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Dave Robicheaux #17
Swan Peak
James Lee Burke’s beloved Louisiana lawman Dave Robicheaux returns—this time, traveling from New Iberia Parish to the wilds of Montana in this adventure-filled sequel to Black Cherry Blues.
Dave Robicheaux, his wife, and his buddy Clete Purcell have retreated to an old friend’s ranch, hoping to spend their days fishing and enjoying their distance from the harsh, gritty landscape of Louisiana post-Katrina. But the serenity is soon shattered when two college students are found brutally murdered in the hills behind where the Robicheauxs and Purcell are staying. They quickly find themselves involved in a twisted and dangerous mystery involving a wealthy, vicious oil tycoon, his deformed brother and beautiful wife, a sexually deviant minister, an escaped con and former country music star, and a vigilante Texas gunbull out for blood. At the center of the storm is Clete, who cannot shake the feeling that he is being haunted by the ghosts from his past—namely Sally Dio, the mob boss he’d sabotaged and killed years before.
Deftly weaving intricate, engaging plotlines and original, compelling characters with his graceful prose, Burke transcends genre yet again in the latest thrilling addition to his New York Times bestselling series.
402 pages, Hardcover
First published July 8, 2008
577 people are currently reading
2570 people want to read
About the author
James Lee Burke
124 books4,190 followersJames Lee Burke is an American author best known for his mysteries, particularly the Dave Robicheaux series. He has twice received the Edgar Award for Best Novel, for
Black Cherry Blues
in 1990 and
Cimarron Rose
in 1998.
Burke was born in Houston, Texas, but grew up on the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast. He attended the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and the University of Missouri, receiving a BA and MA from the latter. He has worked at a wide variety of jobs over the years, including working in the oil industry, as a reporter, and as a social worker. He was Writer in Residence at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, succeeding his good friend and posthumous Pulitzer Prize winner John Kennedy Toole, and preceding Ernest Gaines in the position. Shortly before his move to Montana, he taught for several years in the Creative Writing program at Wichita State University in the 1980s.
Burke and his wife, Pearl, split their time between Lolo, Montana, and New Iberia, Louisiana. Their daughter, Alafair Burke, is also a mystery novelist.
The book that has influenced his life the most is the 1929 family tragedy "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner.
Burke was born in Houston, Texas, but grew up on the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast. He attended the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and the University of Missouri, receiving a BA and MA from the latter. He has worked at a wide variety of jobs over the years, including working in the oil industry, as a reporter, and as a social worker. He was Writer in Residence at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, succeeding his good friend and posthumous Pulitzer Prize winner John Kennedy Toole, and preceding Ernest Gaines in the position. Shortly before his move to Montana, he taught for several years in the Creative Writing program at Wichita State University in the 1980s.
Burke and his wife, Pearl, split their time between Lolo, Montana, and New Iberia, Louisiana. Their daughter, Alafair Burke, is also a mystery novelist.
The book that has influenced his life the most is the 1929 family tragedy "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner.
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September 22, 2025
"Swan Peak" is James Lee Burke's 17th novel to feature his Louisiana detective Dave Robicheaux. In this one, Robicheaux, his wife, and best friend, Clete Purcel, are on vacation visiting a friend in Montana.
The slow, hot and sticky world of Iberia Parrish has been replaced with the cool, blue sky world of the Montana countryside, but the danger is the same.
A lot of stuff is going on in this novel, which is no different from the typical Burke novel. Burke is good at creating numerous storylines that intertwine and connect in often unexpected but plausible ways.
The suspense starts immediately, when Purcel is accosted, in the middle of the woods, by two thugs, one of whom he recognizes as a former employee of a mob kingpin who allegedly died years before. Almost simultaneously, the murder of two college-age kids at a nearby campground is making the national news. The two seemingly unrelated incidents raise a slew of questions, none of which Robicheaux and Purcel can let go unanswered.
I haven't read a Burke novel I haven't loved, and they seem to just get better and better. Even if you've never read a Robicheaux novel, you could probably still pick up and read "Swan Peak" without getting confused. Just know that when you pick up a Burke novel, you're probably going to want to rush out and read his others.
The slow, hot and sticky world of Iberia Parrish has been replaced with the cool, blue sky world of the Montana countryside, but the danger is the same.
A lot of stuff is going on in this novel, which is no different from the typical Burke novel. Burke is good at creating numerous storylines that intertwine and connect in often unexpected but plausible ways.
The suspense starts immediately, when Purcel is accosted, in the middle of the woods, by two thugs, one of whom he recognizes as a former employee of a mob kingpin who allegedly died years before. Almost simultaneously, the murder of two college-age kids at a nearby campground is making the national news. The two seemingly unrelated incidents raise a slew of questions, none of which Robicheaux and Purcel can let go unanswered.
I haven't read a Burke novel I haven't loved, and they seem to just get better and better. Even if you've never read a Robicheaux novel, you could probably still pick up and read "Swan Peak" without getting confused. Just know that when you pick up a Burke novel, you're probably going to want to rush out and read his others.
January 9, 2020
Swan Peak 's biggest decision is moving Robicheaux and Purcell to Montana on a vacation. Burke had set his non Robicheaux works in states other than Louisiana before (like Kentucky or Texas) but he had struggled to make the locales as memorable as his New Iberia. He however has a house in Montana and it shows. This retains the atmospheric, lived in setting that has been a hallmark of the series.
The plot is also more straightforward this time. A college aged couple are killed near where Robicheaux and Purcell are staying. They are roped into the investigation as more bodies drop and a serial killer is suspected. To complicate matters FBI might be interested in Purcell for the part he played in Robicheaux #3 - The Black Cherry Blues. (I suggest at least reading it before Swan Peak or you will have some major plot points spoiled and it is also one of the best ones in the series.) Furthermore Purcell falls for Jamie Sue Wellstone, the wife of their chief suspect. Her ex JD Greenwood also returns while being chased by his own pursuers.
Burke's characters remain top notch. The Wellstones sit on a confluence of money and power that breeds insidiousness. They make wonderful villains while others are more morally ambiguous. Jamie Sue fluctuates between being an unwitting victim and a gold digger. While a demented sexual sadist discovers he might have been capable of love under other circumstances. Swan Peak uses the omniscient third person narrator more liberally than other entries in the series. So we spend less time with Robicheaux than usual but he remains crime fiction's most introspective protagonist. And Purcell remains the genre's most affable weapon of mass destruction.
The weakest part of the plot is the identity of the killer. The psychopath subplot is always weak in a Burke story as his answer to who the serial killer is remains the same - The character who is completely tangential to everything that is going on. Burke must think it works as a surprise but it always feels as an afterthought. As in a narrative with such richly developed characters, a complete unknown plays such an important part. But Burke is known for his storytelling, not the stories themselves. And he succeeds on that count. I loved how he posits cruelty and self loathing, bigotry and insecurities, arrogance and self righteousness are opposite sides of the same coin. And he doesn't blurt out any of that clumsily or directly. He shows and hints enough for the readers to infer that.
