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Billy Bob Holland #3
Bitterroot
The Barnes & Noble Review
Ex-Texas Ranger Billy Bob Holland makes his third appearance (after Heartwood and the Edgar Award-winning Cimarron Rose ) in James Lee Burke's dark, sorrowful, appropriately titled new novel, Bitterroot. This time out, Burke takes Holland out of the familiar environs of Deaf Smith, Texas, and moves him to Montana, where he becomes enmeshed in an interlocking series of brutal -- and brutalizing -- events.
Ostensibly, Bill Bob Has come to Montana for an extended fishing vacation with long-time friend Tobin "Doc" Voss, a widowed Vietnam vet and a man of strong, if contradictory, principles. Voss, an impassioned environmentalist, has lobbied publicly against the incursions of a local mining corporation and has made some powerful enemies, a fact that becomes clear when a trio of drug-addled bikers are sent to rape and terrorize his teenaged daughter, Maisey. In the aftermath of that rape, the leader of the bikers is found burned to death in his bed. Doc, of course, emerges as the primary suspect, and finds himself arrested for premeditated murder.
Billy Bob Holland's subsequent investigation begins with Maisey's rape and moves steadily outward, encompassing pedophilia, organized crime, right-wing extremism, and virtually every possible combination of personal and institutional corruption, all of which stand in stark contrast to the pristine, vulnerable beauty of the Montana landscape. Participants in this grim complex of narratives include an alcoholic mystery novelist, an embittered federal agent, a psychopathic ex-con with a very personal agenda, an undercover informant with a hidden motive for murder, and a local physician who has lost both her husband and son, and whose life has collapsed beneath her insupportable grief.
At the center of all this is Billy Bob Holland himself, a fundamentally decent man who is literally haunted by a specter from his past, and who must constantly confront his "abiding anger" and his extreme capacity for violence.
Like Dave Robichaux, Burke's other series hero, he is both a witness to and participant in the moral crises of the age. In Bitterroot, his urgent, eloquent narrative voice is as compelling as ever, lending depth and credibility to this disturbing, beautifully crafted book. (Bill Sheehan)
Ex-Texas Ranger Billy Bob Holland makes his third appearance (after Heartwood and the Edgar Award-winning Cimarron Rose ) in James Lee Burke's dark, sorrowful, appropriately titled new novel, Bitterroot. This time out, Burke takes Holland out of the familiar environs of Deaf Smith, Texas, and moves him to Montana, where he becomes enmeshed in an interlocking series of brutal -- and brutalizing -- events.
Ostensibly, Bill Bob Has come to Montana for an extended fishing vacation with long-time friend Tobin "Doc" Voss, a widowed Vietnam vet and a man of strong, if contradictory, principles. Voss, an impassioned environmentalist, has lobbied publicly against the incursions of a local mining corporation and has made some powerful enemies, a fact that becomes clear when a trio of drug-addled bikers are sent to rape and terrorize his teenaged daughter, Maisey. In the aftermath of that rape, the leader of the bikers is found burned to death in his bed. Doc, of course, emerges as the primary suspect, and finds himself arrested for premeditated murder.
Billy Bob Holland's subsequent investigation begins with Maisey's rape and moves steadily outward, encompassing pedophilia, organized crime, right-wing extremism, and virtually every possible combination of personal and institutional corruption, all of which stand in stark contrast to the pristine, vulnerable beauty of the Montana landscape. Participants in this grim complex of narratives include an alcoholic mystery novelist, an embittered federal agent, a psychopathic ex-con with a very personal agenda, an undercover informant with a hidden motive for murder, and a local physician who has lost both her husband and son, and whose life has collapsed beneath her insupportable grief.
At the center of all this is Billy Bob Holland himself, a fundamentally decent man who is literally haunted by a specter from his past, and who must constantly confront his "abiding anger" and his extreme capacity for violence.
Like Dave Robichaux, Burke's other series hero, he is both a witness to and participant in the moral crises of the age. In Bitterroot, his urgent, eloquent narrative voice is as compelling as ever, lending depth and credibility to this disturbing, beautifully crafted book. (Bill Sheehan)
Bill Sheehan reviews horror, suspense, and science fiction for Cemetery Dance, The New York Review of Science Fiction, and other publications. His book-length critical study of the fiction of Peter Straub, At the Foot of the Story Tree, has been published by Subterranean Press (www.subterraneanpress.com).
480 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 12, 2001
280 people are currently reading
1034 people want to read
About the author
James Lee Burke
119 books4,154 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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Displaying 1 - 30 of 197 reviews
July 24, 2023
4 🌠🌠🌠🌠
I did not know this was an abridged version. Hoopla pulled one over on me.
Billy Bob Holland is one of my favorite characters. I saw Will Patton's name as narrator and grabbed it.
Have you ever listened to this man? No one does it better. I loved every moment with it.
But still. You do not truncate JLB (or Will Patton for that matter). Whose idea was this anyway?
How many sublime passages did I miss?
It was over too soon and that's when I saw the "A" word.
