Crusader's Cross: A Dave Robicheaux Novel (Dave Robicheaux Mysteries)
Registered by carlissa of Gainesville, Florida USA on 10/13/2008
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
5 journalers for this copy...
Synopsis
Critically acclaimed and bestselling crime writer James Lee Burke returns to Louisiana where his ever-popular hero, Dave Robicheaux, sleuths his way through a hotbed of sin and uncertainty.
For Dave Robicheaux, life in Louisiana is filled with haunting memories of the past. In Crusader's Cross, a deathbed confession from an old schoolmate resurrects a story of injustice, the murder of a young woman, and a time in Robicheaux's life he has tried to forget.
Her name may or may not have been Ida Durbin. It was back in the innocent days of the 1950s when Robicheaux and his brother, Jimmie, met her on a Galveston beach. She was pretty and Jimmie fell for her hard -- not knowing she was a prostitute on infamous Post Office Street, with ties to the mob. Then Ida was abducted and never seen again.
Now, decades later, Robicheaux is asking questions about Ida Durbin, and a couple of redneck deputy sheriffs make it clear that asking questions is a dangerous game. With a series of horrifying murders and the sudden appearance of Valentine Chalons and his sister, Robicheaux is soon involved with the murderous energies of the New Orleans underworld.
The Washington Post - Patrick Anderson
Throughout the novel, and all of Burke's writing, lyrical moments alternate with terrible violence. One wonders what impact this fierce juxtaposition has had on Burke's popularity.
Readers who love beautiful prose do not always enjoy violence, and those who relish violence may grow impatient with Burke's poetry. But if you believe, as he does, that beauty and horror go hand in hand in this life, he can touch you in ways few writers can.
----
unabridged, 10 CDs, read by Will Patton
Critically acclaimed and bestselling crime writer James Lee Burke returns to Louisiana where his ever-popular hero, Dave Robicheaux, sleuths his way through a hotbed of sin and uncertainty.
For Dave Robicheaux, life in Louisiana is filled with haunting memories of the past. In Crusader's Cross, a deathbed confession from an old schoolmate resurrects a story of injustice, the murder of a young woman, and a time in Robicheaux's life he has tried to forget.
Her name may or may not have been Ida Durbin. It was back in the innocent days of the 1950s when Robicheaux and his brother, Jimmie, met her on a Galveston beach. She was pretty and Jimmie fell for her hard -- not knowing she was a prostitute on infamous Post Office Street, with ties to the mob. Then Ida was abducted and never seen again.
Now, decades later, Robicheaux is asking questions about Ida Durbin, and a couple of redneck deputy sheriffs make it clear that asking questions is a dangerous game. With a series of horrifying murders and the sudden appearance of Valentine Chalons and his sister, Robicheaux is soon involved with the murderous energies of the New Orleans underworld.
The Washington Post - Patrick Anderson
Throughout the novel, and all of Burke's writing, lyrical moments alternate with terrible violence. One wonders what impact this fierce juxtaposition has had on Burke's popularity.
Readers who love beautiful prose do not always enjoy violence, and those who relish violence may grow impatient with Burke's poetry. But if you believe, as he does, that beauty and horror go hand in hand in this life, he can touch you in ways few writers can.
----
unabridged, 10 CDs, read by Will Patton
I listened to a little bit of this and didn't care for it. I put in the 5th round of my CD audio bookbox.
Doesn't sound much like my style of book.
This book enjoyed a brief visit in San Jose, CA before continuing its travels in carlissa's CD AudiobookBookbox!
This book enjoyed a brief visit in San Jose, CA before continuing its travels in carlissa's CD AudiobookBookbox!
chose from the CD audio book box. Escape lit for travel!
I started listening to this quite some time ago, then I misplaced the remaining CDs and went for several weeks reading other books and listening to stories on xm radio, until I found the lost CDs and finally finished the book. Thus my listening was interrupted and I may not offer a fair impression here.
I think this is the third audio book I have heard that was read by Will Patton. Patton's distinctive southern drawl and style of speaking tell a tale of their own, sometimes meshing well with what he reads and sometimes, in my opinion, not. He brings a specific flavor to the story, rather like an actor in a play.
I don't particularly like his speaking style. I can't deny that he's very good at this work, that he clearly seems to get into the story and tells it as he himself believes it. Yet many times I feel like the emphasis is not where I would have put it had I read it from a page of a book. I develop reservations about the characters he represents and I wonder if I would feel differently without his voice in my ears. Because I have read a couple of other Dave Robicheaux novels I think I would.
The novel begins in the past: when they were teens, Robicheaux and his older brother Jimmy foolishly swim too far in an area where there are sharks. They are rescued by a young woman in a boat, a young woman they eventually come to know as Ida Durbin. Jimmy is especially taken with this young woman and intent on finding out more about her. He discovers that she is actually working in a whore house and he determines to rescue her, to run away with her. She goes along with the plan, but it is not to be. On the day they are to meet at the train station (perhaps it's a bus station; I don't recall) Jimmy arrives but she is not there. She is not anywhere, and the signs he does find suggest that she may have been abducted and even killed.
