I loved this novel - its textured history, social commentary, nuanced battles between good and evil, its geographic sweep and its feisty heroine. I wish I could have spent more time in Miss Bessie’s company and I certainly won’t forget her !

The master storyteller continues to write deeply descriptive emotional sagas. I was a latecomer to some of his books and don’t know all the history of many of his characters. Bessie enveloped me into her life and her story portrayed a Texas from a bygone era. The oil well drilling, the corruption and women’s lack of any kind of value or status was rampant. I didn’t race through this story, instead I savored the pictures painted with his words. Her story will stay with me, I won’t forget Bessie. The history is dripping with truths not in any curriculum I ever had from books or teachers. Thank you to Grove Atlantic (via NetGalley) for providing me an Advance Reader Copy of “Don’t Forget me Little Bessie” and to the brilliant author James Lee Burke, publication 06/03/2025. These are always my own honest personal thoughts and opinions given voluntarily without any compensation.

Published by Atlantic Monthly Press on June 3, 2025

James Lee Burke earned a laminated spot on my list of top three crime fiction authors with his Robicheaux novels. He blends elements of westerns and crime thrillers in his Holland family novels. I’ve enjoyed every Burke novel I’ve read, although Don’t Forget Me, Little Bessie — a Holland family novel that focuses on Bessie Holland when she was in her early teens — is a notch below my favorites.

Bessie lives in Texas with her father, Hackberry Holland. Most of the story takes place in 1916, when Bessie is fifteen. Hackberry is a former Texas Ranger. Bessie tells us that “Mama used to say he was the best and bravest man on the Rio Grande, if only he didn’t drink.” When he isn’t drinking, gambling, or working his ranch, Hackberry is in Mexico chasing Pancho Villa, who has been leading his revolutionary army in attacks across the US border, much to the delight of Germany.

Soon after the story opens, Jubal Fowler peeps at Bessie Holland “through the slats of the schoolyard outhouse.” When Bessie’s brother Cody confronts him, Jubal uses a slingshot to shoot a marble into Cody’s eye. Cody will eventually leave to find a life in New York. Middle chapters of the novel follow Bessie to New York, where she has adventures in the city’s slums before returning to her father in Texas.

When Hackberry confronts Winthrop Fowler, Jubal’s father, about the marble incident, Bessie reacts to a perceived threat against her father in a way that leaves Winthrop disabled. Only a fib told by a man named Mr. Slick saves Bessie from prison.

Hackberry has a friend named Bertha Lafleur, whose life he saved when he was a Ranger. Bertha is now a madam who manages a brothel. Bessie is a Baptist who condemns Bertha and doesn’t believe her father should associate with her. That’s probably true, not because Bertha manages prostitutes but because she is willing to assist a heroin dealer in a way that betrays her friendship with Hackberry.

Bessie is more than a bit judgmental and something of a hypocrite, given the number of times she threatens to kill characters, all the while telling them not to swear in her presence. She’s also intolerably bossy, which I suppose captures the spirit of fifteen-year-old girls throughout history.

Bessie has few friends. One is Mr. Slick, although Bessie believes him to be a spirit, notwithstanding his eagerness to join her for meals whenever she invites him. Thriller authors can’t seem to resist the opportunity to introduce the supernatural into their fiction. Mr. Slick seemed like a pointless character to me.

Jubal Fowler is not exactly Bessie’s friend, although she finds herself attracted to him. While the Holland and Fowler families are in something of a feud, the attraction seems to be mutual when Fowler shields Bessie from being raped. He does nothing to prevent the rape of Bessie’s friend and English teacher, Ida Banks, in Bessie’s presence.

The supernatural also intrudes in the form of a little girl who was raped and killed but makes herself visible to Bessie when her grave is disturbed by oil drilling. Bessie seems to be living the little girl’s life, although we know from the start that Bessie is narrating this story many years after it occurred and thus is not killed like the little girl. Bessie will nevertheless experience another incident of sexual violence before the story ends. The novel’s rape scenes are not graphic but sensitive readers might find them disturbing.

During Hackberry’s absence, Bessie makes a deal with an oil company to allow drilling on the Holland ranch in an effort to save the family home from her father’s gambling debts. Bessie’s alliance with an oil company employee gives her another man to set her raging hormones afire, although her Baptist morals (and perhaps her own victimization) cool her desire. The oil man is too honorable to be working in the oil industry, which naturally does it best to cheat the Hollands as it goes about its business of decimating the Texas landscape. “There was a stench in the air like rotten eggs, a monotonous clanking of oil derricks, and a sky dark with soot, the fields lit with thousands of tiny tin flames that resembled rose petals.”