Patton & Burke get 5 stars and this may have also if it wasn't condensed.
In the Moon of Red Ponies is next but I'll be reading that one. No offense to Tom Stechschulte but Will Patton is too hard an act to follow.
I did not know this was an abridged version. Hoopla pulled one over on me.
Billy Bob Holland is one of my favorite characters. I saw Will Patton's name as narrator and grabbed it.
Have you ever listened to this man? No one does it better. I loved every moment with it.
But still. You do not truncate JLB (or Will Patton for that matter). Whose idea was this anyway?
How many sublime passages did I miss?
It was over too soon and that's when I saw the "A" word.
Patton & Burke get 5 stars and this may have also if it wasn't condensed.
In the Moon of Red Ponies is next but I'll be reading that one. No offense to Tom Stechschulte but Will Patton is too hard an act to follow.
November 26, 2018
What’s not to like about James Lee Burke. Like C.J. Box – “go-to” authors when you’re not ready to tackle a heavy non-fiction – Burke’s stories are always fascinating reads, each sentence carved in stone, demanding your attention. A preeminent western writer, Burke’s a wonderful story teller, and this earlier work (2001, Montana) is fun to compare to his latest thrillers. If you want a fast, suspenseful, and well-written book – one where you can hang your hat on the wooden pegs in Burke’s mind – pick up “Bitterroot.”
May 11, 2019
If it weren’t so brutal, Bitterroot would be a great promo for Montana! Solid and engaging.
February 10, 2015
Fun, smooth, and deep.
May 24, 2013
This was a pretty good book. I suppose in giving it four stars, I am unfairly comparing Burke to himself rather than to other writers, at least to a degree.
Here's the issue: most writers who keep a series going have trouble adding another and keeping it distinct; the only two situations where I've seen writers do this concurrently without blurring their characters are Ed McBain's 87th precinct (in which he had multiple protagonists, but also had another series going), and JA Jance, whose Allie Reynolds and Joanna Brady, both crime-solving females in Arizona, tend to blur, but both of which are distinct from her Seattle character, JP Beaumont. And indeed, I find that Billy Bob has much more in common with Dave Robicheaux, Burke's more successful protagonist, than is distinct. The writer's voice and moral code are strong, which is great, but he would do better to stick with the Robicheaux series. (I have not yet read the third series, what there is of it).
That said, his pacing is fine here, his word-smithery strong, and his romantic thread very sweet, albeit subordinate to and inseparable from the main story line, as he intends. Having been on something of a Burke jag lately, I will also say that I have seen way more fishing information (literally fishing) than I ever need to see again. I don't CARE what kind of lure he uses, what type of rod, or where the best fish are found. I share his environmental passion and as far as I'm concerned, he can talk about that just as much as he likes. I also enjoy his class perspective, and his realistic view of exactly how much help ordinary people can expect from cops as a general rule.
I read a lot of mystery/crime/detective novels, and I was nonplussed when I found last winter that not only was this writer out there for decades completely undetected by me, but he was also a double Edgar winner. Just how did I miss that?
The cover of this one tells me EXACTLY how I missed him: a cowboy hat and a fish hook! Not going to grab my eye, because it suggests a Western novel.
If you can read this one cheaply or free, or if you have already read everything else Burke writes, go ahead. Why not? But if you have money for just one paperback book, I would usher you first toward the Dave Robicheaux series that starts with The Neon Rain.
Here's the issue: most writers who keep a series going have trouble adding another and keeping it distinct; the only two situations where I've seen writers do this concurrently without blurring their characters are Ed McBain's 87th precinct (in which he had multiple protagonists, but also had another series going), and JA Jance, whose Allie Reynolds and Joanna Brady, both crime-solving females in Arizona, tend to blur, but both of which are distinct from her Seattle character, JP Beaumont. And indeed, I find that Billy Bob has much more in common with Dave Robicheaux, Burke's more successful protagonist, than is distinct. The writer's voice and moral code are strong, which is great, but he would do better to stick with the Robicheaux series. (I have not yet read the third series, what there is of it).
That said, his pacing is fine here, his word-smithery strong, and his romantic thread very sweet, albeit subordinate to and inseparable from the main story line, as he intends. Having been on something of a Burke jag lately, I will also say that I have seen way more fishing information (literally fishing) than I ever need to see again. I don't CARE what kind of lure he uses, what type of rod, or where the best fish are found. I share his environmental passion and as far as I'm concerned, he can talk about that just as much as he likes. I also enjoy his class perspective, and his realistic view of exactly how much help ordinary people can expect from cops as a general rule.
I read a lot of mystery/crime/detective novels, and I was nonplussed when I found last winter that not only was this writer out there for decades completely undetected by me, but he was also a double Edgar winner. Just how did I miss that?
The cover of this one tells me EXACTLY how I missed him: a cowboy hat and a fish hook! Not going to grab my eye, because it suggests a Western novel.
If you can read this one cheaply or free, or if you have already read everything else Burke writes, go ahead. Why not? But if you have money for just one paperback book, I would usher you first toward the Dave Robicheaux series that starts with The Neon Rain.