Some other problems mainly deal with the repetitive nature of the series. Purcell keeps falling for unattainable women in such a childish way that it becomes a parody. As if he has forgotten what happened after similar indiscretions in the last 16 entries. People keep calling Purcell 'whale sperm'. I have never heard that phrase outside a Burke book, similar eccentric phrases appear more jarring now that I have read so much of Burke's works. But then again most series run of the best stories before book #7, Robicheaux is still a going strong at #17. Robicheaux remains top notch crime fiction and I will leave with some quotes that shows why familiarity with the author does not matter because no one else in crime fiction is writing such unique prose. Rating - 4/5
About New Orleans - The Big Sleazy was God's gift to those who could not find peace in either the world or rejection of it.
The great joke is that any wisdom most of us acquire can seldom be passed on to others.
The plot is also more straightforward this time. A college aged couple are killed near where Robicheaux and Purcell are staying. They are roped into the investigation as more bodies drop and a serial killer is suspected. To complicate matters FBI might be interested in Purcell for the part he played in Robicheaux #3 - The Black Cherry Blues. (I suggest at least reading it before Swan Peak or you will have some major plot points spoiled and it is also one of the best ones in the series.) Furthermore Purcell falls for Jamie Sue Wellstone, the wife of their chief suspect. Her ex JD Greenwood also returns while being chased by his own pursuers.
Burke's characters remain top notch. The Wellstones sit on a confluence of money and power that breeds insidiousness. They make wonderful villains while others are more morally ambiguous. Jamie Sue fluctuates between being an unwitting victim and a gold digger. While a demented sexual sadist discovers he might have been capable of love under other circumstances. Swan Peak uses the omniscient third person narrator more liberally than other entries in the series. So we spend less time with Robicheaux than usual but he remains crime fiction's most introspective protagonist. And Purcell remains the genre's most affable weapon of mass destruction.
The weakest part of the plot is the identity of the killer. The psychopath subplot is always weak in a Burke story as his answer to who the serial killer is remains the same - The character who is completely tangential to everything that is going on. Burke must think it works as a surprise but it always feels as an afterthought. As in a narrative with such richly developed characters, a complete unknown plays such an important part. But Burke is known for his storytelling, not the stories themselves. And he succeeds on that count. I loved how he posits cruelty and self loathing, bigotry and insecurities, arrogance and self righteousness are opposite sides of the same coin. And he doesn't blurt out any of that clumsily or directly. He shows and hints enough for the readers to infer that.
Some other problems mainly deal with the repetitive nature of the series. Purcell keeps falling for unattainable women in such a childish way that it becomes a parody. As if he has forgotten what happened after similar indiscretions in the last 16 entries. People keep calling Purcell 'whale sperm'. I have never heard that phrase outside a Burke book, similar eccentric phrases appear more jarring now that I have read so much of Burke's works. But then again most series run of the best stories before book #7, Robicheaux is still a going strong at #17. Robicheaux remains top notch crime fiction and I will leave with some quotes that shows why familiarity with the author does not matter because no one else in crime fiction is writing such unique prose. Rating - 4/5
About New Orleans - The Big Sleazy was God's gift to those who could not find peace in either the world or rejection of it.
The great joke is that any wisdom most of us acquire can seldom be passed on to others.
October 16, 2016
Dave Robicheaux, his wife Molly, and his best friend Clete Purcell are vacationing in Montana following the devastation of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. This novel lacks the passion and rage that was characteristic of The Tin Roof Blowdown. Burke's writing is lyrical, the characters are rich and compelling, the scenes lush and descriptive. I still found this to be an enjoyable read but not one of the best in the series.
Clete finds himself haunted by the ghosts from his past ... specifically Sally Dio, the mob boss he'd sabotaged and killed years before. He and Dave also find themselves drawn into the murder of two college students who were found in the hills behind the ranch where Dave, Molly, and Clete are staying. When Dave and Clete start looking into the murders they meet a rich and vicious oilman, his deformed brother and beautiful wife, a sexually deviant minister, an escaped convict, and a vigilante Texas prison guard out for blood. Soon there is another murder. This time of a couple at a rest stop but the similarities to the murders of the college students seems to indicate they are related.
As in other books in the series the main theme is good vs evil. There are monsters ... some real and some internal. Dave also continues to have struggles with thoughts of drinking showing that his recovery is a daily reprieve. His contempt for the rich and powerful is still present. So is his compassion and caring for the less fortunate and the victims. And his loyalty to friends. Clete is always there but is one of those friends who are exasperating. One minute you are worried about him and the next you are amazed. But Dave and Clete are friends and are always there for each other.
This story is a bit of a stretch but this is fiction and is an enjoyable read. Indeed I have found all of the books in the series to be good. James Lee Burke has become one of my favorite authors. When you read one of his books you find yourself drawn into the story. You can visualize the place where the story is taking place. You get to know the characters ... for better or worse. You are there with Dave and Clete and rooting that good will triumph over evil and that the monsters don't win.
Clete finds himself haunted by the ghosts from his past ... specifically Sally Dio, the mob boss he'd sabotaged and killed years before. He and Dave also find themselves drawn into the murder of two college students who were found in the hills behind the ranch where Dave, Molly, and Clete are staying. When Dave and Clete start looking into the murders they meet a rich and vicious oilman, his deformed brother and beautiful wife, a sexually deviant minister, an escaped convict, and a vigilante Texas prison guard out for blood. Soon there is another murder. This time of a couple at a rest stop but the similarities to the murders of the college students seems to indicate they are related.
As in other books in the series the main theme is good vs evil. There are monsters ... some real and some internal. Dave also continues to have struggles with thoughts of drinking showing that his recovery is a daily reprieve. His contempt for the rich and powerful is still present. So is his compassion and caring for the less fortunate and the victims. And his loyalty to friends. Clete is always there but is one of those friends who are exasperating. One minute you are worried about him and the next you are amazed. But Dave and Clete are friends and are always there for each other.
This story is a bit of a stretch but this is fiction and is an enjoyable read. Indeed I have found all of the books in the series to be good. James Lee Burke has become one of my favorite authors. When you read one of his books you find yourself drawn into the story. You can visualize the place where the story is taking place. You get to know the characters ... for better or worse. You are there with Dave and Clete and rooting that good will triumph over evil and that the monsters don't win.
September 13, 2017
Another really good James Lee Burke book. He has lots of descriptions and lots of characters but the stories are always very detailed and very good. This character, Dave Robicheaux, is my favorite of the characters he writes about. This author is always good for a great mystery. I kind of figured out the "who done it" but of course, there was a twist.
December 27, 2023
Meh, but there were some good things.
Swan Peak is set in Missoula, MT - a nice, refreshing change of location from the sweltering bayou. Dave, Molly and Clete take up a friend's offer to spend a few weeks away from a post-Katrina NOLA and do a little fly fishing. The Bobbsey Twins from Homicide can't stay out of trouble to save their lives, and they become involved with a serial killer investigation, a creepy pair of evangelist brothers, and star-crossed lovers destined to be kept apart.
A lot of this book was focused on Clete, which was great. He gets used by the wrong woman, but then he - maybe - meets the right woman. Considering Clete is a walking, talking disaster and she seems to have her shit together, we'll see if it lasts.
