Genre: Novel
Grade: B+
Notable People: James Lee Burke
Title: Light of the World
Review: Burke has gone a bit over the deep-end. In this, the umpteenth in the Dave Robicheaux crime series, he has moved from the Louisiana Bayou to the Bitterroot mountains of Montana-which corresponds to his own geographical re-location. Ostensibly, Dave and Clete and their families are spending the summer in Montana with a legendary activist writer friend. Needless to say, chaos follows and finds them. The book seems more far fetched than his even his usual and his long diatribes on the nature of evil, biblical exploration and the Vietnam experience take more of the book than the actual story. All that said, Burke is wonderful writer and has developed these great characters over the last 30 years. His descriptive powers of place are also among the best. It’s a thrill ride with a lot of lulls for rumination- but definitely worth the read.