April 11, 2019
In the late 90's I was hooked on the novels of James Lee Burke, particularly the ones featuring his best-known creation Dave Robicheaux. The last one I read was Cadillac Jukebox and that was ages ago, so when I went into 2nd and Charles a few weeks ago looking for a few guaranteed page-turners to pick up for a steal, I decided to give Bitterroot a shot since I had never read any Burke novels featuring his former Texas Ranger-turned-lawyer hero Billy Bob Holland. Needless to say, I found Bitterroot to be an intense and compelling crime drama with Holland leaving his native Texas behind for an extended vacation with an old friend in rural Montana and becoming ensnared in an escalating clusterfuck of criminality centered around a vengeance-minded ex-con with the charm of a cowpoke and the temperament of a cobra, a right-wing militia leader, a Mafia thug with a dude ranch, a renowned author with a serious drinking problem and a few salacious secrets, and more. Things get crazy, dark, and often violent, but the true joy of reading a Burke novel is enjoying the poetic dialogue exchanges between a colorful array of memorable characters and immersing yourself in the writer's gift for atmospheric world-building. Hard to put down, absolutely recommended for crime novel fans in the mood for some down home ass-kicking, moral dilemmas, and more than a few human embodiments of all that is good and evil in this world.
March 26, 2015
Admitting that I stayed up until 3:30 a.m. just because I wanted to find out what would happen next probably gives you an idea of how I feel about this enthralling book.
Compelling and engaging characters, exciting and plausible stories, and the ongoing analysis of everyone's motives by the flawed Billy Bob Holland keeps the plot moving and your interest high. This is the third in a series of books about this character and I plan to go back and read the first two and then find the rest and devour them.
White supremacists, environmentalists, mobsters, biker gangs, drunks, a crazy with a grudge, and general crazies populate the breathtaking town of Bitterroot, Montana, keeping Billy Bob hopping. First his friend is accused of murder, then it's looking like he might be. Luckily the murders start piling up, though the perpetrator doesn't become obvious right up until the very end.
Goodbye early mornings.
Compelling and engaging characters, exciting and plausible stories, and the ongoing analysis of everyone's motives by the flawed Billy Bob Holland keeps the plot moving and your interest high. This is the third in a series of books about this character and I plan to go back and read the first two and then find the rest and devour them.
White supremacists, environmentalists, mobsters, biker gangs, drunks, a crazy with a grudge, and general crazies populate the breathtaking town of Bitterroot, Montana, keeping Billy Bob hopping. First his friend is accused of murder, then it's looking like he might be. Luckily the murders start piling up, though the perpetrator doesn't become obvious right up until the very end.
Goodbye early mornings.
May 15, 2021
[Imported automatically from my blog. Some formatting there may not have translated here.]
This is the 2001 entry in James Lee Burke's series about Texas attorney Billy Bob Holland. Yes, I have some catching up to do.
Billy Bob has gone up to Montana to visit his friend, Doc Voss, who lives amidst the spectacular scenery with his 16-year-old daughter Maisey. You'd think he'd be able to catch a break up there, but Billy Bob attracts trouble, and troubled people. There's a bunch of bikers, a neo-Nazi militia leader, an alcoholic mystery writer with a coke-fiend actress wife, a mafia bigwig, a mysterious female doctor whose ex-husband and son were murdered, another mysterious Native American woman, some ATF guys, a loquacious-but-cantakerous sheriff and … did I miss anyone? Oh yeah, there's the psycho rodeo cowboy who blames Billy Bob for the death of his sister. And more.
Most people in James Lee Burke's books are haunted, Billy Bob more so than most: the ghost of L. Q. Navarro, who Billy Bob accidentally killed years back, occasionally pops up to discuss ongoing events.
Probably more than anyone else I read, Burke is given to colorful vividness:
That night dry lightning rippled through the thunderclouds that sealed the Blackfoot Valley. The wind was up and the trees shook along the riverbank and I coulds see pine needles scattering on the surface of the water. I walked through Doc's fields, restless and irritable and discontent, a nameless fear trembling like a crystal goblet in my breast. The Appaloosa and thoroughbred in Doc's pasture nickered in the darkness and I could smell river dam and pine gum and wildflowers and wet stone and woodsmoke in the air, as though the four seasons of the year had come together at once and formed a dead zone under clouds that pulsed with light but gave no rain. I wished for earsplitting thunder to roll through the mountains or high winds to tear at barn roofs. I wished for the hand of God to destroy the airless vacuum in which I seemed to be caught.
You are there.
Burke also peppers his books with dialogue that nobody in my experience actually speaks, but one kind of wishes they did. Here's the sheriff, put out at Billy Bob:
"I think your mama put you outdoors before the glue was dry, son. I really do," he replied.
Good stuff.
December 28, 2017
I always think later James Lee Burke books are a little funny. They're still fucking awesome and violent, but you can tell that he's just writing himself into a tough guy fantasy.