I wish I could've rated this higher, but I started to fade after the first 2/3. The plot dawdled, which I usually like because Burke's writing is amazing, but this time he lost me. I guess you can't win 'em all.
Onward to #18, The Glass Rainbow.
How do you explain to yourself the casual manner in which you threw your life away?
Swan Peak is set in Missoula, MT - a nice, refreshing change of location from the sweltering bayou. Dave, Molly and Clete take up a friend's offer to spend a few weeks away from a post-Katrina NOLA and do a little fly fishing. The Bobbsey Twins from Homicide can't stay out of trouble to save their lives, and they become involved with a serial killer investigation, a creepy pair of evangelist brothers, and star-crossed lovers destined to be kept apart.
I wasn't interested in trying to explain how the measure of one's life finally reduces itself to the possession of the moment, then the moment after that, moving through each of them in sequence from day to day, letting go of yesterday and asking nothing from the future except to be there for it.
A lot of this book was focused on Clete, which was great. He gets used by the wrong woman, but then he - maybe - meets the right woman. Considering Clete is a walking, talking disaster and she seems to have her shit together, we'll see if it lasts.
The great joke is that any wisdom most of us acquire can seldom be passed on to others. I suspect this reality is at the heart of most old people’s anger.
I wish I could've rated this higher, but I started to fade after the first 2/3. The plot dawdled, which I usually like because Burke's writing is amazing, but this time he lost me. I guess you can't win 'em all.
You just heard the story. That’s the story. That’s what history is, right? History is the story that survives.
Onward to #18, The Glass Rainbow.
October 17, 2022
I enjoyed this one more than most (in the series), even if, early on, my sense was that the enterprise might be overwhelmed by the number of characters and intersecting plot lines. But it all held together relatively well, the momentum picked up, I didn't see many of the twists and turns coming (although a couple I did intuit), and the grand finale was sufficiently gratifying to make the whole worthwhile.
True to form, the prose was languid, the descriptions were evocative, the mayhem and madness never ceased, and the violence and brutality were deeply disturbing. And yet...
At this point, I've probably read two dozen JLB novels (it's probably time to get an accurate count again), and I don't expect to stop anytime soon. I consistently restock with a couple in my to-read pile (although I almost never read them consecutively, I do tend to buy a few at at time and keep one or more in the pile for when I'm looking for a safe/reliable choice). This one was perfect for (exclusively) long-haul-airline-and-hotel consumption.
With only a couple of exceptions, I've read JLB's serials (and, in particular, Robicheaux) in order, and that makes sense to me. If I continue to ration, I expect I'm still a few (or at least a couple) of years away from catching up to the author on Robicheaux, and then I need to work through the Holland family saga... So many books, so little time...
True to form, the prose was languid, the descriptions were evocative, the mayhem and madness never ceased, and the violence and brutality were deeply disturbing. And yet...
At this point, I've probably read two dozen JLB novels (it's probably time to get an accurate count again), and I don't expect to stop anytime soon. I consistently restock with a couple in my to-read pile (although I almost never read them consecutively, I do tend to buy a few at at time and keep one or more in the pile for when I'm looking for a safe/reliable choice). This one was perfect for (exclusively) long-haul-airline-and-hotel consumption.
With only a couple of exceptions, I've read JLB's serials (and, in particular, Robicheaux) in order, and that makes sense to me. If I continue to ration, I expect I'm still a few (or at least a couple) of years away from catching up to the author on Robicheaux, and then I need to work through the Holland family saga... So many books, so little time...
November 24, 2008
The latest Dave Robicheaux mystery. If you enjoy novels about middle-aged, reformed alcoholic, Catholic guilt-plagued, Cajun detectives who live with more ghosts than you can count and who periodically relive their Viet Nam nightmares - and whose PI (i.e. private investigator AND politically incorrect) best friend is even more troubled - and trouble - then this is for you.
October 1, 2013
Living inside a maelstrom haunted by ghosts. James Lee Burke is one of my favorite writers. His prose is eloquent, quotable, and graphic. He views the world from the perspective of the marginalized and maimed and forgotten, some of whom struggle to escape an ugly karma and live lives that are happy and relatively tranquil. Some of them make it, some of them don't, and some of them are left with questions that are never really answered.
In this book, and in many others he has written, the protagonists are two friends, New Iberia, Louisiana cop Dave Robicheaux and his best friend and compatriot Clete (Cletus) Purcel, ex-New Orleans cop, private investigator, decorated Vietnam veteran and alcoholic. I like both of these men ... and they are not easy men to like because of the ghosts that haunt them both, ghosts of their upbringing and Vietnam and alcohol.
Over the past several novels, Dave has been working on getting his act together -- he has quit drinking, joined AA, and married Molly, a wonderful ex-nun who loves him and refuses to get enmeshed in his torments. Clete is like watching a runaway eighteen wheeler careening down a mountain highway with bad brakes and a lunatic at the wheel. You know there's an awful crash waiting somewhere, but you don't know just where. The guy has an amazing ability to right himself, but you know he's ultimately going off a cliff if he doesn't stop drinking.
Most of the Dave Robicheaux novels take place in Louisiana. This one takes place in Montana, where Dave and Molly have gone on a fishing vacation, taking Clete along to give him a break,.
"Clete Purcel had heard of people who sleep without dreaming, but either because of the era and neighborhood in which he had grown up, or the later experiences that had come to define his life, he could not think of sleep as anything other than an uncontrolled descent into a basement where the gargoyles turned somersaults like circus midgets .. His dreams clung to his skin like cobweb and followed him into the day... But on this particular morning Clete was determined to leave his past in the past and live in the sunlight from dawn until nightfall and then sleep the sleep of the dead."
But for Clete, there are no breaks, and trouble finds him on the banks of a pristine river, fishing when two men in a bright red diesel extended cab truck pull up and spoil the idyllic scene. It isn't surprising. From there events descend into the dark regions of the soul where hobgoblins dwell and hurting people struggle to live fulfilling lives and try to stay out of the way of greedy, wealthy elites who use evil as a tool to possess more. "When people talk about class war," Dave muses, "they're dead wrong. The war was never between the classes. It was between the have-nots and the have-nots. The people on the hill watched it from afar when they watched it at all." Which, I'd say, is pretty close to the truth.
I found Swan Peak a hypnotic read. It's plot is many-layered, its mood dark and heavy, with glimmers of hope for some of the hopeless characters that one least expects will make it out of the maelstrom that, Burke muses, in which we all live, "an era that is so intense and fierce in its inception and denouement that it can only be seen correctly inside the mind of a deity."
Yet, in spite of all this, the story ends on a not of hope. Looking at fingerling salmon in a cold stream, Dave knows that when spring comes, the adult salmon will work their way into the main stream and on down to the sea. "All of these things will happen of their own accord, without my doing anything about them, and for some strange reason, I take great comfort in that fact."
A fine novel, if not, like life, always a pleasant one.
In this book, and in many others he has written, the protagonists are two friends, New Iberia, Louisiana cop Dave Robicheaux and his best friend and compatriot Clete (Cletus) Purcel, ex-New Orleans cop, private investigator, decorated Vietnam veteran and alcoholic. I like both of these men ... and they are not easy men to like because of the ghosts that haunt them both, ghosts of their upbringing and Vietnam and alcohol.
