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Title details for Light of the World by James Lee Burke - Available

Light of the World

#20 in series

by James Lee Burke
Will Patton
Audiobook
2 of 2 copies available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
2 of 2 copies available
Dave Robicheaux battles the most diabolical villain he has ever faced in this atmospheric thriller.
Sadist and serial killer Asa Surrette narrowly escaped the death penalty for the string of heinous murders he committed while capital punishment was outlawed in Kansas. But following a series of damning articles written by Dave Robicheaux's daughter Alafair, Surrette escapes from a prison transport van and heads to Montana, where an unsuspecting Dave—along with Alafair; Dave's wife, Molly; Dave's faithful partner Clete; and Clete's newfound daughter, Gretchen Horowitz—have come to take in the sweet summer air.

Surrette may be even worse than Dave's old enemy Legion Guidry, a man Dave suspected might very well be the devil incarnate. But before Dave can stop Surrette from harming those he loves most, he'll have to do battle with Love Younger, an enigmatic petrochemical magnate seeking to build an oil pipeline from Alberta to Texas, and Wyatt Dixon, a rodeo clown with a dark past whom Burke fans will recall from his Billy Bob Holland novels.

Drawing on real events that took place in Wichita, Kansas, over a twenty-year span, Light of the World "reaffirms Robicheaux's status as one of the most successfully sustained creations in contemporary crime fiction" (The Washington Post Book World).

  • Creators

  • Series

    Dave Robicheaux

  • Publisher

  • Awards

  • Release date

    July 23, 2013

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781442361485
      • File size: 548878 KB
      • Duration: 19:03:29

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      September 30, 2013
      Will Patton has read several Burke books before, and that experience shows. In this audio edition of the author’s 20th crime novel featuring Louisiana detective Dave Robicheaux, Patton boasts a confidence that can only come from experience. Robicheaux is a melancholy character, naturally enough given his life experiences, which included a stint in Vietnam and the death of his father in an oil rig explosion. Patton is completely convincing in the part, offering a perfect Cajun accent to accompany his sorrowful tone and pacing. This time around, Robicheaux and his family are trying to relax in Montana, but a murderer who escaped from prison targets his journalist daughter. Patton proves equally effective at portraying the book’s other characters, regardless of gender. Given the book’s conflict, providing the bad guy with a distinctive and menacing voice is crucial—and Patton succeeds there as well. A Simon & Schuster hardcover.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      This very bloody book features a crazed serial killer who arrives in Montana about the same time that Louisiana sheriff's detective David Robicheaux gets there for a vacation with family and friends. Will Patton's narration of this entry into the series is, with a few exceptions, top-notch. Patton's thick Southern drawl is a good match for the book's lush prose, and he masterfully renders Clete Purcel, Robicheaux's gravelly voiced best friend. The point of view is Robicheaux's, though, and he sometimes lectures readers about politics or sociology. Patton sounds no less pedantic delivering those lines. Also, Patton slows the pace to that of a poetry reading when Burke gets into a descriptive mode, a style that only draws attention to the occasional over-the-top prose. A good, not great, listen. G.S.D. (c) AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from June 3, 2013
      Bestseller Burke’s 20th Dave Robicheaux novel (after 2012’s Creole Belle), a powerful meditation on the nature—and smell—of evil, finds the Louisiana sheriff’s detective on vacation in Montana with family and friends. There they are hounded and haunted by a psychopathic serial killer, Asa Surrette, believed to have been killed in a prison van accident. Surrette has a fate worse than death in mind for Robicheaux’s journalist daughter, who interviewed him in prison. Meanwhile, his friend’s daughter, one of the most damaged women in detective fiction, is working on a documentary on shale oil extraction, earning her some powerful enemies. This book could easily have been subtitled “Daddies, Don’t Bring Your Daughters to Montana,” as people don’t just get killed: they’re tortured, disfigured, and eviscerated. Robicheaux himself remains haunted by his experiences in Vietnam. But even as the stomach roils, the fingers keep turning the pages because the much-honored Burke (two Edgars, a Guggenheim Fellowship) is a master storyteller. Agent: Philip Spitzer, Philip G. Spitzer Literary Agency.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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