Most of this book takes place in Montana, there are three different bad guys, one a bisexual ex-con rodeo clown (I know, I know) bent on killing hero Billy Bob (that name!) because the latter arrested his sister who either died or killed herself, I can't remember. There's a biker gang in league with a group of violent extremist survivalist dudes, and there's Italian mafia guys who want to get 700k from this woman whose husband and son are both dead. Badly-timed humor ("Do you like Merle Haggard?), embarrassing love scenes, fucking mega macho Billy Bob, etc. It's pretty laughable, but at the same time James Lee Burke is an awesome story teller, and I still enjoyed the book. Oh, and there's a part where a dude gets tortured tied in a chair and shot with a baseball pitching machine, fuck that would hurt.
Most of this book takes place in Montana, there are three different bad guys, one a bisexual ex-con rodeo clown (I know, I know) bent on killing hero Billy Bob (that name!) because the latter arrested his sister who either died or killed herself, I can't remember. There's a biker gang in league with a group of violent extremist survivalist dudes, and there's Italian mafia guys who want to get 700k from this woman whose husband and son are both dead. Badly-timed humor ("Do you like Merle Haggard?), embarrassing love scenes, fucking mega macho Billy Bob, etc. It's pretty laughable, but at the same time James Lee Burke is an awesome story teller, and I still enjoyed the book. Oh, and there's a part where a dude gets tortured tied in a chair and shot with a baseball pitching machine, fuck that would hurt.
February 7, 2016
#3 in the Billy Bob Holland series.
Billy Bob Holland series - Texas attorney Billy Bob Holland, travels to big sky country for some fishing with Doc Voss, a friend who's relocated to Montana's Bitterroot Valley after his wife's death. Doc has made some powerful enemies in his campaign against a mining venture he believes would harm the economy and the pristine countryside. The stakes rise when his teenage daughter is raped in her bedroom. The rapists could be any of the white supremacists who live in the woods, randy bikers on the prowl, strange members of a conservative religious cult or even the Native Americans eking out a substandard living on the local reservation.
Billy Bob Holland series - Texas attorney Billy Bob Holland, travels to big sky country for some fishing with Doc Voss, a friend who's relocated to Montana's Bitterroot Valley after his wife's death. Doc has made some powerful enemies in his campaign against a mining venture he believes would harm the economy and the pristine countryside. The stakes rise when his teenage daughter is raped in her bedroom. The rapists could be any of the white supremacists who live in the woods, randy bikers on the prowl, strange members of a conservative religious cult or even the Native Americans eking out a substandard living on the local reservation.
October 19, 2017
A little disappointed, given how much I enjoy James Lee Burke's books. Story line hard to follow, difficult to discern who the bad guys are - changed a lot - and, frankly, I'm not sure what crime/problem was solved. That said, the prose is great - as expected - but the plot had more mud than pig sty after a storm.
October 19, 2020
When you read a new author, who has written books in a series, how do you pick which book to read? The first in the series? The highest-rated? The one with the most interesting plot? I've done each! I tend to use the latter two methods most. Bitterroot is my first James Lee Burke novel. It was the third Billy Bob Holland story, written in 2001.
The story, as you might guess from the title, takes place in (modern day) Montana - specifically the Missoula area. The plot set-up is this: Billy Bob, a former Texas Ranger who is now an attorney, is visiting his old Texas friend Doc Voss there. Billy Bob gets a courtesy call from the local sheriff to notify him that an ex-con named Wyatt Dixon, just released from a Texas prison, left behind a list of six intended murder victims, and Billy Bob is one of them. Throughout the story, Billy Bob sees and talks to visions of his old ranger friend who he accidentally killed in a raid in Mexico. Doc Voss is a hard-boiled Vietnam Vet who challenges anyone who disturbs the peace of Missoula, including bikers! We've all noticed that women and older men (like Doc) can get away with sassing badasses sometimes. Young men - not so much. Now Wyatt Dixon is seen working in town as a rodeo clown, and wastes no time threatening Billy Bob. And away we go...
The constantly ominous feeling of menace is like John D. MacDonald's Cape Fear on steroids. Burke's writing contains outstanding imagery again and again. It is clear that the Montana resident loves his home state. He also writes extremely amusing and reasonably believeable dialogue. He has what attracts me most to a writer - deep understanding of the vagaries of human nature. I found this book to read like a pleasant combination of Elmore Leonard and C. J. Box, two of my favorites.
However, while Burke's writing is imaginative and poetic, the complexity of the plot and the similarity of the numerous bad guys made it difficult for me to follow the action. You'd better be ready to keep a boatload of evil characters with similar M. O.'s straight in your mind. The narration is a combination of first person (Billy Bob) and third person omniscient. That can work fine, but when the writer combines both in one scene, it does not work! Even though in my opinion C. J. Box is not the writer that Burke is, I'm going to stick with him. I like the less complicated stories he puts forth better.