Over the past several novels, Dave has been working on getting his act together -- he has quit drinking, joined AA, and married Molly, a wonderful ex-nun who loves him and refuses to get enmeshed in his torments. Clete is like watching a runaway eighteen wheeler careening down a mountain highway with bad brakes and a lunatic at the wheel. You know there's an awful crash waiting somewhere, but you don't know just where. The guy has an amazing ability to right himself, but you know he's ultimately going off a cliff if he doesn't stop drinking.
Most of the Dave Robicheaux novels take place in Louisiana. This one takes place in Montana, where Dave and Molly have gone on a fishing vacation, taking Clete along to give him a break,.
"Clete Purcel had heard of people who sleep without dreaming, but either because of the era and neighborhood in which he had grown up, or the later experiences that had come to define his life, he could not think of sleep as anything other than an uncontrolled descent into a basement where the gargoyles turned somersaults like circus midgets .. His dreams clung to his skin like cobweb and followed him into the day... But on this particular morning Clete was determined to leave his past in the past and live in the sunlight from dawn until nightfall and then sleep the sleep of the dead."
But for Clete, there are no breaks, and trouble finds him on the banks of a pristine river, fishing when two men in a bright red diesel extended cab truck pull up and spoil the idyllic scene. It isn't surprising. From there events descend into the dark regions of the soul where hobgoblins dwell and hurting people struggle to live fulfilling lives and try to stay out of the way of greedy, wealthy elites who use evil as a tool to possess more. "When people talk about class war," Dave muses, "they're dead wrong. The war was never between the classes. It was between the have-nots and the have-nots. The people on the hill watched it from afar when they watched it at all." Which, I'd say, is pretty close to the truth.
I found Swan Peak a hypnotic read. It's plot is many-layered, its mood dark and heavy, with glimmers of hope for some of the hopeless characters that one least expects will make it out of the maelstrom that, Burke muses, in which we all live, "an era that is so intense and fierce in its inception and denouement that it can only be seen correctly inside the mind of a deity."
Yet, in spite of all this, the story ends on a not of hope. Looking at fingerling salmon in a cold stream, Dave knows that when spring comes, the adult salmon will work their way into the main stream and on down to the sea. "All of these things will happen of their own accord, without my doing anything about them, and for some strange reason, I take great comfort in that fact."
A fine novel, if not, like life, always a pleasant one.
March 19, 2015
I wonder how, behind the mind's eye, James Lee Burke envisions the beautiful, suspenseful and horrific murders and killers without falling into madness. His writing brings the reader to right into the scene in all sensory ways. In fact so much so I have to stop at times to take it all in before continuing to the next big scene. I am a fan of the Dave Robinsheaux police detective mysteries.
Usually the crimes and solving takes place in Louisiana but "Swan Peak" is in Montana (I've been in both state and the scenery is as Burke describes). Now, the characters Burke writes about are most creepy, and colorful. But in Montana there is a special breed of crazy characters. I wonder if it's the fresh air? The mountains? Well, no matter some of the characters get your hair ends standing up. I'd rather not meet them in my life time, thank you very much.
Dave Robicheaux and his wife, Molly are accompanied by his long-time best friend, Clete Purcell, a rogue in most ways, but one with ethics when it comes to the bad guy. Trouble follows them their quiet times of fishing and resting is interrupted with a brutal murder double homocide of a young college couple. What ensues is mayhem, and twisted family drama - same as down south. In this story it's the Wellstone brothers - two physically and emotionally crippled men - richer than the country they live around Swan Peak. One of the brothers is married to a young, hot woman with a checkered past. She is the focus of a two other men - one being a prison guard on leave after a near death attack by an inmate who he follows to Montana. Other characters - and boy oh boy! Can Burke create characters! - the Wellstone's creepy thugs and a religious charlatan who has a passion for young people, not in a godly passionate way either.
I do find Clete annoying with his get in trouble antics, Dave always trying to save his alcoholic,near crazy friend, and Dave's own demons - won't he ever find peace? Well, I guess not; for after all the great juicy stories couldn't be told so enticingly could they?
I'm ready for more.
Please check out my novels: City of Redemption
Usually the crimes and solving takes place in Louisiana but "Swan Peak" is in Montana (I've been in both state and the scenery is as Burke describes). Now, the characters Burke writes about are most creepy, and colorful. But in Montana there is a special breed of crazy characters. I wonder if it's the fresh air? The mountains? Well, no matter some of the characters get your hair ends standing up. I'd rather not meet them in my life time, thank you very much.
Dave Robicheaux and his wife, Molly are accompanied by his long-time best friend, Clete Purcell, a rogue in most ways, but one with ethics when it comes to the bad guy. Trouble follows them their quiet times of fishing and resting is interrupted with a brutal murder double homocide of a young college couple. What ensues is mayhem, and twisted family drama - same as down south. In this story it's the Wellstone brothers - two physically and emotionally crippled men - richer than the country they live around Swan Peak. One of the brothers is married to a young, hot woman with a checkered past. She is the focus of a two other men - one being a prison guard on leave after a near death attack by an inmate who he follows to Montana. Other characters - and boy oh boy! Can Burke create characters! - the Wellstone's creepy thugs and a religious charlatan who has a passion for young people, not in a godly passionate way either.
I do find Clete annoying with his get in trouble antics, Dave always trying to save his alcoholic,near crazy friend, and Dave's own demons - won't he ever find peace? Well, I guess not; for after all the great juicy stories couldn't be told so enticingly could they?
I'm ready for more.
Please check out my novels: City of Redemption
February 13, 2026
A prison guard who had been abused as a child ends up in a position where he takes out his own abuse on inmates. One inmate fights back and escapes, leaving the prison guard half-dead, horribly scarred, vengeful and now heading to Montana on the trail of this drifting con who wouldn't take his abuse.
Meanwhile, our series protagonist Detective Dave Robicheaux, his wife, and friend Clete are in the same area on a fishing trip when some dead bodies turn up on the mountain ranch they are visiting and find themselves caught up in the investigation and also tie into some local big shot suspects in other ways.
And yet another series-standard hypocritical evangelical preacher factors in again; maybe Burke can be more creative at some point with his choice of villains, but I digress.
Then two more brutally murdered bodies turn up so it is obviously the work of a serial killer in the area.
The Robicheaux series has always had a bit of horror-thriller to its crimes overtop underlying themes of humanity, justice, despair, evil, hope, and forgiveness. In "Swan Peak" (2008) the sadistic monster committing these tortuous crimes is horrifying to the point of gratuity and the backstories for childhood/teen abuse are similarly difficult to read. Tread lightly.
New Orleans PI Cletus Purcell is the story's best weapon here, the self-destructive heroic monster of justice who can't see past his own failings except when a dirtbag with power is harming the helpless. Robicheaux actually might have less screen time than Clete in this episode.
Verdict: "Swan Peak" ends up a gruesome and violent illustration of personal needs of forgiveness and vengeance at the same time; a post-modern empathic look at some kind of comparative morality and doesn't really work. The last two Robicheaux novels before this one shared similar moral disconnects. The mystery itself isn't too hard to noodle out, the bad guys are obvious and stereotypical except for the prison guard.
