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    Pegasus Descending: A Dave Robicheaux Novel
    Pegasus Descending: A Dave Robicheaux Novel
    Pegasus Descending: A Dave Robicheaux Novel
    Audiobook12 hours

    Pegasus Descending: A Dave Robicheaux Novel

    Written by James Lee Burke

    Narrated by Will Patton

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    Dave Robicheaux is back in a dangerous mystery that involves stolen money, gritty casinos, and a beautiful girl with connections to his past.

    When a nice young woman named Trish Klein blows into Louisiana, passing hundred-dollar bills in local casinos, detective Dave Robicheaux senses a storm bearing down on his new life of contentment. Twenty-five years ago, lost in a drunken haze in Florida, Robicheaux was too far gone to save his friend and fellow ’Nam vet Dallas Klein, murdered in cold blood for gambling debts. Now, the arrival of Dallas’s daughter opens a door locked long ago, and extracting her motives points Robicheaux to the suicide of a local “good girl” pulled into a vortex of power, sex, and death. It’s Robicheaux’s most personally painful case—a roller coaster of passion, surprise, and regret—and it may be his deadliest.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateJul 18, 2006
    ISBN9780743564625
    Author

    James Lee Burke

    James Lee Burke is a New York Times bestselling author, two-time winner of the Edgar Award, and the recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts in Fiction. He has authored forty novels and two short story collections. He lives in Missoula, Montana.

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    Reviews for Pegasus Descending