The story, as you might guess from the title, takes place in (modern day) Montana - specifically the Missoula area. The plot set-up is this: Billy Bob, a former Texas Ranger who is now an attorney, is visiting his old Texas friend Doc Voss there. Billy Bob gets a courtesy call from the local sheriff to notify him that an ex-con named Wyatt Dixon, just released from a Texas prison, left behind a list of six intended murder victims, and Billy Bob is one of them. Throughout the story, Billy Bob sees and talks to visions of his old ranger friend who he accidentally killed in a raid in Mexico. Doc Voss is a hard-boiled Vietnam Vet who challenges anyone who disturbs the peace of Missoula, including bikers! We've all noticed that women and older men (like Doc) can get away with sassing badasses sometimes. Young men - not so much. Now Wyatt Dixon is seen working in town as a rodeo clown, and wastes no time threatening Billy Bob. And away we go...
The constantly ominous feeling of menace is like John D. MacDonald's Cape Fear on steroids. Burke's writing contains outstanding imagery again and again. It is clear that the Montana resident loves his home state. He also writes extremely amusing and reasonably believeable dialogue. He has what attracts me most to a writer - deep understanding of the vagaries of human nature. I found this book to read like a pleasant combination of Elmore Leonard and C. J. Box, two of my favorites.
However, while Burke's writing is imaginative and poetic, the complexity of the plot and the similarity of the numerous bad guys made it difficult for me to follow the action. You'd better be ready to keep a boatload of evil characters with similar M. O.'s straight in your mind. The narration is a combination of first person (Billy Bob) and third person omniscient. That can work fine, but when the writer combines both in one scene, it does not work! Even though in my opinion C. J. Box is not the writer that Burke is, I'm going to stick with him. I like the less complicated stories he puts forth better.
December 16, 2007
Downloaded from Audible.com
Narrator: Will Patton
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio, 2001
Length: 6 hours (abridged)
Publisher's Summary
Set in the rugged Bitterroot valley of Montana - home to celebrities seeking to escape the pressures of public life and xenophobes dedicated to establishing a bulkhead of patriotic paranoia - Bitterroot features Billy Bob Holland, former Texas Ranger and now a Texas-based lawyer, who has come to Big Sky country at the request of an old friend in trouble.
And big trouble it is, not just for his friend, but for Billy Bob himself- in the form of Wyatt Dixon, a recent prison parolee sworn to kill Billy Bob as revenge for both his imprisonment and his sister's death, both of which he blames on the former Texas lawman. As the mysteries multiply and the body count mounts, the listener is drawn deeper and deeper into the tortured mind of Billy Bob Holland, an incredibly complex hero, tormented by the mistakes of his past and driven to make things - all things - right. What makes him especially fascinating is that beneath the guise of justice for the weak and downtrodden lies a tendency for violence that at times becomes more terrifying than the danger he is trying to eradicate.
Narrator: Will Patton
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio, 2001
Length: 6 hours (abridged)
Publisher's Summary
Set in the rugged Bitterroot valley of Montana - home to celebrities seeking to escape the pressures of public life and xenophobes dedicated to establishing a bulkhead of patriotic paranoia - Bitterroot features Billy Bob Holland, former Texas Ranger and now a Texas-based lawyer, who has come to Big Sky country at the request of an old friend in trouble.
And big trouble it is, not just for his friend, but for Billy Bob himself- in the form of Wyatt Dixon, a recent prison parolee sworn to kill Billy Bob as revenge for both his imprisonment and his sister's death, both of which he blames on the former Texas lawman. As the mysteries multiply and the body count mounts, the listener is drawn deeper and deeper into the tortured mind of Billy Bob Holland, an incredibly complex hero, tormented by the mistakes of his past and driven to make things - all things - right. What makes him especially fascinating is that beneath the guise of justice for the weak and downtrodden lies a tendency for violence that at times becomes more terrifying than the danger he is trying to eradicate.
January 21, 2008
I'm surprised, honestly, that so many people have given this book so many stars. I found it so unrelentingly grim that it was unrealistic and, at times, preposterous. How many bad*ss villains can there be in one tiny town in the middle of nowhere? Well, in Bitterroot there are Italian mobsters, sadistic biker gangs, totally amoral militant militias, corrupt corporations, and cruel, revenge-seeking ex-cons. And if that were not enough, the main character is even attacked by a particularly bad-tempered moose. Yes, a MOOSE! I found this parade of arrogant, posturing, threatening evil-doers to be ultimately tiresome and ridiculous.
September 25, 2020
I love a good mystery, but I love great prose even better. James Lee Burke takes both and puts them in a setting where you feel it all. This one had some colorful antagonists, that's for sure. They are downright sleazy, with a major ick factor, yet somewhere in the telling, Burke makes you see a tiny bit of humanity in them. Not much, but enough. And the protagonist has enough flaws to show he can be his own worst enemy. That's the type of story I like. But the setting.....I really want to go to Montana now. Burke has all the aspects of a good mystery that makes me want to keep reading into the night. . . yet stay in this world he created a long, long time.
September 20, 2014
My first James Lee Burke book. Interesting as it is located in Montana by Missoula and the Bitterroot Valley. We had just driven through Missoula and that area so some names were familiar - like the Deer Lodge prison which we have a picture of and is now a museum. The story was pretty good but I didn't get along well with the disjointed talk nor understand some of the meanings. I like more simple talk that makes sense and flows. I'll try Burke again though.
