we meet some characters, traveling under different names that we see over and over again in Burke's books. We learn a bit about his mother and father (who died in flames in a marine oil well accident, as did Robichaux's father). The town's leading citizen, Earl Deitrich, rich, handsome, of `good family,' and arrogant, with a beautiful wife and a beautiful house: a man who habitually pays no mind to the harm his profitable enterprises cause to others. Deitrich's son Jeff, a truly obnoxious unstable rich kid. Earl's wife Peggy Jean (nee Murphy), a former high school sweetheart of Holland's--and we often see that relationship in Burke's books. Temple Carrol, Holland's investigator, whom we will see a lot of in this series. Wilbur Pickett, the down on his heels former rodeo rider, there's often a character like him around in Burke's fiction. Hugo Roberts, the corrupt local sheriff. There are a bunch of grotesque Southern characters, so typical of Southern gothic fiction: Skyler Doolittle, cornpone dude who appears to suffer from some sexual confusion. Bubba Grimes, cornpone Southern sadist/killer. Fletcher Grinnel, cold, ex-mercenary killer. Johnny Krause, porn producer. Jessie Stump, a typically funny-named killer in Burke's pantheon, whom the author describes as "an armed robber, speed addict, and psychopath who shot a Mexican judge in a courtroom, jumped through a second-story glass window, and escaped into the heart of Mexico City."

Apparently, heartwood is a kind of tree, found in Texas that grows in layers. At any rate, we meet Holland as an attorney, formerly a lawman with the Texas Rangers. Against his better judgment, he is drawn into the case when Deitrich accuses Pickett of stealing an heirloom watch and a hundred thousand dollars' worth of bearer bonds from him.

Unfortunately, to me, at least, the author in this book takes another dip into the supernatural, as he did in "Cimarron Rose." Holland's former partner on the Texas Rangers, whom he accidentally shot and killed, L.Q. Navarro, makes a regular pest of himself, showing up to spout aphorisms all the time - though, thankfully, not as frequently as he appears in "Cimarron." And the book's ending, aided by a deus ex machina of which Burke is repeatedly fond, also comes with a silly touch of the supernatural.

Yet, the book retains the power Burke's writing at its best can boast. Maybe because, more than anything else, seems to me, he continues to give us some of the most beautiful, knowledgeable writing ever committed to paper about the flora, fauna, geography, and human occupants of the Gulf Coast, now so much in the news. To my mind, nobody has ever done it better. Burke attended Southwestern Louisiana Institute; later received B. A. and M. A. degrees from the University of Missouri in 1958 and 1960 respectively. Over the years he worked as a landman for Sinclair Oil Company, a pipeliner, land surveyor, newspaper reporter, college English professor, social worker on Skid Row in Los Angeles, clerk for the Louisiana Employment Service, and instructor in the U. S. Job Corps. His work has twice been awarded an Edgar for Best Crime Novel of the Year. He has also been a recipient of a Breadloaf and Guggenheim Fellowship and an NEA grant. His first novel The Lost Get-Back Boogiewas rejected 111 times over a period of nine years, and upon publication by Louisiana State University press was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. At least eight of his novels have been New York Times bestsellers. But I, like many other readers, much prefer his New Orleans-set Robichaux mysteries; and if you're not yet acquainted with this author, I recommend you start there, rather than here.

This second book in the Billy Bob Holland series is excellent. The story is set about a year after the events in Cimarron Rose. Lucas Smothers and Billy Bob have developed a good relationship when trouble again enters their lives. There is quite a cast of characters to follow in this story. And it seems like the relationship between Billy Bob and Temple may be developing. I'm interested in learning if they finally become a couple in the next book in this series. This is a very good book and series.