    4/5

    311 ratings17 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Just great. That’s all I need to say. Awesome
    • 3/5
      I've now read books 1 through 7, 9, 11, and 15 in the Dave Robicheaux series, and I'm sad to report this will be my last, as each new book seems to reinforce Burke's flaws without building further on his great strengths. There have been no good surprises in several books now.The repetitiveness of the later entries of the Robicheaux series shouldn't detract from Burke's achievement in creating an intriguingly complex hero and a rich and unique environment in which he lives and works. Burke is one of the very best thriller writers from the standpoint of prose style. His descriptions are fine, and when probing human character he never underestimates the reader's capacity to register nuance. You can pick up almost any of these books as your first, and be satisfied. But I'd start at the beginning.
    • 4/5
      The plot holds together well in this excellent entry in the Robicheaux series. Burke provides more insight into the Dave-Clete relationship than he has in previous books, and really shows the bond that has formed in these two throughout the years. Burke also does a nice job with the relationships between Dave and Helen Soileau and Dave and Molly. This was some his best character work in several books.
    • 4/5
      Opening a book about Dave Robicheaux is like opening a door straight into New Orleans or the Louisiana bayou. Fast paced, brooding and wonderfully written as always.Back Cover Blurb:When a nice young woman named Trish Klein blows into Louisiana passing hundred-dollar bills in local casinos, detective Dave Robicheaux senses a storm bearing down on his new life of contentment.....Twenty-five years ago, lost in a drunken haze in Florida, Robicheaux was too far gone to save his friend and fellow 'Nam vet Dallas Klein, murdered in cold blood for gambling debts. Now, the arrival of Dallas's daughter opens a door locked long ago, and extracting her motives points Robicheaux to the suicide of a local 'good girl' pulled into a vortex of power, sex, and death. It's Robicheaux's most personally painful case and it may be his deadliest.
    • 4/5
      Unlike many of his other novels, I read Pegasus Descending, rather than listening to the audiobook. Reading James Lee Burke is different than listening to the audiobook. The chosen narrators have really captured the character of Dave Robicheaux. I have those voices in my head now when I read a Robicheaux novel. It works.A few general observations that struck me about JL Burke's stories: Nothing is ever as it seems. Even the gambler with a vendetta has a twist of her own. Burke doesn't do cardboard characters. They all have depth, history, and substance. The full humanity of Burke's characters is revealed gradually. A look, an unexpected response to a question, or a lack of response. A gesture, failure to make eye contact--all demonstrate flaws that have led or will lead to tragic consequences for one character or another.The setting has so much depth and vibrancy, it's a character as well. Burke paints a sunset over Lake Ponchartrain or a cluster of live oaks dripping with moss that will have you believing you've been there.One more thing: he doesn't ignore race. His stories aren't about race, but this is the South, Louisiana, and often race a factor in disputes, politics, in the social landscape. Race still matters. JL Burke doesn't forget that. Pegasus Descending starts out similar to other Robicheaux stories: unrelated incidents in Dave's life dredges up the past, and they gradually converge into a big problem for Dave. In the end, one thing remains true: In Dave Robicheaux's world, solutions are never easy, and justice is never simple.
    • 5/5
      Same song.. different verse! Just another, good old grade A, Dave Robicheaux story. James Lee Burke never disappoints with his tales of hard living and harder dying in the shadow of the Crescent City. 15th novel in the Dave Robicheaux series.
    • 5/5
      I've always liked James Lee Burke but this might be my favorite. He brings New Iberia, Louisiana so vividly to life. Burke is a master of creating atmosphere, and his characters are all interesting, especially Dave Robicheaux.
    • 5/5
      This is the second James Lee Burke novel I've listened to and the earliest audio version I could find at my library. I know I'm coming in partway through the series. James Lee Burke is fast becoming a favorite author of mine. His scene and character descriptions are vivid and entertaining, using words I've never heard, but getting his meaning across all the same. My vocabulary is increasing because I'm starting to use some of the words and phrases myself. :)Will Patton is the perfect narrator for this series. He does an amazing job with the different voices and manages to do the female voices without making them sound weak.In this book, Det. Dave Robicheaux investigates three deaths that he believes are related, but he can't figure out how.
    • 4/5
      It is damned hard to believe (and in fact i do not) that Clete gets away with destroying a floor or two of a major hotel in Los Vegas, or by bulldozing a man's home to the ground. This requires a goodly stretch of imagination. and that's why Burke gets a 4-star for this one.
    • 5/5
      This is the fifteenth novel in the Dave Robicheaux series and James Lee Burke is at the top of his game. He has everything working: great characters, a great mystery plot with three murders intertwined, beautiful descriptive writing that makes the background come alive, all coming together in an ending that picks up speed like a fast train and then explodes with surprises like 4th of July fireworks. I listened to this on an audiobook which I will not do again with a James Lee Burke novel. I have to look all over to get the spelling of the names and I can't go back and savor a particularly good scene.The story opens with the death of a lovely young woman Yvonne Darbonne. She starts out the day dancing to John Lee Hooker's "Boom, Boom" and ends up raped, full of drugs and with a hole in her head, probably self-inflicted. Then the corpse of Crustacean Man is found about 12 months dead from what looks like a hit and run. Then as the story moves on the body of Tony Lujan is found. A sensitive young man who had his face blown off with a shotgun. The last murder is that of Bella Lujan, Tony's father, his body eviscerated with vicious blows from a pickax whose tip was ground to a fine point to make a killing weapon.Throughout the book Dave is haunted by the death of Dallas Klein, a friend who got caught up with guys who don't play, murdered in front of Dave who is too drunk to stop it. His daughter Trish Klein comes into the story out to get Whitey Bruxal an old time Miami hood who was