September 8, 2016
Very good! Engages the reader with beautiful Montana scenery; several likeable characters who are portrayed humanistically, and very little of the bloodlust and violence that are in copious amounts in some of Mr. Burke's other novels.
October 2, 2023
Most likely the worst book I have read by this author. Is it me or is Billy Bob Holland just a slightly different version of Dave Robicheaux. Of course, I like Dave much better. This is just too similar to every other book by this author. Very grim and violent.
November 20, 2024
A modern day western in the same vein as Longmire. I couldn't really get into it. Was I just not in the right mood? I'll give another in the series a try if I see one.
January 11, 2022
Billy Bob Holland, ex Texas Ranger, visits a buddy in Montana. Good thing, too, because his friend is the type of guy who wades into a gang of bikers and picks a fight. Too bad the friend has a pretty teen daughter. Because the bikers get their revenge that way. Oh, and in the meantime, some bad someone has decided they need to get their revenge on Billy Bob and there is a villainous mining company dumping cyanide in the river and there is a drug dealer around and, for some reason, there’s this big time author who is big time drunk lurching around the plot. Yup, Billy Bob has his hands full. But he has some time for a little casual homophobia because that’s the way he gets one of his enemies to self-destruct. The sheriff does not like Billy Bob and neither do I.
When I started this. I thought this was going to be the book equivalent of a Chuck Norris movie, laced with this author’s frequently brilliant prose. After the scene where Billy Bob bangs his true love after saving her from a savage moose attack, I gave up that hope. I should have stopped there. This one turns from stupid to horrid in its final third.
When I started this. I thought this was going to be the book equivalent of a Chuck Norris movie, laced with this author’s frequently brilliant prose. After the scene where Billy Bob bangs his true love after saving her from a savage moose attack, I gave up that hope. I should have stopped there. This one turns from stupid to horrid in its final third.
September 21, 2021
So much brutality in a small town.
August 6, 2022
Burke peppers this one with some spicy scenes that would make Colleen Hoover blush. He pulls a reader into the story like few can.
January 11, 2016
Burke is an outstanding writer. He is capable of creating interesting characters with odd quirks (like the mobster who likes to tie his enemies up in front of professional speed pitching machines or the Rodeo Cowboy with the clownlike grin and Aryan Brotherhood ties). Burke can write some interested turns of phrases. He uses powerful prose to describe the agony of men haunted by their propensity to violence past and present as well as the exhiliration other men feel with the same inclinations to violent behavior. With careful deliberation Burke pours on a little syrupy stuff about fishing that would probably make a true fishermen wish he was in the book's setting.
However, it would be difficult to describe this book as a mystery. Oh, there's a murder and multiple suspects for awhile among the colorful characters. However, one gets the impression that the story isn't about the murder-- but the characters and the fishing should get main play.
As with the Dave Robicheux (spelling?) novels-- the majority of the story is spent with a lot of tough guy blustering and spewed threats from one colorful character to another. The mystery is solved not through detective work, but more through a type of good-old-boy networking of dialogue. Just a little disappointing-- along with its resolution. Burke seems to want us to center on the growth of the individual lead character, Billy Bob Holland, and his relationship with the ghost of his ex-partner and those friends and family living around him. I don't think Burke really cares if there's a mystery at all, as long as the reader allows himself to be given a guided tour by the author around a garden of prose, vivid imagery and quirks.
However, I still gave the book three stars because it is so beatifully written. I can see that big rodeo cowboy with the dumb look on his face. I can envision the trout-filled streams, the dirt and gravel roads, the old cars. I can laugh at the mafia characters, the sarcastic sheriff, the fiction writer, and the movie star. I can hurt for Doc and his daughter. During the time I was reading this book, I was in Montana-- among the cowboys, the Indians, the bikers, the militiamen, etc.
However, it would be difficult to describe this book as a mystery. Oh, there's a murder and multiple suspects for awhile among the colorful characters. However, one gets the impression that the story isn't about the murder-- but the characters and the fishing should get main play.
As with the Dave Robicheux (spelling?) novels-- the majority of the story is spent with a lot of tough guy blustering and spewed threats from one colorful character to another. The mystery is solved not through detective work, but more through a type of good-old-boy networking of dialogue. Just a little disappointing-- along with its resolution. Burke seems to want us to center on the growth of the individual lead character, Billy Bob Holland, and his relationship with the ghost of his ex-partner and those friends and family living around him. I don't think Burke really cares if there's a mystery at all, as long as the reader allows himself to be given a guided tour by the author around a garden of prose, vivid imagery and quirks.
However, I still gave the book three stars because it is so beatifully written. I can see that big rodeo cowboy with the dumb look on his face. I can envision the trout-filled streams, the dirt and gravel roads, the old cars. I can laugh at the mafia characters, the sarcastic sheriff, the fiction writer, and the movie star. I can hurt for Doc and his daughter. During the time I was reading this book, I was in Montana-- among the cowboys, the Indians, the bikers, the militiamen, etc.