Billy Bob Holland, attorney, is pitted against an apparently materialistic and immoral "entrepreneur," Earl,who happens to be married to the beautiful woman who deflowered Billy Bob, years prior. Earl's son by a previous liaison, Jeff, is a chip off the old block. Tagging alongside are two Chicano "gang bangers," actually more low riders than gang bangers, Ronnie Cruise (note how he anglicized his name, maybe that's a fad in San Antonio?) and a loco guy named Ramirez who gets boxed to death later in the book. In fact, of these four, only Ronnie remains standing, with Billy Bob, when the final bell rings. There are other women, including Esmeralda Ramirez, who is variously a college student, Jeff's wife, Ronnie's girlfriend, and the girlfriend of Billy Bob's son, not in that order, however. Then there's a corrupt, racist, fat sheriff (what would a Southern town be without one?), and various "white trash" figures who cross back and forth over the criminal line as forces carry them. Well, the result of all this, in my humble opinion, is a three-star book. As others on this website have pointed out, there's a lot to wade through for the action that's delivered, maybe a little too much attention to minor detail. But does this really differ much from Robert Parker describing what his private dick had for breakfast, lunch and dinner? Or from Robert Crais telling us what the sunset in Santa Clarita looked like as the police and FBI surround an upscale single family residence housing three kidnappers? Not really. So, there's something here, but you might have to wade through some of the slower parts, skim it or skip it. Billy Bob's encounter with his deceased crime partner, his ghost, that is, is actually rather interesting, because how often do you get anything even bordering on the metaphysical in this type of fiction? Diximus.

Extremely well thought out. The mood is a bit darker than most of his works, but for this story - its quite appropriate. The story is full of twists and surprises until the ending. What appears to be just another "poor & decent Vs. Rich & corrupt" plot is saved from this simplistic and boring drama by the thoroughness that Burke uses to give his characters depth and credibility. The main character (B. Holland ) is shown as a man haunted by his own feelings of guilt, which comes to him as a mixture of ghostly visions and inner doubts. Same careful "dissection" is given to all the other characters, making them ll appear multifaceted and real -- a must for all readers of this genre ! ! !

One can sometimes become so familiar with characters from earlier novels that it becomes difficult to seperate one from the other. One is not too sure what novel is currently being read. Adding to this dilemma is the plot, which seems to have a bit of a problem of seeming to parallel already used situations and experiences.

I wondered if Billy Bob Holland is more believable a character than Dave Robicheaux. Are the legal and personal involvements of Billy Bob realistic? Can any one character have so many challanges to face and survive them all? Does he have enough belief in his client's innocence that he would expose the railroading attempt by the husband of a woman he still loves? Can he overcome the grief he still experiences when he thinks of the friend he accidently killed? The plot thickens as he becomes more involved in betrayal, greed, love, and then murder. Billy Bob has more on his full plate than one can imagine. All in all I was left a little short of breath as I waded through all these machinations. Sorry to say, but a little tiring in the long run.

E.J. Walden, author of "Operation Snow Owl"

I should have purchased HEARTWOOD last year when it first came out in hardback, but I was so irritated with James Lee Burke for not writing a "Robicheaux" novel that I decided to get my revenge by waiting for the paperback to come out. I mean, it's bad enough to have to wait a year in between novels that have your favorite character in them, but two years is simply intolerable. Anyway, I just finished reading HEARTWOOD in paperback and consider it to be one of Burke's best novels to date. The story deals with Billy Bob Holland (first introduced in CIMARRON ROSE), who is an ex-Texas Ranger and assistant U.S. attorney, and who now practices law in his home town of Deaf Smith, Texas. When Wilbur Pickett, a down-and-out ex-rodeo bull rider and current employee of millionaire Earl Deitrich, is accused by his boss of stealing an antique watch and three hundred thousand dollars in bearer bonds, Billy Bob, against his better judgment, decides to take the case. Wilbur freely admits to taking the watch, but not the bonds. This makes Billy Bob wonder if Earl has set Wilbur up so that he can run a scam on the insurance company for the supposedly missing bonds. The question is why? Earl is rich. Why risk something like this? Billy Bob also has another problem to deal with. He is still in love with his old, teenage flame, Peggy Jean, who happens to now be married to Earl Deitrich. Billy Bob doesn't want to do anything which might hurt Peggy Jean, but at the same time, he doesn't want to see Wilbur get railroaded for something he didn't do. It isn't long, however, before Billy Bob has his hands full when he begins to suspect that there is something more going on behind the scenes than the apparent theft of the watch and bearer bonds. What he finds out may cost him his life, as well as the life of his son, Lucas. HEARTWOOD is the most complex novel Mr. Burke has written so far. There are so many hidden layers here that I haven't even touched the tip of the iceberg. Billy Bob will have to deal with gangbangers, ex-mercenaries, corruption in the local police department, the guilt he still harbors over the death of his best friend who he accidently killed, and the love he has for another man's wife. HEARTWOOD is a powerful novel of love, betrayal, greed, and murder. It is skillfully woven with characters that burst from the pages with a life all of their own. You won't want the book to end...it is that good! James Lee Burke doesn't just write an excellent novel, he gives you a "reading experience" that I wish other authors could duplicate. Needless to say, when the next "Billy Bob Holland" novel comes out, I won't wait for the paperback.