As is always true of a Burke novel, the story moves quickly. Uneventful scenes are punctuated with moments that generate tension. As is always true of a Holland novel, the story is filled with historical insights. I wasn’t as taken with the plot, or with Bessie as a protagonist, as I have been with the stories and characters in other Holland novels, but Burke is one of the best prose stylists in American crime fiction. I enjoyed the novel more for the pleasure of Burke’s language than for the story he tells, despite its regular moments of excitement and dread.

RECOMMENDED

Don't Forget Me Little Bessie is not an easy read, it follows the life of 14 year old Bessie at the beginning of 20th century. She lives in a troubled home where she has to rely on herself and quite often has to help her father who is an alcoholic. There's plenty of violence and ruthlessness and also there's a search for goodness in humankind. The characters are well developed, the story has a lyrical touch to it in spite of the violence it contains.
I thank the author, his publisher, and NetGalley for this ARC.

Don’t Forget Me, Little Bessie by James Lee Burke is a return to the thrilling Holland saga. The story is set in Texas, beginning in 1914. This is a period of profound change in America and in Texas. War in Europe is looming, the car is becoming common, and the oil boom is reshaping Texas.

And this is just as true for the Holland family. The story is told by Bessie, Hackberry Holland’s teenaged daughter who has been forced to take over the role of running the household after the death of her mother, while her father, Hackberry, spends his time drinking, gambling, and dreaming of returning to the excitement of his years in Mexico with the Texas Rangers…except when he does frequently disappear to actually relive those days, leaving Bessie to clean up any messes at home.

After her brother, Cody, loses his eye to the local bully while trying to defend Bessie’s honour, he leaves for NYC. Later, when her father gets into a fight with the bully’s father and Bessie shoots the man, she, too, flees to NYC. But things don’t go any better there and she returns home where she again takes over the household and, during another absence by her father, she signs a contract with an oil company to do exploration on their property.

James Lee Burke is one of the greatest living American authors and Don’t Forget Me, Little Bessie is an example of why. This is a dark, often extremely violent epic written in vivid, almost lyrical prose. His descriptions of place and time are beautifully rendered, completely drawing the reader into the story. The characters are complex and interesting, especially Bessie who is strong and resilient and more than a capable match against the many cruel men she encounters. There is also, as in most of Burke’s novels, a sense of the spiritual running through it. A beautifully written story, blending historical fiction with a touch of gritty western and a strong female protagonist.

Thanks to Netgalley and Grove Atlantic for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review

This is the first book I've read by James Lee Burke, although I have a few others marked 'to-be-read' and will now make a point of getting around to those since this one was so good. It's the fifth book in the Holland Family series but can definitely be read as a standalone.

The story is set near San Antonia, TX, beginning around 1914. Bessie is 14 and living with her father and older brother, her mother having died in childbirth. Her father had been a city marshal and Texas Ranger for over 30 years but was now mostly a drunk and pretty undependable.

Bessie is a strong female character, very smart, very moral--even though she does some legally questionable things. Keep in mind that this is a book about good vs evil and as Bessie herself says, the Holland family history is one of rage and violence. There are many scenes with people treating others very badly, reflecting the wild west of those days. There are also two horrific rape scenes, so the sensitive should be forewarned. And some profanity, but Bessie always calls it out as not proper. She is really delightful.

The quality of the writing is outstanding as is the depth of human understanding, showing compassion for people trying to do the best they can during difficult times. It is also fun that Burke brings in a few historical figures and includes them in his tale.

Many thanks to the author and publisher for providing me with an arc of this new novel via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.

An Unforgettable Miss Bessie

At this advanced stage of his career, James Lee Burke has hit another high point. “Don’t Forget Me, Little Bessie” is an arresting portrait of Bessie Mae Holland, a resilient 14-year-old girl navigating the harsh realities of World War I-era Texas. Like Burke’s signature male characters, Bessie exhibits an indomitable spirit, refusing to yield to the wickedness that permeates her world. This narrative stands as a testament to Burke's enduring power as a storyteller and his ability to create compelling, unyielding protagonists.

“I was tired of other people controlling my life and treating me like a fence post. Is there any law in the Bible or the Constitution that states a child has to accept the will of stupid or corrupt adults? When David was about twelve, he slung a rock between Goliath’s eyes and chopped off his head for good measure. That was always one of my favorite Biblical stories.”