Jeff's Rating: 2 / 5 (Okay)
movie rating if made into a movie: R
Meanwhile, our series protagonist Detective Dave Robicheaux, his wife, and friend Clete are in the same area on a fishing trip when some dead bodies turn up on the mountain ranch they are visiting and find themselves caught up in the investigation and also tie into some local big shot suspects in other ways.
And yet another series-standard hypocritical evangelical preacher factors in again; maybe Burke can be more creative at some point with his choice of villains, but I digress.
Then two more brutally murdered bodies turn up so it is obviously the work of a serial killer in the area.
The Robicheaux series has always had a bit of horror-thriller to its crimes overtop underlying themes of humanity, justice, despair, evil, hope, and forgiveness. In "Swan Peak" (2008) the sadistic monster committing these tortuous crimes is horrifying to the point of gratuity and the backstories for childhood/teen abuse are similarly difficult to read. Tread lightly.
New Orleans PI Cletus Purcell is the story's best weapon here, the self-destructive heroic monster of justice who can't see past his own failings except when a dirtbag with power is harming the helpless. Robicheaux actually might have less screen time than Clete in this episode.
Verdict: "Swan Peak" ends up a gruesome and violent illustration of personal needs of forgiveness and vengeance at the same time; a post-modern empathic look at some kind of comparative morality and doesn't really work. The last two Robicheaux novels before this one shared similar moral disconnects. The mystery itself isn't too hard to noodle out, the bad guys are obvious and stereotypical except for the prison guard.
Jeff's Rating: 2 / 5 (Okay)
movie rating if made into a movie: R
October 20, 2019
Swan Peak was a little different than the typical Dave Robicheaux mystery. For starters, the story takes place in Montana instead of New Iberia. Since Hurricane Katrina has destroyed so much of the New Orleans area, Dave and Molly, along with Clete have been invited by a friend to stay at his ranch in Montana. Swan Peak is pretty much a “Dave & Clete” book. Molly has a minimal presence and Alafair and other characters aren’t mentioned at all.
Although Dave & Clete had planned on a relaxing vacation fishing and taking it easy, they quickly get drawn into an investigation about 2 college students that were murdered close to the ranch they are visiting. That’s followed by 2 more extremely violent murders of tourists at a rest stop and the local sheriff calls upon Dave to assist in the investigation.
The best part of Swan Peak is the characters. They are complex – none are completely evil or innocent. Most have had difficult childhoods and made some terrible decisions. Some are trying to go straight and others are out for retribution. And that includes Dave and Clete.
I try to read a couple of James Lee Burke’s books each year. In between I forget how terrific they are and it is no surprise to learn that he has won 2 Edgar awards.
Although Dave & Clete had planned on a relaxing vacation fishing and taking it easy, they quickly get drawn into an investigation about 2 college students that were murdered close to the ranch they are visiting. That’s followed by 2 more extremely violent murders of tourists at a rest stop and the local sheriff calls upon Dave to assist in the investigation.
The best part of Swan Peak is the characters. They are complex – none are completely evil or innocent. Most have had difficult childhoods and made some terrible decisions. Some are trying to go straight and others are out for retribution. And that includes Dave and Clete.
I try to read a couple of James Lee Burke’s books each year. In between I forget how terrific they are and it is no surprise to learn that he has won 2 Edgar awards.
December 3, 2008
I have been a JLB fan since Black Cherry Blues in the 80s. I haven't been keeping up in the last few years, but picked this up. It was like running into an old friend after quite a few years. Burke has aged like fine wine, and this love poem to the west is a perfect example of why people can't get enough of Burke's writing. Style: poetic, smooth, like riding a horse with a sweet rocking-chair gait through country both known and new. Content: a rip-snorting story, complete with more than enough red herrings and damaged people, that builds slowly to a most satisfying climax. JLB is even more cynical than in earlier years, and neither he nor his best friend, Clete Purcell, suffer fools (or predators) gladly. But when all is said and done, he is still has faith in the redemptive power of love; just loving someone or something warts, demons, and all can be transformational for all involved.
August 22, 2013
I love James Lee Burke. This was all done in Montana and Clete and Dave can't seem to stay from trouble even though they have gone to Montana for a little R & R after the hurricanes. I can't wait to read the next one in the series, but first I have to find a copy. I missed tripod in this book and not sure why he didn't make the trip with them. Possibly he is just too old.
The dialogue and the personal thoughts that both Clete and Dave share throughout the book are sometimes mind boggling.
The dialogue and the personal thoughts that both Clete and Dave share throughout the book are sometimes mind boggling.
March 11, 2018
James Lee Burke is a true wordsmith. His prose is so beautiful, it's as if he lovingly caresses the English language and then proceeds to make love to it, sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph chapter by chapter.
He then weaves these intricate tales of murder and mayhem, with multilayered characters that draw you in, causing many sleepless nights, because you can"t put his book down. MASTERFUL!!!
He then weaves these intricate tales of murder and mayhem, with multilayered characters that draw you in, causing many sleepless nights, because you can"t put his book down. MASTERFUL!!!
September 4, 2008
James Lee Burke is a KING! Most authors tend to get a bit tired after six or seven novels, but not Burke. He knocked this one out of the ball park! I read it waaaaay too fast and now I'm afraid I'm going to have to wait another year for the next one. heavy, heavy, getting depressed, sigh....
February 2, 2017
Dave Robicheau and his buddy Clete Purcel are, once again, taking on evil guys. Swan Peak has an a good story that get lost along the way but which come together in the climax. Burke has a gift for words and his descriptions of everyday life becomes confusing in the story telling. It has so many sub plots and characters that you cannot relate to anyone with the exception of one of the bad guys, a bull who works in a prison, who becomes a good guy through the love of a good woman.
The climax of the book is a letdown I don't know how it can have so many 4 and 5 stars.
The climax of the book is a letdown I don't know how it can have so many 4 and 5 stars.
August 10, 2009
A masterpiece!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My biggest fear is that the epilogue presages the end of Dave Robicheaux stories.
In this episode, Dave, his wife Molly and his friend Clete Purvis take an extended vacation in Western Montana on the ranch of an old friend, Albert Hollister. Unfortunately for them but fortunately for the reader, they become entangled with the Wellstone family, wealthy immigrants from Texas, and are also asked to help the local sheriff with a double murder of a pair of college students.
There are also many sub-plots: Clete's dalliance with Jamie Sue Wellstone, Leslie Wellstone's wife, Jimmy Dale Greenwood, a half Indian singer's battle to maintain his pride and avenge a terrible wrong, Clete's struggle to come to grips with past events that involved him in Montana, years ago, the redemption of Candace Sweeney and Troy Nix, two lost souls meeting on the road, and the constant fight both Dave and Clete have with ghosts from their past, separately and together.
All of this is illuminated by James Lee Burke's almost lyrical writing. His ability to capture a Montana sunset as well as the inner demons of an alcoholic in words is unsurpassed. His characters are unpredictably predictable. His heroes are way too human to not make mistakes. His villains are evil, clever and even the worst of them have some redeeming qualities.
