I've read a few other books by Burke including some in the Dave Robicheaux series and based on this one, I definitely need to read more! This is the 19th book in the series and I think have have only read two or three others. Anyway, this one was really an action-packed thriller that I would highly recommend.
At the start of this one, Dave and his friend Clete Purcell are recovering from gunshot wounds they received in the last novel, The Glass Rainbow. Cajun singer Tee Jolie Melton appears to Dave in the dead of night and leaves him an iPod whose playlist includes three of her songs nobody else can find on the device. So did Dave really see her or was his mind only imagining the visit? But then Tee Jolie's sister Blue washes up on the shore encased in a block of ice and dead of a heroin overdose with a note in her mouth saying Tee Jolie is alive. Dave and Clete are pulled into the disappearance of the two sisters when Bix Golightly demands $30,000 from Clete for a 20-year-old gambling marker he bought from gangster Frankie Giacano. But its not long before Bix and his hired muscle are all murdered. Clete actually sees Bix's executioner, a contract killer who he identifies as Gretchen Horowitz, his illegitimate daughter who never knew her father. Clete's knowledge of Gretchen's guilt strains her growing friendship with both Clete and Dave's daughter Alafair. But what is really going on and why was Tee Jolie kidnapped? As they investigate, Dave and Clete meet up with the vile Dupree family which includes Pierre who owns an ad agency and his grandfather who is supposedly a concentration camp survivor from WWII. So what are their motivations? It all seems tied to a massive oil well blowout in the gulf which involved millions of dollars. Art fraud, sexual slavery, and Nazis all play a part in this very exciting and well written suspense novel. Now I need to read more in the series because this one definitely hooked me in.
At the start of this one, Dave and his friend Clete Purcell are recovering from gunshot wounds they received in the last novel, The Glass Rainbow. Cajun singer Tee Jolie Melton appears to Dave in the dead of night and leaves him an iPod whose playlist includes three of her songs nobody else can find on the device. So did Dave really see her or was his mind only imagining the visit? But then Tee Jolie's sister Blue washes up on the shore encased in a block of ice and dead of a heroin overdose with a note in her mouth saying Tee Jolie is alive. Dave and Clete are pulled into the disappearance of the two sisters when Bix Golightly demands $30,000 from Clete for a 20-year-old gambling marker he bought from gangster Frankie Giacano. But its not long before Bix and his hired muscle are all murdered. Clete actually sees Bix's executioner, a contract killer who he identifies as Gretchen Horowitz, his illegitimate daughter who never knew her father. Clete's knowledge of Gretchen's guilt strains her growing friendship with both Clete and Dave's daughter Alafair. But what is really going on and why was Tee Jolie kidnapped? As they investigate, Dave and Clete meet up with the vile Dupree family which includes Pierre who owns an ad agency and his grandfather who is supposedly a concentration camp survivor from WWII. So what are their motivations? It all seems tied to a massive oil well blowout in the gulf which involved millions of dollars. Art fraud, sexual slavery, and Nazis all play a part in this very exciting and well written suspense novel. Now I need to read more in the series because this one definitely hooked me in.