If you are thinking of Mattie Ross from “True Grit,” you are in the same ballpark.

A cast of memorable characters populates the story. Bessie’s father is the legendary former Texas Ranger, Hackberry Holland, dedicated to his daughter despite battling alcoholism and longing to return to the untamed fervor of Mexico and Pancho Villa. Her brother, Cody, is now a professional boxer and connects her to Benny Siegel, Meyer Lansky, and Owney Madden. Ida Banks, Bessie’s teacher, finds herself branded as a suffragette, atheist, and a woman of questionable moral deviancies… Well, she did teach the poems of Emily Dickenson.

Indian Charlie, a figure of pure malevolence, is the quintessential James Lee Burke villain. Ironically nicknamed "Indian" not for his heritage, but for his brutal slaughter of Native Americans, he is the ever-present threat. His depravity knows no bounds, encompassing murder, rape, and the wholesale destruction of anything in his path. He has long fixated on Bessie and her father have always been his focus and the stage is set for what promises to be a showdown of epic proportions.

The supernatural plays a part in many of Mr. Burke’s novels, and here it takes the form of Mr. Slick. His initial appearance seems like a threat to Bessie, and she does not back down to him. His background and motivations seem a little vague at first and, while some people say they can see him, others just accept his existence as something Bessie needs to believe in. He evolves as the book progresses, acting as a protector and reluctant co-conspirator at times. This “haint” of Bessie’s is not just around to spook, he is a thoroughly developed and full-bodied character.

James Lee Burke is an American treasure. He can not only develop memorable characters and plots, he locks down the scenery with a prose bordering on the poetic. My introduction to him was in his Dave Robicheaux books, set in Louisiana. The sites, the sounds, the electricity in the air drew me in. None of this felt forced, the way some authors will take a detour to insert some flowery descriptions.

I have read the two dozen or so Dave Robicheaux books, as well as the Holland family series and several stand-alone books and short story collections– all excellent work. I look forward most to the Robicheaux books, but “Don’t Forget Me, Little Bessie” is certainly a highlight and the best thing I have read from him in a long time.

And some randomness…
“You are surely an unusual spirit, Mr. Slick.” " I ain’t got full spirit credentials, Miss Bessie. Besides, there’s some full-bred humans that’s eviler than demons. I know a mess of them.”

“I guess we all have our way of dealing with this world and the next. But Good Lord, why does everybody in my family have to be crazy?”

“When people are in trouble, they believe what they need to believe. There was no doubt I wanted a friend with supernatural powers. Maybe I had made up Mr. Slick”

Thank you to Grove Atlantic, Atlantic Monthly Press, and NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review. #DontForgetMeLittleBessie #NetGalley

To me, reading a JLB novel often feels like examining a riddle I know I’ll never solve. But in the end, I don’t really think that matters, such is my appreciation for the scale and the darkness of his stories and the complex and often violent figures he introduces me to. But most of all, I simply love his prose, the sublime way he puts words together and the feeling of pure wonder it creates in my head.

This story features Hackberry Holland, a legendary ex-Texas ranger, and his fourteen-year-old daughter Bessie. They live in southern Texas, in the early part of the twentieth century. The First World War will soon begin, and the drilling boom born of oil fever will arrive on the Holland’s doorstep. But both of these elements are merely background events, what’s at the forefront of the story is Hackberry’s incurable desire to disappear south of the border for adventure, violence and mayhem, and Bessie’s often lonely quest to eke out a life in this poor and somewhat desolate place she finds herself stranded. In truth, she’s depicted as wise and worldly beyond her years, and therefore she’s perhaps more than able to survive (if not prosper) despite the hardships she’s forced to endure.

The cast is Burke’s usual mix of reprobates, murderers and misfits. Mixed in with the drug dealer, the bad seed lawman and a ‘man’ who’s probably a phantom, or the spirit of a person, are a brothel owner, a school teacher and a trio of unruly young lads who befriend Bessie. I won’t delve into the plot, if only because it’s a hard one to explain. Suffice to say, Bessie becomes fixated on a young girl who many years ago witnessed the lynching of two black men, and a number of violent events put both Bessie and her father in peril.