He is able to make Montana come alive as well as he does Louisiana. He is able to describe the wellsprings of anger in poor southern whites better than any author I've read. He describes the peccadillos of the very rich in ways I have never considered. He also somehow implicitly shows the impact combat has over time on the soldiers involved.
He captures the dark side of the human condition while also showing the power of love, friendship and a sense of justice. I can only hope Burke has more of Dave Robicheaux to share with us.
My biggest fear is that the epilogue presages the end of Dave Robicheaux stories.
In this episode, Dave, his wife Molly and his friend Clete Purvis take an extended vacation in Western Montana on the ranch of an old friend, Albert Hollister. Unfortunately for them but fortunately for the reader, they become entangled with the Wellstone family, wealthy immigrants from Texas, and are also asked to help the local sheriff with a double murder of a pair of college students.
There are also many sub-plots: Clete's dalliance with Jamie Sue Wellstone, Leslie Wellstone's wife, Jimmy Dale Greenwood, a half Indian singer's battle to maintain his pride and avenge a terrible wrong, Clete's struggle to come to grips with past events that involved him in Montana, years ago, the redemption of Candace Sweeney and Troy Nix, two lost souls meeting on the road, and the constant fight both Dave and Clete have with ghosts from their past, separately and together.
All of this is illuminated by James Lee Burke's almost lyrical writing. His ability to capture a Montana sunset as well as the inner demons of an alcoholic in words is unsurpassed. His characters are unpredictably predictable. His heroes are way too human to not make mistakes. His villains are evil, clever and even the worst of them have some redeeming qualities.
He is able to make Montana come alive as well as he does Louisiana. He is able to describe the wellsprings of anger in poor southern whites better than any author I've read. He describes the peccadillos of the very rich in ways I have never considered. He also somehow implicitly shows the impact combat has over time on the soldiers involved.
He captures the dark side of the human condition while also showing the power of love, friendship and a sense of justice. I can only hope Burke has more of Dave Robicheaux to share with us.
July 9, 2011
"Swan Peak" is a novel that displays James Lee Burke's rich character portrayals, detailed descriptions of the natural surroundings in western Montana and the author's ability to write a suspenseful story.
Dave Robicheaux, wife Molly, and friend Clete Purcel are vacationing in Montana after going through the devastation of hurricanes Rita and Katrina in New Orleans.
When two double murders take place, the local sheriff is overwhelmed and Dave and Clete offer their services.
Ridley Wellstone, a wealthy former Texan, owns land around Swan Lake and wants to drill test wells for oil and natural gas. He lives with his brother, Lyle, and Lyle's wife, country and western singer, Jamie Sue Wellstone.
When Ridley sees Dave and Clete, he accuses them of working with the person who has filed an injunction against his drilling. Even though Dave and Clete tell him he's wrong, Ridley begins to resent their being near his home.
In a parallel story, Jamie Sue's former boyfriend and father of their child, Jimme Dale Greenwood, is in jail for a minor offense. He faces an intollerable situation with guard Troyce Nix and when it escallates, Jimmy Dale escapes and makes his way to Montana and Jamie Sue.
As we learn more of what is going on at the Wellstone ranch and of the people who have been murdered, we see why Dave Robicheaux is such a popular character. He's humble and not perfect. He's an alcoholic who attends regular meetings. However, he's also a protector of the poor and less fortunate who have been taken advantage of by wealthy opportunists who believe that they are above the law. In addition, he's a voice for the murdered and will stop at nothing to find their killer.
With the excellent characterization and an entertaining story, James Lee Burke is once again, at the top of his game.
Dave Robicheaux, wife Molly, and friend Clete Purcel are vacationing in Montana after going through the devastation of hurricanes Rita and Katrina in New Orleans.
When two double murders take place, the local sheriff is overwhelmed and Dave and Clete offer their services.
Ridley Wellstone, a wealthy former Texan, owns land around Swan Lake and wants to drill test wells for oil and natural gas. He lives with his brother, Lyle, and Lyle's wife, country and western singer, Jamie Sue Wellstone.
When Ridley sees Dave and Clete, he accuses them of working with the person who has filed an injunction against his drilling. Even though Dave and Clete tell him he's wrong, Ridley begins to resent their being near his home.
In a parallel story, Jamie Sue's former boyfriend and father of their child, Jimme Dale Greenwood, is in jail for a minor offense. He faces an intollerable situation with guard Troyce Nix and when it escallates, Jimmy Dale escapes and makes his way to Montana and Jamie Sue.
As we learn more of what is going on at the Wellstone ranch and of the people who have been murdered, we see why Dave Robicheaux is such a popular character. He's humble and not perfect. He's an alcoholic who attends regular meetings. However, he's also a protector of the poor and less fortunate who have been taken advantage of by wealthy opportunists who believe that they are above the law. In addition, he's a voice for the murdered and will stop at nothing to find their killer.
With the excellent characterization and an entertaining story, James Lee Burke is once again, at the top of his game.
August 7, 2009
I've been reading Dave Roubicheaux books by James Lee Burke since he began writing them (and other Burke books, too), but this one left me uncharacteristically cold. Set in and around Missoula (including my own Idaho Panhandle town, which he managed to misspell), Swan Peak felt like a book written around an idea. For anyone who misses it in the intervening 395 pages, he spells it out: "... if there is a greater lesson ... it's probably the simple fact that the real gladiators of the world are so humble in their origins and unremarkable in appearance that when we stand next to them in a grocery-store line, we never guess how brightly their souls can burn in the dark." This is, in fact, an admirable idea. No doubt about it. But Burke has built a mind-bogglingly large cast of unsavory characters around it (and its flip side that all who appear to be gladiators are not and, well, that nobody is quite what he/she appears to be) who are choreographed to dance to the tune of the idea. Some authors are able to create memorable idea-driven characters (Ayn Rand comes to mind), but Burke hasn't. Their choreography is also bathed in an unusually high tide of blood; while Burke's books are never for those who favor parlor cozies, the violence in this one was so pervasive that it put me off. Overall: disappointing. One of Burke's gifts is that, even after 26 novels, he continues to explore the novel and mystery genre and excel at finding new depth, insight, and intrigue in it. With Swan Peak, alsas, he missed the mark.
December 24, 2017
Dave Robicheaux is one of my favorite characters, perhaps because I can relate to him so easily. James Lee Burke is master of metaphors and he can offer descriptions of the sky like no other. His story-telling is enjoyable and almost philosophical at times.
In this book Burke's first hand knowledge of the pristine scenery in Northern Montana shines above his usual inside look at Louisiana bayou country. Robicheauxs's sidekick Clete Purcel is also a colorful and easily likable character.
The only reason I didn't give this book a fifth star is that it wasn't as exciting as other Burke novels I've read.
In this book Burke's first hand knowledge of the pristine scenery in Northern Montana shines above his usual inside look at Louisiana bayou country. Robicheauxs's sidekick Clete Purcel is also a colorful and easily likable character.
The only reason I didn't give this book a fifth star is that it wasn't as exciting as other Burke novels I've read.
August 2, 2016
Dave & Molly Robicheaux with Clete in tow go on an extended vacation in the Montana wilderness - and, of course, end up assisting with a murder investigation with all the usual violence, mayhem, and life-threatening events. This predicable, plot scenario is one often found in a long-standing mystery series for both books and TV shows - the vacation mystery adventure. Kudos to Burke as he made this one work.