October 30, 2013
Read enough crime fiction and you realize that it basically comes in two flavors. There's the "whodunit," where a sleuth moves through a limited number of suspects--all of whom have motive and means to commit the crime. And then there's "noir," where there might be a formal mystery, but what really matters is the protagonist's tortured relationship to the social environment that produces criminality. This may not be the orthodox meaning of the term, but it fits. Defined in such a way, noir transcends the hard-boiled urban environs the word emerged to describe, and encompasses all kinds of gritty psychological fiction.
Despite noir's greater literary cachet, most popular crime novels are whodunits--formulaic, plot-driven, predictable and, when successful, "fun." They are the perfect books to read on a beach or an airplane, or when you want a good story but don't really feel like being challenged--which, apparently, is most of the time. So big name authors keep cranking the suckers out, and readers just can't get enough of them.
Bitterroot, the third book in Burke's Billy Bob Holland series, fits uncomfortably into this scheme. Burke is a bona fide name brand in crime fiction--he's won 2 Edgar awards, is ranked the #70 most popular fiction author on Amazon and has made the New York Times bestseller list numerous times. His books are published in the travel and airport bookstore-friendly mass market form generally reserved for high volume authors whose books aren't considered shelf material by most of their audience. And boy does he ever crank 'em out--32 novels and 2 short story collections in total, and nearly one every year since hitting stride in 1987.
But Bitterroot, at least, isn't the kind of disposable whodunit I usually associate with writers who do things like that. Instead, it's a surprisingly atmospheric, character-driven crime novel that's two parts noir for every part whodunit. And that's a good thing--because the plot is an utter mess...
Read the full review at Nerds of a Feather, Flock Together.
Despite noir's greater literary cachet, most popular crime novels are whodunits--formulaic, plot-driven, predictable and, when successful, "fun." They are the perfect books to read on a beach or an airplane, or when you want a good story but don't really feel like being challenged--which, apparently, is most of the time. So big name authors keep cranking the suckers out, and readers just can't get enough of them.
Bitterroot, the third book in Burke's Billy Bob Holland series, fits uncomfortably into this scheme. Burke is a bona fide name brand in crime fiction--he's won 2 Edgar awards, is ranked the #70 most popular fiction author on Amazon and has made the New York Times bestseller list numerous times. His books are published in the travel and airport bookstore-friendly mass market form generally reserved for high volume authors whose books aren't considered shelf material by most of their audience. And boy does he ever crank 'em out--32 novels and 2 short story collections in total, and nearly one every year since hitting stride in 1987.
But Bitterroot, at least, isn't the kind of disposable whodunit I usually associate with writers who do things like that. Instead, it's a surprisingly atmospheric, character-driven crime novel that's two parts noir for every part whodunit. And that's a good thing--because the plot is an utter mess...
Read the full review at Nerds of a Feather, Flock Together.
May 19, 2012
James Lee Burke's characters and storylines are always as intricate and complex as the landscape of the environment they occupy. Whether it's Dave Robicheaux in the sweltering humidity of the Louisiana boyous, Hackberry Holland in the dry, barren wastelands of the Tex-Mex borders or Billy Bob Holland, late of Deaf Smith, Texas, now transported to Montana and the twisting, undulation of the Bitterroot river; nothing is ever as it seems and no-one is without blame, least of all, his primary characters and protagonists. Billy Bob Holland is an ex-Texas Ranger and assistant D.A., turned public defender. He struggles with lingering guilt for the death of his ex-partner, LQ Navarro. He moves to Montana to visit an old buddy, a former Mennonite pacifist and decorated, former Navy SEAL and junkie turned poet and environmental activist. But what might be an idyllic holiday and career break soon turns into a multi-layered race to get his friend off a murder rap against a backdrop of neo-Nazi paedophiles; rapacious strip mining interests; a raped teenager and an Indian girl exploited by vengeful Federal agents. Then there's the mobsters, a cuckolded, drunk author and a sociopathic rodeo cowboy and his feminine boyfriend. Strangely, what I remember most is the soaring peaks, the winding rivers, the fishing and, in one explosive passage, an encounter with a charging bull moose.
February 4, 2019
“Bitterroot” by James Lee Burke, published by Simon and Schuster.
Category – Mystery/Thriller Publication Date – 2001
Again, I am going back and picking up on novels that I have missed over the years. This novel by James Lee Burke does not feature Dave Robicheaux, but Attorney Billy Bob Holland.
Billy Bob used to be a Texas Ranger before becoming an attorney. He is taking a vacation to do some fishing with a friend and winds up in a mess. The mess, includes not only his friend, but his friend’s daughter, Billy Bob’ son, a Mafia thug, and several other nefarious people.
Billy Bob must not only use his knowledge of the legal world but he must also fall back on his training as a Texas Ranger. He must sort out the fact that his friend his accused of murder but he is also faced with Indian customs and superstitions.