There are numerous biblical references here, and also mention of a good number of historical figures – Stonewall Jackson, Davy Crockett, and the Sundance Kid all rate inclusion in this list. I found it to be a challenging read: sometimes sentences seemed to jar on each other, and I often got a little lost in the imagery. But, as always with this writer, for those willing to press on regardless, there are rewards aplenty here, too. The place and the time are vividly brought to life; the characters are richly described gargoyles or deeply principles people who espouse values we’d all do well to take onboard; the whole tale is painted on a huge canvas that’s rich in colour, complex in its nature, and attention grabbing in its pure ferocity.

It may be flawed, and some of it may not make perfect sense to me, but it’s a James Lee Burke story, and I feel all the richer for having read it.

Nothing is as welcome as a new James Lee Burke novel. This novel follows 14 year old Bessie Holland starting in 1914 in Texas. She lives a hard life with her mother deceased, her brother has left and her father is there now and then. Bessie is grown up beyond her years and maybe is being given much insight from those who have already departed this earth. She is trusting until she learns she should not be. She isn't afraid or appears to not be afraid of anything.

Whenever I read a Burke novel I always feel like I am right there. HIs words are pure poetry and his characters, whether pure evil or trying to do good, all have some form of recognizable humanity. At least at times.
Follow Bessie to the very end.

Thank you Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for this early read.

A trip by Bessie to the outhouse sets off a torrent of a tale that is violent, immersive, atmospheric, and propulsive. This latest in the Holland family series will be fine as a standalone but fans of Burke (and I'm one) will thrill to see echos of characters that we've met in other installments (as well as in the Robicheaux novels). It's the early 1900s and Bessie is 14 at the start, living with her father and brother Clay in Texas but it moves to New York City and then back again. Jubal Fowler is a bully, only the first of a series of men who will try to bend or abuse Bessie but one who will play a defining role in her life. Her father is a man larger than life who prefers to head off to Mexico than running his farm. And then there's Mr. Slight. What exactly is Mr. Slight? He's a classic Burke spirit/haint but he's a bit more interactive than most. And what about the little girl in the woods? Bessie believes that she's the person the girl was meant to be. Go with it. There are lots of bad guys but also people who have more depth than it first appears. Know that there are graphic scenes involving both people and animals. But know also that it's a great read. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. Highly recommend. And that last sentence!

James Lee Burke’s Don’t Forget Me, Little Bessie, #5 in the Holland Family series, tells the page-turning story of former Texas Ranger Hackberry Holland’s daring teenage daughter.

Set in Texas during the early 20th century, with Mexicans causing trouble on the border and oil companies exploiting the land in search of wealth, motherless Bessie and older brother Cody must often deal with life on their own as their father leaves the farm in search of adventures. Cody comes afoul of a troublemaking, violent student with a dangerous father, and with no father he can rely on of his own, he decides to leave home for self-protection, ending up in New York City.

When a teacher regarded as an outcast by the town encourages Bessie to express her opinions and stand up for herself, a series of violent incidents culminate in Bessie’s killing a man to save her father. Having run up against Indian Charlie, her father’s adversary many years ago in Mexico, but who now works as security for an oil company, Bessie fears for her life and leaves home to find Cody living in the slums of New York City where Bessie and a group of young street-wise boys befriend one another. Although not sampling New York’s glamorous life, the city soon becomes more dangerous for Bessie than the home she fled.

Filled with ever-increasing dangers, Don’t Forget Me, Little Bessie introduces an assortment of memorable characters including, not only the teacher and Indian Charlie, but also Indian Charlie’s dangerous associates, leper colony cowboys, crooked lawmen, a black mother and daughter working for the Holland’s, a brothel madam, the bumbling but protective spirit called Mr. Slick, and more.
My first of Burke’s Holland Family series, this wild romp of a harrowing thriller has found a new reader for both that series of which it is the latest installment and also for the Hackberry Holland series.

Thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for an advance reader egalley of this highly recommended new book from best-selling writer James Lee Burke.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me an advance reader copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

James Lee Burke is one of America's greatest authors! This next installment in the Holland Family saga is a great addition to the series! You will love the continuation of Hackberry Holland's life and see where his daughter Bessie gets many of her traits. A worthy addition to everyone's bookshelf!

Description
Bestselling author James Lee Burke tells his most thrilling and insightful story yet through the eyes of fourteen-year-old Bessie Holland

At the beginning of the twentieth century, as America grapples with forces of human and natural violence more powerful than humanity has ever seen, Bessie Holland yearns for the love that she has never known. She finds a soulmate and mentor in a brilliant but tormented suffragette English teacher, who inspires Bessie to fight the forces of evil that permeate her world.