I am a loyal Burke fan, particularly of his Robicheaux books, but "Cimarron Rose" was a slight disappointment. With time and forgiveness under my belt, I cracked open "Heartwood" and found myself swept away. The story has an actual plot, the characters have true struggles, and the narrative flows with sympathy and violence in incongruous dance.
Let's face it, few people can write with the descriptive and allegorical power of Burke. If anything, it can be overwhelming at times, although I prefer to think of it as intoxicating. Then, to keep things in check, Burke pens some of the most forceful dialogue that you'll ever run across this side of the Elmore Leonard and Dashiell Hammett. His characters are electric with their moral conflicts and emotional hangups.
"Heartwood," for me, encapsulated all the things Burke does well: the dialogue, narrative, Greek tragedy themes, and eventual redemption at a price. Yes, it harkens to the Robicheaux books, but I'm warming up to Billy Bob Holland and beginning to see him as his own fictional entity. Although this series lacks the humorous sidekick of a Clete Purcell, it hits home with powerful story and truth.
Mr. Burke, you're starting to convince me...spending time with Billy Bob and Temple Carrol has its payoffs. Do I sense a hint of romance even? I can't wait to read "Bitterroot," the next in the series.

James Lee Burke looks like a cowboy or a roustabout, but writes like a poet. His love of place is evident in his novels, whether they are set in New Iberia, Lousiana, or Deaf Smith, Texas. He also displays his affection for life's underdogs, and returns again and again to the theme of the abuse of power by the priviliged few.
In this book, "Heartwood" refers to a type of tree whose core increases in strength as the tree grows, until it is so strong that saws cannot cut through it. Burke's protagonist, Billy Bob Holland, is on his way to becoming a man with a center of heartwood. He has a tragedy in his past, an illegitimate son who is also on his way to becoming a fine and courageous man, and an idealized love for the town beauty, Peggy Jean Dietrich. Peggy Jean is married to the rich, powerful and ruthless, Earl Dietrich. When Earl sets up the naive dreamer, Wilbur Pickett, as the thief who stole a fortune in bearer bonds from his home, Billy Bob takes his case. That's when all hell breaks loose in Deaf Smith, Texas!
The plot is densly populated and complex. Burke has always infused his tales with a lot of mysticism, and this one is no exception. Wilbur's blind wife is gifted with second sight, and Billy Bob has visions of the man who was his partner when both were Texas Rangers. Burke writes of gangbangers, drug dealers, crooked cops and the overpriviliged sons and daughters of the wealthy. This book is beautifully written and peopled with fully realized characters, admirable, evil, and all the degrees in between. I have not yet read "Cimmaron Rose", but I am looking forward to another visit to Deaf Smith, Texas.

Somehow, and it's largely through his terrific prose style, Burke manages to write "mysteries" that transcend the genre and even get the reader to accept a nonrational aspect to books that depend on reason. As everyone has noted, this is the second of his "Texas" books, Burke having left, at least temporarily, Dave Robichaux and Louisiana behind. Protagonist Billy Bob Holland, exRanger and present attorney in a wonderfully crafted small Texas town is, typical Burke hero, caught in a present but captive of his past, in this book an early (VERY early)love for a woman now married to the rich man of the town, who is also a scoundral of the worst kind. But Holland is also captive of his more recent past, in which he feels responsible for the death of his best friend. The plot unfolds against a backdrop of those feelings, the involvement of Billy Bob's own son, as well as others of that generation, wonderful odd characters pure Texan in nature, and requisite death and danger.
But the aspect of the book which impresses me most is that Burke manages to get the reader not merely to accept but to participate in conversations that Holland holds with his dead friend. It's a gambit that could fail utterly, become silly and sentimental. But Burke pulls it off, and the result is much the same as when he used this quite effectively in Into the Electric Mist with the Confederate Dead, to me the best of the Robichaux books. This is a fine book, the best in this genre I've read in a very long time.