He is faced with a former prisoner, who is now a rodeo clown, who has no compunction about torturing or killing people, and he is out to revenge his sister’s death and his imprisonment – his dialogue alone is worth the price of the book.
This is an outstanding example of James Lee Burke’s writing style. He can weave a good mystery but he can also be very descriptive and put the reader into the book’s surroundings.
Category – Mystery/Thriller Publication Date – 2001
Again, I am going back and picking up on novels that I have missed over the years. This novel by James Lee Burke does not feature Dave Robicheaux, but Attorney Billy Bob Holland.
Billy Bob used to be a Texas Ranger before becoming an attorney. He is taking a vacation to do some fishing with a friend and winds up in a mess. The mess, includes not only his friend, but his friend’s daughter, Billy Bob’ son, a Mafia thug, and several other nefarious people.
Billy Bob must not only use his knowledge of the legal world but he must also fall back on his training as a Texas Ranger. He must sort out the fact that his friend his accused of murder but he is also faced with Indian customs and superstitions.
He is faced with a former prisoner, who is now a rodeo clown, who has no compunction about torturing or killing people, and he is out to revenge his sister’s death and his imprisonment – his dialogue alone is worth the price of the book.
This is an outstanding example of James Lee Burke’s writing style. He can weave a good mystery but he can also be very descriptive and put the reader into the book’s surroundings.
November 8, 2018
James Lee Burke’s novels have always contained a strong strain, almost an advocacy, of the ‘right’ to use violence to counter violent criminality. So much for the rule of law then…
In ‘Bitterroot’ Burke takes this ethos much further than in any of his previous novels.
The plot line in this novel is thin. The story is padded by Burke’s almost lyrical (and unending) paean to the Montana landscape. I am almost certain that the landscape deserves this, though not perhaps in a crime novel. Apart from that, Burke mixes a bit of native Indian mysticism, his usual attitude towards organised crime figures and small town constabulary, some hard to believe sex scenes and a very large amount of macho violence in a mish-mash of a story.
I read this mostly on a 14 hour flight across the Indian Ocean. It was a toss-up to decide which was the more inedible – this rubbish of a book or the airline food. I think the airline food won – narrowly.
In ‘Bitterroot’ Burke takes this ethos much further than in any of his previous novels.
The plot line in this novel is thin. The story is padded by Burke’s almost lyrical (and unending) paean to the Montana landscape. I am almost certain that the landscape deserves this, though not perhaps in a crime novel. Apart from that, Burke mixes a bit of native Indian mysticism, his usual attitude towards organised crime figures and small town constabulary, some hard to believe sex scenes and a very large amount of macho violence in a mish-mash of a story.
I read this mostly on a 14 hour flight across the Indian Ocean. It was a toss-up to decide which was the more inedible – this rubbish of a book or the airline food. I think the airline food won – narrowly.
August 31, 2010
James Lee Burke is supposed to be a great mystery writer. He has two Edgars. His books are always on the best seller list. So obviously I don't see what others do in his books. The only reason I finished the book is that I put it down here I was reading it. It was a strain to read. There was no real continuity. And when I got to the end (?), I was left with a real let down. There was not really what I expect as an end of the book. I decided that maybe it was just this one book that was a problem, so I read the sequel (In the Noon of Red Ponies). I again
read it through to the end and was no more satisfied with it than the previous book. Maybe the problem is just this series, so I will read his Edgar-winning novel "Purple Cane Road" which is from his detective Dave Robicheaux series. I'll report on it next.
read it through to the end and was no more satisfied with it than the previous book. Maybe the problem is just this series, so I will read his Edgar-winning novel "Purple Cane Road" which is from his detective Dave Robicheaux series. I'll report on it next.
April 28, 2015
Burke's stories are full of well-developed characters, descriptive action, and page-turning plots. This one is no different. Set in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana, Burke's novel features Billy Bob Holland, former Texas Ranger and now a Texas-based lawyer, who has come to Big Sky Country for some fishing and ends up helping out an old friend in trouble. Wyatt Dixon is a recent prison parolee sworn to kill Billy Bob as revenge for both his imprisonment and his sister's death, both of which he blames on the former Texas lawman. Billy Bob Holland is tormented by the mistakes of his past and driven to make all things right. But beneath the guise of justice for the weak and downtrodden lies a tendency for violence that at times becomes more terrifying than the danger he is trying to eradicate. An exciting story I couldn't put down.
May 20, 2014
This is my second read of Billy Bob Holland, once a Texas Ranger, now a lawyer living in Montana. I'm reading the sequels backwards but never the less I love the way Burke paints a colorful, glorious image of the state, the wildness and harshness, the peacefulness and the ugliness. I'd love to revisit Montana but with all those psychopathic murders and misfits running around the hillsides and woods, down the streams floating bodies and cabin-in the forest with burnt remains, heck not sure if I'll come out alive. It's an entertaining read with the sense of the Old West outlaws running amok. Yes, I'll read more of James Lee Burke's novels because each word has a beauty or a true ugliness to it - and the characters he paints! My oh my.
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