responsible for her father's death.Dave, as always, is trying to solve the secrets of life as he investigates the three murders. His inner monologue on the morality of life provides a moral compass that helps Dave navigate the stormy waters.Clete Purcel enters the scene and hooks up with Trish Klein putting himself in harm's way chasing the dreams of his lost youth.Only James Lee Burke can make you feel the mist coming in off of the water or notice the the hairline wrinkles around the mouth of Mrs. Lujan. Besides the criminals Lonnie Marceau, the Parish District Attorney, joins the list of bad guys with an ego fueled by the ambition to go to Washington.Monarch Little a local gang banger and drug dealer is cast in the role of Tony Lujan's murderer by everyone except Dave.Dave's support group of Molly, Clete and Sheriff Helen Soileau shake their heads when Dave's violence overflows and he lashes out and breaks one of Lonnie Marceau's teeth.In the end it is the repeated sifting through the evidence that brings a solution to the crimes. Trish does pull an unwelcome surprise on Whitey Bruxal hitting him in his money bags. The bad guys go to jail and the good guys go on to another day.James Lee Burke is an excellent writer. He makes you think as he entertains you. He presents the world as it is more greys than black and white. He adds moral content to a world of violence and evil. Do yourself a favor and try one of his books, betcha you can't read just one.
    • 4/5
      On his 4th wife Robicheaux has finally reached his 50's. Just past middle-age but wisdom is finally being achieved though he is still fighting his demons. Each book has an evil one and this is no difference. I would like too see a more ambiguous bad guy sometime. Burke's sense of place is still powerful and Clete Purcel is aging wonderfully. Probably the best Robiceauz novel I have read.
    • 5/5
      dave Robicheaux is working on three cases that he feels are connected. The first case involves the death of a co-ed of an apparent suicide. It should be simple but Dave feels that the facts don't add up.He is also investigating the death of a vagrant found in a decomposed condition in a roadside coulee. He may be a victim of a hit and run. Many people would not care for the loss of such an unfortunate person but to Dave, it's a matter of justice.Dave is also concerned with the activities of a young woman who was passing money in a casino. The bills had a coloring on them that indicated that they had been stolen. The woman is the daughter of a friend of Dave's who was killed in an armored car robbery many years ago.The other case has racial implications. An altercation happened at a restaurant between two college students and a man who sold drugs. When something happens to one of the students, the overambitious prosecuting attorney feels that the drug dealer is a convenient suspect. Dave feels that the man may be set up. The student had information about the hit and run death of the homeless man. James Lee Burke is a master and the reader is glued to the action as Dave tries to sort these misdeeds out. All of this is happening as New Orleans is on the verge of hurricane Katrina and the devastation the storm created in the area.Dave Robicheaux, with his sense of justice, his faith and unstable temper, is one of the great characters in literature. Together with his loyal but flawed side-kick Clete Purcel, these two characters leave an imprint that is unmatched.
    • 3/5
      This series is one of the best sustained ever. Although a little repetitious, this tale of friends in their different ways fighting various kinds of bad people.
    • 4/5
      Years ago, Dave Robicheaux witnessed a good friend’s brutal death during a bank robbery at a time when Robicheaux was too drunk to intervene or help. This memory has followed him through sobriety and into his job as a detective with the Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Department. Robicheaux is unsettled when Trish Klein, his dead friend’s daughter, shows up in his hometown, even more so that the men he thinks responsible for his friend’s death are now living there. Robicheaux suspects Trish has vengeance on her mind and grows concerned when he learns Clete Purcel, his former partner and best friend, is involved with Trish. Even more discomfiting to Robicheaux is his investigation into the apparent suicide of a young college student that leads back to the men who killed his friend years earlier. Dave Robicheaux is a complex character, an alcoholic haunted by demons from his tour of duty in Vietnam. Married to a former nun, Robicheaux desperately tries to lead a good life and seeks redemption through her, but cannot shake the past nor his more primitive nature. James Lee Burke writes with a love and admiration for southern Louisiana, delivered with a Cajunesque lilt. The plot is twisty enough to keep the reader guessing, the characterization intriguing.
    • 5/5
      As a regular Burke reader, I certainly wasn't disappointed with this book. I kept trying to read sections of it out loud to my wife to show her how something could be described. Where does he come up with these images? The first book I read by him a number of years ago (occassionally) had to do with seeing ghosts of long dead Confederate solders and I was a bit put off. But as I continue to read his works, I understand the imagery now, and thoroughly enjoy it. I think that the descriptive language he uses in developing the story and painting the background of the story should be preserved in an art museum next to other great painters. While I have never be in New Iberia, or much of Louisiana at all except New Orleans (BK), I bet if I was dropped there by some space ship, I could tell right where I was. All I can say is THANK YOU, MR BURKE. Keep them coming.
    • 5/5
      The past is never farther away than the ripples on the bayou outside Dave Robicheaux's New Iberia, Louisiana, home. This time it's Robicheaux's dark personal history - - when the detective "was still going steady with Jim Beam straight up and a beer back" - - that interferes with the tranquil present for newly married Dave. When Trish Klein turns up in New Iberia, it doesn't take long for Robicheaux to realize she is the daughter of his old friend, Dallas, who died in an armored-car robbery that Dave witnessed but was too drunk to stop. To make amends, Robicheaux must solve the several interconnected murders that track back to the man behind the armored-car hit.
    • 5/5
      Another terrific entry in this series - atmospheric, finely drawn complex characters, dark underworld. Those with a fondness for New Orleans will likely appreciate this. I listended to the CD, and the reading by Will Patton is wonderful, with all the appropriate nuances of the Louisiana drawl without being in your face.