If there is a better storyteller out there alive today other than JAMES LEE BURKE then he or she hasn't yet surfaced with enough buoyant validation to lay claim to the title.
BURKE shows us the dark side of life with everyday smiling monsters and offers up redemption and salvation through the efforts of struggling self-scarred saints. His evil characters are so gut-twisting frightening that you don't just lock your doors at night before you go to bed- you nail them shut! More than that BURKE is the poet as writer offering up short, brief descriptions that leave you reeling with thought long after the page has been turned. Amazingly he does it with good ol' boy characters whose perception and depth exceed any of our own surface level skimming into the faux intellectualism wading pools we sometimes wallow in.
I liked HEARTWOOD but then I like all of his books( including the westerns and the short story collections) which is why I give him a five star review. There is writing for entertainment and then there is writing as an art. BURKE somehow manages to accomplish both. Good for him but better for us.
So what's next, Jimmy L.?

James Lee Burke is probably my favorite author. He has taken me to some pretty interesting places and introduced me to some fantastic people, not all nice either. In Heartwood he does much of what he usually does, yet I found that I could put the book down and be in no hurry to pick it up again. This just does not happen with this author. I think I just did not get as involved with the characters in Heartwood as I usually do in a Burke novel. Yet having said all of that, I still liked the book. What it is missing still leaves it far and above most authors whose fans would gladly give five stars to anything they wrote. I'll read Bitteroot with the hopes that we are back in business, and then, of course, there is a new Dave Robicheaux novel on the way!

Billy Bob Holland, ex-Texas Ranger and now a successful lawyer agrees to defend Wibur Pickett who's accused of stealing $300,000 in bearer bonds from rich Earl Deitrich. Deitrich comes from big money and thinks nothing of riding roughshod over anyone who gets in the way of what he wants. However, that doesn't work with Billy Bob Holland who stands up to Deitrich and his equally corrupt son. Matters escalate and soon Wilbur Pickett's wife is accused of murder for defending herself against a rapist/killer sent by Earl Dietrich. Why, Billy Bob wonders, is Dietrich going to so much trouble to railroad a poor man into jail? What does Pickett have that Earl Deitrich could possibly want.
There are few writers today who can touch James Lee Burke for his use of prose, his characterization and his ear for dialog. I've been a Burke fan since reading Black Cherry Blues years ago and he never disappoints. Though he writes in the mystery genre (check out his Dave Robicheaux series of novels) the writing is literate while being entertaining. His novels are a nice change from all of the ex-cops who are now writing mysteries that, while technically correct, have no heart or soul. I would recommend this, and any James Lee Burke novel, highly.

"Heartwood" takes its title from a tree which grows outward, and as it grows, the core becomes stronger. Ultimately the core cannot be severed by usual means: it is like a steel rod which holds the to center. Heartwood is also the name of Billy Bob's home, the land farmed by his father and the ranch which houses all that important to Billy Bob Holland.
As the novel grows outward, Billy Bob and his values are indeed at the center of it all. The land, its history and its mystery, and the others who love it are what Billy Bob must defend against those who would destroy whatever stands in the way of the fulfillment of greed and sensual desire.
The action of this novel swirls around Billy Bob: there are murders, rapes, and human evil too obscene to be contemplated by most of us. With a few deft words, James Lee Burke can bring to life the violent, stupid, and twisted actions of greedy men--and Burke creates characters of simplicity and goodness as well. These are the folks who populate the town of Deaf Smith, Texas...or anywhere else, when we look closely.
It's not a pretty sight, this look at life--but it's a real one, with compelling lessons for us all. James Lee Burke expands the mystery novel genre to a new and challenging limit and creates and experience as strong and sound as the core of the heartwood tree.

Absolutely no redeeming qualities. It's slow. It lacked virtually any action. Had ZERO humor. The main character, Billy Bob, is a FLAKE in the extreme. None of the characters come to life. The only person I came to care about was Temple Carrol but Burke gave her minor standing .
As per Burkes usual the story centers around an Ultra wealthy all powerful evil man and his family. Who's wife, again as per usual, is coveted by JLB main char., having slipped it to her 20yrs or so ago.
And unfortunately, again as per usual , the main characters lusting_after his past sweetiepie_ dominates the whole book
It's a REDUNDANT theme of Burkes that is extremely JUVENILE (I personally don't know of any man or woman who would act the fool like that). I mean, GET REAL Mr. Burke! I came to despise the Dave Robicheaux character because of it and now this Billy Bob as well. Oh well, I give up on Burke. I'm tired. It's time to hang it up.
There were no winners either. Nothing to lift the HEART. Just dry rot.