June 14, 2011
Moved right away from this sort of book, after doing too many of them, at some point. Wondered early on if I should have trusted that distance, but glad I didn't. Burke manages to make a happy ending so bleak that it remains moving. And I totally forgive how long it took him to get to the chase.
You either like Burke, in which case this will be to your taste, or you don't. To me he's like Connelly with class. Somebody will be offended by that. Sorry.
You either like Burke, in which case this will be to your taste, or you don't. To me he's like Connelly with class. Somebody will be offended by that. Sorry.
August 25, 2017
JLB's writing has a narcotic effect on me , i can't get enough of it .
Clete Purcel is one of my favorite fictional characters.
Dark , violent , gritty and so beautiful in the same time..loved it.
Clete Purcel is one of my favorite fictional characters.
Dark , violent , gritty and so beautiful in the same time..loved it.
May 15, 2015
3.5. Dave Robicheaux and Clete Purcel in Montana, which was fine but I miss New Iberia ard New Orleans. As always I love Lames Lee Burke. I will read every Robicheaux book that comes out :).
June 17, 2020
I listened to this audiobook. This is the second book in this series that finds New Iberia, Louisiana sheriff detective Dave Robicheaux and his best friend New Orleans private eye Clete Purcell in Montana. Dave, his wife Molly, and Clete are on vacation on the ranch of a friend. What I picture is Dave packing up his truck and making the long trek with a black cloud hovering over him and following him wherever he goes. So, it is no surprise when all hell breaks loose around him and Clete. Clete was involved in causing a crash of a small plane containing mobsters some years earlier in Montana. Even though Montana is a very large state, Clete runs into someone he knew back then and is immediately in the cross hairs of a powerful oil family from Houston. Molly has a brush against them as well and off we go on a violent tale. Two college students are brutally murdered in the hills behind the ranch where they are staying. The local sheriff initially asks for Dave's help. The FBI gets involved because they are still investigating the plane crash, and they are interested in Clete. As usual, Clete's appetite for booze and choosing the wrong sexual partner draws him into violence. Clete used to do some security work for Sally Dio, a mobster who was in the plane that crashed. Dave's unresolved rage due to his struggle with alcoholism draws him into violence. The powerful oilmen are brothers, one on crutches, and one severely deformed by fire. They are violent and sadistic too. They support a fake preacher who is drawing in young people to abuse. An adjacent story involves the wife of deformed brother, who is country singer who has a child by an escaped convict who is on the run. A sexual depraved guard who was stabbed by the convict as he escaped is now looking for him, thinking he will be looking for his former lover and mother of his child. Thus, they all end up at the same place at the same time and explosions of violence and hatred are bound to happen. Will Patton is the consummate narrator. James Lee Burke writes beautiful prose, but also writes about the depths of human depravity.
April 29, 2020
One more and I’ve caught up on Dave Robicheaux to date. I’ve enjoyed this series, especially on audio with Will Patton narrating. But perhaps in having listened to more than 20 of these books, I have become a bit jaded. I didn’t find this one as excellent as most. First, instead of taking place in humid rural Louisiana, this one takes place in Montana. In the Louisiana books, the locations really become like a character in the story, and you get to where you can feel the oppressive heat, taste the spicy food, and you expect the Southern accent in conversation. But his Montana stories are much more non-descript. The boring locations didn’t help the story.
The other major difference was the way the story was structured. I recall Burke’s other stories felt very connected. Here, I noticed a number of scenes, some many pages in length, but often without connecting detail. You would be following a story about Robicheaux visiting a crime location, then the next scene he shows up somewhere entirely unexpected. You don’t know how he got there, how much time has gone by, what the intention is, the basics. You end up having to figure it out, often without much help from Burke. It felt like this was the result of a bunch of writing exercises to develop scenes. Or worse, it felt like one of those excessively abridged audiobooks where you know you are missing events and motivation in order to fit the story on two cassettes. Ugh.
And speaking of scenes, this was yet another of Burke’s books that included the casino business and a movie star, although it felt like he just was ticking these elements off of a story checklist. There are casinos and movie stars in a majority of these stories, odd since they aren’t based in hotbeds of moviemaking or legal gambling, but there you go.
Despite the lack of connective tissue between scenes, those scenes are written very well. Both maddening and enjoyable in turns.
The other major difference was the way the story was structured. I recall Burke’s other stories felt very connected. Here, I noticed a number of scenes, some many pages in length, but often without connecting detail. You would be following a story about Robicheaux visiting a crime location, then the next scene he shows up somewhere entirely unexpected. You don’t know how he got there, how much time has gone by, what the intention is, the basics. You end up having to figure it out, often without much help from Burke. It felt like this was the result of a bunch of writing exercises to develop scenes. Or worse, it felt like one of those excessively abridged audiobooks where you know you are missing events and motivation in order to fit the story on two cassettes. Ugh.
And speaking of scenes, this was yet another of Burke’s books that included the casino business and a movie star, although it felt like he just was ticking these elements off of a story checklist. There are casinos and movie stars in a majority of these stories, odd since they aren’t based in hotbeds of moviemaking or legal gambling, but there you go.
Despite the lack of connective tissue between scenes, those scenes are written very well. Both maddening and enjoyable in turns.
August 3, 2008
A dark novel peopled with characters of torment, each carrying some kind of horrific past event or time as a defining point to their persona. A novel of folks that drink too much, philosophize grandly, are sometimes violent, and—not surprisingly—at times seem to feel sorry for themselves. Or stop just short of feeling sorry for themselves, with the very fallible good guys managing to overcome both great external and internal odds to successfully deal with the very very fallible bad guys, who while having the advantage of being able to pretty much make their own rules, ultimately fall prey to the fact that they are, after all, the bad guys, and of the ilk that always finds a way to lose in the end.
Nothing about the above paragraph describes a mystery that is particularly unusual in its premise, and the novel would not unfairly be called a "page turner," but the thing about Swan Peak is that James Lee Burke is a very good writer, and can bring it off. Anyone, for example, that can write lines like these...
Tomorrow would be the day that decided the rest of his life, he thought. He could say in all honesty he did not fear death. Once born, you were already inside eternity, not preparing for it. Existence was a deep pasture that had no fence across it. Jimmy Dale’s grandfather, who had been a shaman, had said that embarking upon the Ghost Trail was not a passage as much as a sharpening of his vision. Unfortunately, being unafraid of death was not the same as being brave.
...can not only use words, but think.
Or this brief moment of descriptive brilliance, effortlessly managing to describe both present and past at the same time:
I wrote down the plate number, then drove home in an electric storm that lit the Bitterroot River and the cottonwoods like pistol flares floating down from a forgotten war.
Swan Peak is, of course, a novel in a genre that is predictable. From the beginning you know the good guys will win, but as in any competent mystery (or in this case, more than competent), the lines are blurred as to who is on which side of the fence, and sometimes the delineation of good and bad, the why of it all, is a bit uncertain. It is not like—say—Crime and Punishment, or The Trial, where the outcome can not be taken for granted, and the reading is approached with different expectations. From start to finish in this one, the author pulls us through; the reading is effortless, there is tension and development, characters to care about...and through it all an extraordinary use of words—not necessarily the brilliance of the classics named above, but something missing—I think it can be called "depth"—in most mysteries.
