The Neon Rain: A Dave Robicheaux Novel (Dave Robicheaux Mysteries)

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR JAMES LEE BURKE

THE NEON RAIN

Detective Dave Robicheaux has fought too many battles: in Vietnam, with killers and hustlers, with police brass, and with the bottle. Lost without his wife's love, Robicheaux's haunted soul mirrors the intensity and dusky mystery of New Orleans' French Quarter -- the place he calls home, and the place that nearly destroys him when he becomes involved in the case of a young prostitute whose body is found in a bayou. Thrust into the world of drug lords and arms smugglers, Robicheaux must face down a subterranean criminal world and come to terms with his own bruised heart in order to survive.

Customer Reviews:

A Weak Start To A Terrific Series

By Douglas A. Greenberg - September 6, 2001

The best way to read any literary series, including those involving hard-boiled detectives, is to pick them up in the order the books were written. That way, the individual stories take on greater meaning as part of the ongoing evolution of a principal character as he or she develops and changes. In light of this, it's tempting to recommend that prospective readers of James Lee Burke's Louisiana-based Dave Robicheaux series should start with *The Neon Rain*, which sets the stage for the numerous subsequent books. Anyone who reads Burke's prose should be impressed by his unusual gift for verbal description. His ability to paint word pictures of places, characters, moods, and feelings is exquisite, and for this reason alone a reader might plow through the entire story. However, the plot construction of *The Neon Rain* is so anemic that I would not be surprised if many of those who read this New Orleans-based story simply refuse to go on to the subsequent stories set in New Iberia... read more

Three and 1/2 stars...

By Cynthia K. Robertson - August 31, 2005

After reading two Dave Robicheaux mysteries by James Lee Burke, I decided to read this series from the very beginning. Neon Rain is the 1st book in the now 14 book series and was extremely helpful in filling in the blanks of Robicheaux's past that are only hinted at in later books.

Neon Rain opens in New Orleans where Robicheaux is a lieutenant in the New Orleans Police Department. He lives on a houseboat in Lake Pontchatrain, is recently divorced, is a Viet Nam vet and a recovering alcoholic. He carries around more than his fair share of scars and baggage. A man on death row at Angola Prison asks to see Robicheaux hours before he is executed, and informs Robicheaux that there is a contract out on his life. Robicheaux is just as surprised as anybody, but it involves the chance discovery of a young black prostitute floating dead in a bayou. In trying to solve the mystery of the contract, the lieutenant stumbles upon lots of graft and corruption in New Orleans that... read more

Mystery 101 (One Man's Continuning Education)

By Gregor von Kallahann - September 1, 2002

Except for a few Christies in my teens, I never read mysteries at all (except for one or two that somehow made it into my college curriculum). It had less to do with a lack of interest than a lack of time. I was a struggling academic a long time (too long) and, although I enjoyed mystery films and TV shows, almost everything I read had to do with what I thought would be my life's vocation.But the genre always intrigued me. International literary figures from Borges to Duerrenmatt have championed the genre and have often used it to their own ends. I was aware that many mystery writers were quite serious about their writing and that much of it rivaled the best in contemporary serious literature.So in recent years, I've been playing catch up. I've joined with others in forming a Mystery Discussion Group in my public library...and most of these folks are much more knowledgeable than I am. In the past year, we have been doing a lot of sampling of various series, usually a very... read more