Heartwood James Lee Burke Doubleday 1999 ISBN 0385488432 H.C. Mystery
This is the 2nd book centered around Billy Bob Holland. The 1st was Cimarron Rose in 1997.
When Holland takes on the defense of Wilbur Pickett, who has had allot of bad luck in his past, now finds himself accused of stealing bearer bonds from the rich Dietrichs family. Holland is going up against Dietrichs whom he does not care for because Dietrich has made a fortune running over people and tainting anyone who stands in his way. Plus Holland can not forget the passion he fills for Dietrichs wife Peggy Jean. James Burke makes you see the town and characters in your mind so clearly as he describes them. The only issue I had with this book is James Burke talks of rain on 25 pages of this book, but I find that hard to believe because this book takes place in Texas Hill country, and Texans know that it hardly ever rains in the Texas Hill country. Other than that this book is a winner. Burke is a master at setting mood, laying in atmosphere, fall with quirky raunchy language that befits Texas. I am looking forward to the next installment of Billy Bob Holland.
A brilliant novel of crime from the two-time Edgar Award winner, Gold Dagger award winner and New York Times Bestseller author of several books.

Everybody in this book gives off a smell--our Billy Bob computes the subtleties of body odors even as he deals with life-and-death matters. And then we're told not once, but maybe a hundred times, that he drives an Avalon. It's "my Avalon this," "my Avalon that." James Lee Burke apparently thinks the word "car" is too ordinary for his main man. Or is he getting money from Toyota or what? As with the Robicheaux books, this character has a doppelganger--but it's a more effective touch in Robicheaux's Louisiana, where you expect this kind of superheated spiritualist-medium stuff. One thing the book helps make clear, though: if characters like this do live in Texas, no wonder George W. signed that law saying it's okay to carry guns into churches. Shooting characters like these would be a sacrament. This book gives off a distinctive smell, too: of warmed-over leftovers awash in catsup.

The second Billy Bob Holland story is a wonderful read. This is a series to look forward to.
It is a complex plot, fully resolved containing the atmospheric writing that JLB does as well as any writer. You are transported to Deaf Smith and are made to feel a part of the area.
It is peopled with flawed characters, both good and bad. No one is perfect, and you are certain you've known or observed most of them. The players are a rogue's gallery, many of whom are lovable...some forgivable, others unrepentant and unsympathetic. A few have redeeming characteristics beneath a questionable exterior. It's a remarkable cast.
It is always a treat to read JLB. He never fails to entertain and brings great emotion to his words. It's quite delightful that he is giving readers two series to savor. Don't miss "Heartwood."

James Lee Burke writes stories which are mystery, thriller, adventure, philosophy, mysticism and even, sometimes, romantic and humorous. I have never been disappointed by one of his tales, to say nothing of bored. "Heartwood" is no exception. He describes characters, places and actions vividly. He tells the reader why some of the people do what they do, tells us what they are thinking and how they came to think it.
That may make it sound as if he takes some of the mystery out of it, but he most definitely does not.
In a word or two, Great story!

James Lee Burke spins a tale that is both relaxing and intriguing. His characters stay with you for a long while. I was not certain I would enjoy this series as I am very fond of his Dave Robicheaux New Orleans novels. James Lee Burke brings his exceptional skills into any story he weaves, so I intend to complete this series with great reward.