It’s fair to say most of his girlfriends were nude dancers, grifters, drunks, or relatives of mobsters. Most of them wore tattoos, and some had tracks on their arms or thighs. But the similarity in Clete’s lovers didn’t lie in their occupations or addictions. Almost all of them were incurable neurotics who went through romantic relationships like boxes of Kleenex. The more outrageous their behavior, the more Clete believed he had found kindred spirits.
Ironically, it wasn’t the hookers and strippers and addicts who did him the most damage. It was usually a woman with a degree of normalcy and education in her background who wrapped him in knots. I suspect a psychologist would say Clete didn’t believe he was worthy of being loved. As a consequence, he would allow himself to be used and wounded by people whose own lack of self knowledge didn’t allow them to see the depth of injury they inflicted upon him. Regardless, it was the quasi-normal ones who hung him out to dry.
There is a scene near the end, where a prisoner is attempting communication with his captor, and in this scene Burke takes us through an encounter depicting the complete disconnect from reality of a mind bordering on insanity in a way that made my skin crawl. I’ve never read its equal, and am not going to quote any of the lines—it needs to be read in context—but the encounter takes us into the penultimate scene, then he’s done with it, and we’re left to reflect on the truisms of both the internal and external landscapes shaping our lives. From beginning to end, a "page turner" with depth. This is the third Burke novel I’ve read, and it is only fair to say there is a similarity between them, but when they are this good (the others are also good, but Swan Peak is the best so far) I’m certainly not one to object.
I couldn’t help but wonder if her sense of betrayal had less to do with an individual than her discovery that fame and celebrity are cheap currency and seldom purchase loyalty in others. I wanted to ask why she hadn’t stuck by Jimmy Dale when he went to prison and why she had married into a collection of scum like the Wellstones. I wanted to ask if she ever felt remorse because she’d helped deceive the audiences who had bought in to Reverend Sonny Click’s charlatanism. I wanted to ask if she had ever thought about the suffering Seymour Bell and Cindy Kershaw had gone through before they died. But I already knew the answers I would get. Andy Warhol was dead wrong when he said every American is allowed fifteen minutes of fame. Fame comes to very few, and when it does, it takes on the properties of a narcotic and puts into abeyance our fears about our own mortality. Anyone who acquires a drug that potent does not give it up easily.
A very good mystery, well written...highest recommendation.
Nothing about the above paragraph describes a mystery that is particularly unusual in its premise, and the novel would not unfairly be called a "page turner," but the thing about Swan Peak is that James Lee Burke is a very good writer, and can bring it off. Anyone, for example, that can write lines like these...
Tomorrow would be the day that decided the rest of his life, he thought. He could say in all honesty he did not fear death. Once born, you were already inside eternity, not preparing for it. Existence was a deep pasture that had no fence across it. Jimmy Dale’s grandfather, who had been a shaman, had said that embarking upon the Ghost Trail was not a passage as much as a sharpening of his vision. Unfortunately, being unafraid of death was not the same as being brave.
...can not only use words, but think.
Or this brief moment of descriptive brilliance, effortlessly managing to describe both present and past at the same time:
I wrote down the plate number, then drove home in an electric storm that lit the Bitterroot River and the cottonwoods like pistol flares floating down from a forgotten war.
Swan Peak is, of course, a novel in a genre that is predictable. From the beginning you know the good guys will win, but as in any competent mystery (or in this case, more than competent), the lines are blurred as to who is on which side of the fence, and sometimes the delineation of good and bad, the why of it all, is a bit uncertain. It is not like—say—Crime and Punishment, or The Trial, where the outcome can not be taken for granted, and the reading is approached with different expectations. From start to finish in this one, the author pulls us through; the reading is effortless, there is tension and development, characters to care about...and through it all an extraordinary use of words—not necessarily the brilliance of the classics named above, but something missing—I think it can be called "depth"—in most mysteries.
It’s fair to say most of his girlfriends were nude dancers, grifters, drunks, or relatives of mobsters. Most of them wore tattoos, and some had tracks on their arms or thighs. But the similarity in Clete’s lovers didn’t lie in their occupations or addictions. Almost all of them were incurable neurotics who went through romantic relationships like boxes of Kleenex. The more outrageous their behavior, the more Clete believed he had found kindred spirits.
Ironically, it wasn’t the hookers and strippers and addicts who did him the most damage. It was usually a woman with a degree of normalcy and education in her background who wrapped him in knots. I suspect a psychologist would say Clete didn’t believe he was worthy of being loved. As a consequence, he would allow himself to be used and wounded by people whose own lack of self knowledge didn’t allow them to see the depth of injury they inflicted upon him. Regardless, it was the quasi-normal ones who hung him out to dry.
There is a scene near the end, where a prisoner is attempting communication with his captor, and in this scene Burke takes us through an encounter depicting the complete disconnect from reality of a mind bordering on insanity in a way that made my skin crawl. I’ve never read its equal, and am not going to quote any of the lines—it needs to be read in context—but the encounter takes us into the penultimate scene, then he’s done with it, and we’re left to reflect on the truisms of both the internal and external landscapes shaping our lives. From beginning to end, a "page turner" with depth. This is the third Burke novel I’ve read, and it is only fair to say there is a similarity between them, but when they are this good (the others are also good, but Swan Peak is the best so far) I’m certainly not one to object.
I couldn’t help but wonder if her sense of betrayal had less to do with an individual than her discovery that fame and celebrity are cheap currency and seldom purchase loyalty in others. I wanted to ask why she hadn’t stuck by Jimmy Dale when he went to prison and why she had married into a collection of scum like the Wellstones. I wanted to ask if she ever felt remorse because she’d helped deceive the audiences who had bought in to Reverend Sonny Click’s charlatanism. I wanted to ask if she had ever thought about the suffering Seymour Bell and Cindy Kershaw had gone through before they died. But I already knew the answers I would get. Andy Warhol was dead wrong when he said every American is allowed fifteen minutes of fame. Fame comes to very few, and when it does, it takes on the properties of a narcotic and puts into abeyance our fears about our own mortality. Anyone who acquires a drug that potent does not give it up easily.
A very good mystery, well written...highest recommendation.
December 21, 2023
Robicheaux goes to Montana after the hurricane, and finds himself in as much trouble there as he ever got into in Louisiana.
I felt like the Montana setting actually took away from the novel, rather than adding to it.
I felt like the Montana setting actually took away from the novel, rather than adding to it.
November 17, 2025
Book #17 in the Detective Dave Robicheaux series. Dave, his wife Molly and his pal Clete have gone to Montana for an extended vacation. Of course, the vacation doesn’t last long because they get themselves wrapped up in several murder investigations. It’s amazing how so many separate events all come together in this novel with some truly surprising revelations. Dave and Clete don’t disappoint.
October 3, 2020
as always beautifully written but after portraying two truly scary psychopaths, one of them turns from violent rapist into a new man after finding the love of a woman. believable?
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