Jolie Blon's Bounce (Dave Robicheaux Series #12)

Dont waste your time

Cant believe anyone thinks this stuff is worth reading . It is bad enough these things really happen( ed). Don't need to visit or revisit it.

Burke engages all the senses including the sixth

This book wrapped around my soul and touched memories, sensations, and questions from childhood days. He walked a fine line with this book the same line many of us walk, who see, feel and hear more question more. Evil. Burke faces this difficult term with complexities within a man's soul and a real charactorization of living beings. And his writing. Tangible. He is among the classic greats. You need to read this novel to understand the pure genius of his world.

great read

this book is a real page turner, it was very hard to put down I feel that Mr burke has hit it on the head with this one a great book

the best yet

I always enjoy the writing James Lee Burke. But this one is the best yet. He has you smelling the repulsive, tasting the revolting, and seeing the evil in his characters.

back in form

While any of the Robicheaux books are good, James Lee Burke seemed to have got mechanical in his last three. They just didn't have the heart of earlier Robicheaux books such as 'A Stained White Radiance' or 'Black Cherry Blues.' 'Jolie Blon's Bounce' is a quantum leap up from Burke's most recent novels. Robicheaux himself is grittier and more philosophical; his boss is a theological presence, reminiscent of Slim in 'Of Mice and Men'; and the warped, acidic creatures, Legion Guidry and Marvin Oates, remind us that Burke can take Flannery O'Connor a few notches further into contemplation of the origins of evil. 'Jolie Blon's Bounce' is one of the best selections in the Robicheaux series without a doubt.

He can still write a page turner for his fans!

Having read James Lee it is easy to tell that he is long bored with Robicheaux and Purcel; he has nothing new or interesting to say about them. He just hasn't the self confidence to kill off even one of those two old boudin winners. In this novel the bad guys and girls are too much more interesting than the good guys and the dyke. Maybe the dyke should have had a bigger part. Maybe next time she will? This is the second Burke novel in which the main bad guy is a psychopath and James Lee still can't come close to Stephen King (The Dark Half)or Martin Scorsesee (please excuse the spelling). Will Massa Burke give the psychopath thing a rest? Hopefully! James Lee can still write a page turner.It is only that he has done much better than Jolie Blon's Bounce. Still, don't you just know that the next Robicheaux novel will be better?

about to read it--has to be his best yet

james lee burke can evoke the heat the moods and tones of the louisiana parishes as well as i remember them-and they are strong sense memories indeed. he writes seemingly without sweat--after much sweat!!-harry crews must love him--they must know each other--

Classic Burke

James Lee Burke continues his outstanding work. A master for details.

great writer, great story

Full of symbolic biblical and supernatural characters but the style of writing has a richness and depth that I find rare in novels today. Each page is saturated with southern life and there is a constant fight within even the good characters to suppress the evil that constantly tries to express itself in each of us by exploiting our human weaknesses. Sit back and drink it in.

A Must Read

James Lee Burke is an exceptional writer with an ability to make his characters jump off the page. His descriptions of the bayous and bars are so detailed that you can picture it in your mind and almost smell the odors and feel the heat of the deep south. I have read every one of his novels and can't wait until he publishes his next one.

Best Yet

Just when I think Burke could get no better, he gets better. Jolie Blon's Bounce is the best yet. The imagery and dialog is superb.

Save your money!!!!

i couldnt get past page 70. the dialouge was so complicated it took away from the story.

Poor start

JOLIE BLON¿S BOUNCE AUTHOR: James Lee Burke PUBLISHER: Simon & Schuster REVIEWED BY: Barbara Rhoades BOOK REVIEW: This book was supposed to have been about a girl being killed and the person that the police believe is the suspect. The author even takes the time to do his own introduction. Mr. Burke talked about the Cajun life and music. It was wonderful to hear his thoughts on this and I thought he would add a bit of this local color to his story. I was very excited to begin listening to the story. I was all set to listen to a GREAT book on Southern life and the murder of this poor girl. After two chapters of a story about a 12-year-old boy and his brother, two couples ¿making out¿ in a car and the boy¿s father and another friend running rum and whiskey, I was very dissatisfied with Mr. Burke¿s book. With 12 CD¿s, I had no desire to listen to the rest. I wanted to get into the story that was stated on the overview on the CD case. If you are interested in listening to a book that takes many chapters to set up the story, then this is the book for you to read. If you are like me and want to get into the story, I would not buy this one.

fascinating crime thriller

Tee Bobby Hulin, a black junkie who never committed a violent crime, is fingered for the murder of Amanda Boudreau. New Iberia, Louisiana detective Dave Robicheaux doesn¿t believe he committed the crime even though the evidence points that way. When a local prostitute Linda Zeroski is also murdered in a violent manner, Tee Bobby, who is out on bail, becomes the number one suspect for that homicide too.

Linda¿s father is a powerful New Orleans mobster who comes to New Iberia to enact vengeance on his daughter¿s killer. Dave¿s investigation leads him to lean on Legion Guidry, a man who is the embodiment of evil. Legion beats up and emasculates Dave who first ends up in the hospital and ultimately off the wagon. Before he can discover who the killer is, he must defeat his own demons before they destroy him.

James Lee Burke is one of the better writers of the last decade. His prose is lyrical yet atmospheric, smooth yet dangerous, silk yet graphic. His protagonist is a flawed tortured soul who immediately makes a place for himself in the hearts of the audience. Jolie Blon¿s Bounce is a fascinating crime thriller with so many vile villainous suspects that readers will find it near impossible to figure out who the killer actually is.

Harriet Klausner

The Ending Spoils a Promising Book

I'm a big James Lee Burke fan. The ending of 'Jolie Blon's Bounce' left me disappointed and angry. Burke beautifully interweaves the present with the story of terrible tragedies on a plantation in the 50's. But he hits the reader over the head with supernatural references. The story's main villian tells anyone who asks, 'My name is Legion.' In case you don't get the connection to the man possessed by demons in the New Testament, Burke gives the 70-some year-old apparent superhuman strength and at one point has him hissing like a snake. Oh, and there's also a bible salesman who turns up everywhere (hint, hint). Okay, I get it. But that's not the worst. Burke interjects a ragged homeless man who claims he is the medic who saved Dave's life in Vietnam. Ready for the biblical symbolism? This homeless man wanders around with a rolled up tent on his shoulders and his arms constantly outstretched. Like the cross. Bam. Another hit on the head. Of course, this is all funneled towards a supernatural conclusion. Which basically is resolved in a single sentence, and doesn't really involve Dave Robicheaux. Then the epilogue reveals that perhaps the homeless man wasn't really who he said, and there's an very unsatisfying conclusion to the substory of the rich lawyer who's family's arrogant misdeads are at the heart of the present story and backstory. The other Robicheaux novel with an overt supernatural theme, 'In the Electric Mist With the Confederate Dead', let the reader decide whether the supernatural beings were real or imaged. 'Jolie Blon's Bounce' tries for the same effect, but it's kind of hard when the homeless man/medic/Christ figure is seen by and interacts with many of the characters in the novel. I loved the novel until the conclusion--then I hated it. Signed, A James Lee Burke Fan

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