To paraphrase former Texas senator Lloyd Bentsen, I knew Dave Robicheaux (I've read all the books and much of Burke's other work) and Billy Bob, you're no Dave Robicheaux. Or maybe you are--and that's part of the problem. In Dave's books, all the lawyers are corrupt scum; in Billy Bob's, it's all the cops. Otherwise, when I read Billy's Bob's first person accounts, I might as well be reading Dave's thoughts and words. Good and bad; bad and good. Burke is a writer of LITERATURE, not just a mystery writer (of course, he was a writer of literature whose books didn't sell, which is why he turned to mysteries). However, he has single-handedly re-invented the crime genre in the '90s. I find a kind of comfort and salvation in the early Dave Robicheaux books (Black Cherry Blues, A Morning For Flamingos--still my favorites) that comes in only the best literature. Thank you, James Lee Burke, for writing this series. But alas, it seems to me that you've become a victim of your own winning formula, and are trying to top yourself each time out with more complicated plots, the way each James Bond movie tried to be better than the one before. Don't play this game, podna; it may make you big bucks but I know you can do better than this. Give us one plot, not five; one memorable bad guy, not three or four unmemorable ones. There's some gorgeous writing in the new book that your late cousin, Andre Dubus, would admire. But stick with what makes literature ignite--character, not plot. Until we get a Billy Bob Holland novel that's character as opposed to plot-driven, this series will never have the same drama, suspense, or emotional resonance of the earlier work.

James Lee Burke just gets better with each successive novel, whether in the Dave Robicheaux series or this new series, begun in "Cimarron Rose" and continued in "Heartwood." Here, as in his prevoius books, he creates fully-developed characters that leap off the pages and a compelling plot line, and combines this with his hypnotic decriptive power to create a novel that transcends the mystery genre to take its place as a full-blown work of literature. Read "Cimarron Rose" first, and then read "Heartwood." You will be very glad you did. (I also highly recommend "The Lost Get-Back Boogie," one of his first novels and, to my mind, one of his best.)

I have never written a negative review about a book purchased in the store but I am now going to make an exception. The "Billy Bob" series is unbearably overwritten, cliched, and filled with gratitious violence, endless racist references, and chapters that seem always to end with a pompous striving for fine writing. I know Burke can write but these stories are just ridiculous. The female characters are impossibly remote, almost as if they were trapped in a Western novel, the characters speak to each other with mock formality ('sir' is used even when someone is being threatened with emasculation), and about every third chapter one finds a "food" interval: tubs of chicken are devoured, buffalo steaks with blueberry ice cream are washed down with iced tea on the front porch, and for lunch tacos with an iced mug of Lone Star are slopped up at the Mexican cafe on the square. These people must weigh 400 lbs.
It's almost as if Burke said to himself: this is the way to make me 'sum' real money: testosterone threat chapters, followed by by inconclusive encounters with the athletic female private investigator and former corrections officer or with a former high school conquest now married to a rich and corrupt oil man, and then the food feasts followed by riding around the Texas Hill Country on a horse, all three mixed in with random encounters with escaped convicts, cretins borne with severe birth defects, and failed evangelists, all of whom seem to be 'river baptized.'Oh, I forgot the bottomless corruption by knuckle-dragging law enforcement officers. Sprinkled throughout, just for effect,are interludes where Billy Bob, a convert to Catholicism and former Texas Ranger who executed drug mules in Mexico and boasts of it, every now and then drops into church with his youthful sidekick. As most drug mules in real life are poor women with heroin stuffed up their privates, Billy Bob must have been steely hard as a Ranger. Now he is a lawyer who is a graduate from a night law school, perhaps St. Mary's in 'San Antone.' Oh by the way: Who says San Antone but in novels like this or in bad songs?
I grew up in San Antonio and spent a lot of time in the Hill Country and I live in the southwest today; I am sure something like these people can be scrounged up here and there and indeed anywhere, but putting "nigger" or "porch monkeys" in the mouths of the bad guys so many times or clubbings with ballpeen hammers down in the basement seems calculated to draw readers in who secretly enjoy the guilty pleasure of reading this kind of stuff. This kind of fiction is to remind us that the South won the Civil War, especially the redneck, racist, and endlessly ignorant American South. And boy hidy, does it sell!
In Heartwood, you could actually take out a good deal of this ridiculous filler: tone down the racists references because the reader gets the point, take out the food chapters, let Billy Bob actually have a regular and steady sex life like most of the adult world, cut the 'Texas Chainsaw' style violence down to a minimum, quit trying to put Southernisms into everyone's mouth every third sentence, and edit out the dud literary flights, and the upshot would be a fairly decent and interesting plot and story about a failed rodeo rider and his lawyer. But then who would buy it, I suppose Burke would say. But I would ask Burke: is making scads of money so important that you write down to people like this? You are a far, far better writer than this. How about writing a serious novel about Texas today, capturing what is happening to San Antonio and Fredericksburg and the like, given the California (or Hollywood) invasion? Even then you can throw in some clubbings, and some scenes where people are burned to death by tires filled with gasoline dropped on their heads, while their relatives watch.

