The Glass Rainbow: A Dave Robicheaux Novel by James Lee Burke

My friend Orlinda Naranjo (The Honorable Judge of the 419^th District Court) once said to me, “You read to learn don’t you?” Although I’d never thought about it, her comment ended up being very insightful, and getting insight into one’s self is always a benchmark on the meandering trail of our lives.  I didn’t learn a thing from The Glass Rainbow. I was however, reminded of how eloquent James Lee Burke can be, which is why I often pick his novels to listen to when the hubby and I are making a road –trip together.  He, and many of my other closest friends, read to “escape” and/or for entertainment.  Don’t get me wrong, I like to be entertained too, but I am highly entertained by real life. Whatever, SueAnn. Just tell us what the book is about and if it’s good.

OK. The Glass Rainbow is Burk’s most recent in a long series of who done it’s,  staring Dave Robicheaux, a rode hard and put up wet detective in New Iberia, Louisiana.  This one is good, one of his best, but not as good as Tin Roof Blowdown. There are the usual suspects, a couple of murders, a family member endangered, twisting plot, depraved characters, yadda, yadda. But in my opinion, there are only three things about this book that make it worth the time: Click on Read More Below...

1. Clete Purcel, Robicheaux’s salty and hilarious “Sancho Panza” who steals the show every time he opens his mouth and deserves his own book/movie (I imagine Nick Noelte);
2. Will Patton the narrator (pictured to the right), whose reading (the audible version) is so authentic and hypnotic that it adds a whole ‘nother dimension to the book; and
3. Burk’s exquisite articulations of the Louisiana cultural idiosyncrasies - a culture that I adore.

So…. Read it?

Yes.

Good?

Yes.

Fabulous?

Naw. Other than Clete, the characters were anorexic, literature-ly speaking.