Through the years Jimmy pines for his lost love and searches for her from time to time. When they are both in their forties (I am guessing) some things happen that bring those times back and send Dave off to find out what really happened to Ida Durbin. And so hangs a long and elaborate tale, encompassing Robicheaux's slip-ups and obsessions and revealing his superior officer's unending faith in him. While searching for Ida, Dave is also searching for a serial killer who mutilates his female victims.
In this novel Dave meets Molly, a woman working as a nun - but not an ordained (if that is the term) nun, at some kind of community center. Their hearts and minds connect and interesting things happen.
I think this is the third audio book I have heard that was read by Will Patton. Patton's distinctive southern drawl and style of speaking tell a tale of their own, sometimes meshing well with what he reads and sometimes, in my opinion, not. He brings a specific flavor to the story, rather like an actor in a play.
I don't particularly like his speaking style. I can't deny that he's very good at this work, that he clearly seems to get into the story and tells it as he himself believes it. Yet many times I feel like the emphasis is not where I would have put it had I read it from a page of a book. I develop reservations about the characters he represents and I wonder if I would feel differently without his voice in my ears. Because I have read a couple of other Dave Robicheaux novels I think I would.
The novel begins in the past: when they were teens, Robicheaux and his older brother Jimmy foolishly swim too far in an area where there are sharks. They are rescued by a young woman in a boat, a young woman they eventually come to know as Ida Durbin. Jimmy is especially taken with this young woman and intent on finding out more about her. He discovers that she is actually working in a whore house and he determines to rescue her, to run away with her. She goes along with the plan, but it is not to be. On the day they are to meet at the train station (perhaps it's a bus station; I don't recall) Jimmy arrives but she is not there. She is not anywhere, and the signs he does find suggest that she may have been abducted and even killed.
Through the years Jimmy pines for his lost love and searches for her from time to time. When they are both in their forties (I am guessing) some things happen that bring those times back and send Dave off to find out what really happened to Ida Durbin. And so hangs a long and elaborate tale, encompassing Robicheaux's slip-ups and obsessions and revealing his superior officer's unending faith in him. While searching for Ida, Dave is also searching for a serial killer who mutilates his female victims.
In this novel Dave meets Molly, a woman working as a nun - but not an ordained (if that is the term) nun, at some kind of community center. Their hearts and minds connect and interesting things happen.
Adding to CD-Only Book Box (started by booklady331)
Arrived home in my CD only bookbox. Taking this out of the box to listen to. I've read the reviews, so I am wondering if I will enjoy it, but thought I would give it a try.
Enjoy! lending to my son-in-love. He will send it back to me after he listens to the book.
back with me to listen to.
What can I say? I love Will Patton's voice as he reads this series. This is one series I want to listen to all the books instead of reading them.
The book is written in a lyrical prose. For myself, I have moments when I am listening to the book I felt like I was actually listening to poetry. I find Burke's writing beautiful. Burke is a master at writing tales that capture the flavor and spirit of the world he depicts. He is one of the best descriptive writers I have read. When Burke describes a summer thunderstorm you can smell the dampness rising off the pavement.
Burke has created a realistic hero protagonist: a complex man, with deep roots and deeper loves, heartsick for the lost way of life of his idealized youth in the Acadian bayou country. Crusader's Cross is rich with atmosphere. The story is full bodied and the characters memorable.
Others have given the synopsis, so I won't repeat it.
The book is written in a lyrical prose. For myself, I have moments when I am listening to the book I felt like I was actually listening to poetry. I find Burke's writing beautiful. Burke is a master at writing tales that capture the flavor and spirit of the world he depicts. He is one of the best descriptive writers I have read. When Burke describes a summer thunderstorm you can smell the dampness rising off the pavement.
Burke has created a realistic hero protagonist: a complex man, with deep roots and deeper loves, heartsick for the lost way of life of his idealized youth in the Acadian bayou country. Crusader's Cross is rich with atmosphere. The story is full bodied and the characters memorable.
Others have given the synopsis, so I won't repeat it.
Enjoy! off to FeistyPom2Love as a KTM RABCK
Thank you so much for sending this audiobook my way.
Wow, another great audiobook by James Lee Burke and read by Will Patton. This is the 2nd book I've been James Lee Burke and read by Will Patton that I've been exposed to and am becoming rather addicted to Burke's writing and Patton's narration of Burke's writing!!
I've added this book title into iwillrejoice's audio vbb!
I've added this book title into iwillrejoice's audio vbb!
Journal Entry 14 by FeistyPom2Love at Pacific Pinball Museum in Alameda, California USA on Friday, November 13, 2015
Released 8 yrs ago (11/12/2015 UTC) at Pacific Pinball Museum in Alameda, California USA
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
I left this audiobook outside the entrance of the Pacific Pinball Museum.