In your youthful travels did you ever accidentally walk into a biker bar and everything went silent? You asked yourself, "Do I keep on walking in, or do I turn and slowly walk out and risk that the silence will turn into a peppering of insults and taunts?"

Heartwood will have you traveling in Texas with some very mean and cowardly people in a position of power and whose love of money is second nature. These socially prominent country clubbers are not afraid of doing the wet work. They are not the polished smoothies that cheat but draw the line; these folks bully and then distance themselves from the violence they create. They are sociopaths motivated by avarice and greed, empowered by inherited wealth, entitlement, and enough political corruption to influence some members of the police department, and control much of the small town they live in.

Burke will have you revisiting that helpless feeling you experienced in the biker bar.

Much like his characters in the Dave Robicheaux novels, the people in Heartwood are described and developed to perfection though they are far from perfect. Flawed hero's, crooked cops, oppressed poor folks, pretty women, and privileged rich men fill the pages. Complicated storyline and exquisite descriptions abound. Vintage James Lee Burke.

With a clarity of style and engaging perceptiveness reminiscent of The Triumph and the Glory and Louis L'Amour's best works, Heartwood hits the ground running and never stops. I'm a huge James Lee Burke fan and expect the best from him and wasn't disappointed, I found Heartwood very entertaining and recommend it highly. The last part takes some effort to keep straight but read it slowly and it all makes sense.
GC

No one can describe the slant of light reflecting on the water or the metalic clouds in the distant sky like Burke. Whether the setting is Texas or Louisianna, he is clearly in touch with the land and the people. The dialogue is crisp and true. Yes, the themes and people in this story seem a bit familiar, but the action and the characters are well drawn and mostly credible. I have enjoyed most of the Robicheaux series and also liked Cimarron Rose. (My wife thinks Burke is too violent for her tastes.) I guess I just enjoy reading Burke's writing, and, as usual, he gives us a good story. I must acknowledge that the mystical devices (e.g., conversations with ghosts) tend to break the flow for me. It's annoying to be reminded that you are reading a book. If you are a Burke fan you will not be disappointed.

JLBurke has this ugly habit of making his main characters, Dave Robicheaux and now Billy Bob Holland, sexual saps (googoogahgah) for women they have bedded in the past. I find this tiresome. Billy Bob & Dave never seem to grow up. They remain sexually shallow pion brains. And being as half the story revolves around this drivel half the story is a waste.
The story itself is the same old same old, the rich abusing/getting over on the non-rich. All the cops are on the "pad", etc. Nothing new.

I really liked Burke's writing when he first became popular. But in his later books he has spun down an ever decreasing corkscrew of vacuous "spirituality" and prissiness, combined with exceedingly vicious and sadistic scenes of violence. It's hard to write a book with no appealing characters; Burke has come close to succeeding with Heartwood. Even the protagonist is someone you would take pains to stay away from. The plot depends on the "visions" of a blind character, as if the author can't figure out how to move things along without the proverbial "and then a miracle happened."
I really wish James Lee Burke would come back again, and start writing.

This effort by Mr. Burke presents the same character types as most of the previous Robicheaux/Holland novels...Bad rich guys with vulnerable trophy wives... affecting, precocious child, abused losers and corrupt lawmen all revolving around the main character with a good heart, haunted past and occasional uncontrolled rage. The writing itself is great but I wish Burke would tighten up the story so it doesn't seem like your watching an endless slide show of someone's vacation.

Great read! Burke has once again written another heartrending story that depicts many of the ills of our society. This book wonderfully illustrates the pain caused by class barriers and bigotry while showing the complexity of human relationships. As in his other books, Burke paints a vivid picture with his pen in his descriptions. He makes you see the sights, smell the smells, and feel the pain and throws in a touch of the supernatural for added flavor. He has once again proven what a great storyteller he is.

Burke delivers his usual tragic, social comment on past and present-day moral problems and dilemnas. The echoes to previous works are stronger than usual because we are now reading more of his works and unconsciously mentally reinforcing his style from our past recollections. Burke fans will have no problems gobbling up this morsel. Like previous repasts of the mind, a second or third helping does not dull the palate!