Watching the vast Texas countryside being destroyed by an oil company and a menacing figure with a violent past, Bessie is prepared to defend her home and her family. But when she accidentally kills an unarmed man to defend her father Hackberry, she must flee to New York. There, her older brother introduces her to boys who will grow into gangsters, but as children admire and respect Bessie’s spirit and fortitude as she is cast into a gangland that yearns for justice and mercy.

A welcome return to the beloved Holland series and populated with characters both radiant and despicable, Don't Forget Me, Little Bessie is an epic story of a remarkable young girl who fights against potentially overwhelming forces.

Bessie Holland is not here to be precious. She’s not a girl with ribbon-tied dreams and gentle awakenings. She is fourteen, she’s furious, and she’s about to kill a man. “Don’t Forget Me, Little Bessie” opens in 1914 outside San Antonio, Texas, and it rips the shine right off the coming-of-age genre. This isn’t about growing up. It’s about surviving long enough to make it mean something.

Bessie lives on a battered ranch with her alcoholic father, Hackberry Holland, a former Texas Ranger turned full-time wreck, and her older brother Cody, who bolts for New York after losing an eye in a small-town feud. Their mother is dead. Their family is known more for blood and violence than any kind of warmth. The Hollands don’t suffer fools, but they do seem to attract curses. When Bessie shoots an unarmed man to defend her father, she’s not just standing up for herself. She’s setting the tone for a life spent outrunning what other people want to do to her and what she’s capable of doing back.

Bessie’s exile to New York doesn’t soften the story. It sharpens it. Her brother is now deep in the orbit of future gangsters, and the city is a fresh brand of danger wrapped in opportunity. But even surrounded by crime, Bessie doesn’t lose her moral gravity. She is complicated, raw, and often angry. She makes mistakes. She misjudges. She says what she means even when no one wants to hear it. And you never forget whose story this is.

Back home, Texas is boiling over. Oil men are gutting the land. Corrupt families like the Fowlers, violent, entitled, and deeply tied to Bessie’s worst moments, never really go away. The violence is constant. The justice is rare. But what’s shocking is not how bad things are. It’s how clearly Bessie sees them, and how hard she tries to live in a world that gives her no clean place to stand.

There are supernatural elements. A mysterious figure called Mr. Slick follows Bessie through the story, showing up in moments of uncertainty like a half-haint, half-conscience, dressed like trouble and delivering cryptic encouragement. It could have been cheesy. Instead, it works. Mr. Slick is part phantom, part metaphor, part very real companion. He is a weird, wonderful whisper of something beyond logic that somehow fits into this brutal, dirt-covered world.

What makes this book sing is the emotional charge behind every violent moment. Ida Banks, Bessie’s suffragette English teacher, becomes both mentor and mirror. Their shared trauma is never neatly packaged. And that’s true of every connection Bessie makes. The line between protector and predator, sinner and saint, is constantly redrawn and often crossed.

James Lee Burke does not hold back. The book feels lean but lyrical, grounded in grit, blood, and the kind of insight that doesn’t feel earned so much as carved. The atmosphere is thick with rot and reverence. Think "There Will Be Blood" meets Scout Finch with a gun and no illusions. This is not nostalgia. It is fury rendered poetic.

Four and a half stars. This isn’t just Bessie’s story. It’s a reckoning. With Texas. With power. With what it means to be good in a world that keeps rewarding cruelty. If the rest of the Holland family saga echoes like this, I’ll be going back and reading every one.

Huge thanks to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for the advance copy. This story cut deep and stayed loud.

5 Glorious, Blazing, and Exploding Stars

"A strong woman stands up for herself. A stronger woman stands up for everybody else. (Unknown)

Meet Bessie Mae Holland. It's 1914 just outside of San Antonio, Texas. The country is perched on the edge of great changes to come. The rumblings of an impending World War I are on the brink alongside the extending claws of a flu epidemic that will take millions of lives across the globe in its aftermath.

And there's Texas. (My Home Sweet Home) Texas boasts of its beauty and of its unruly nature. Picture that at the turn of the last century. Bandits and banditos roamed the plains and hid in its caverns. Small towns like the one that Bessie hails from are seeped in the lawless and the unrefined. Fighting tooth and nail for what you have and what you want was a daily occurrence.

Bessie lives on a ranch with her father, Hackberry Holland, a former Texas Ranger and a current drunk. Bessie's mother died years ago. Her brother, Cody, ran off to New York City to make his way as a boxer after having his eye put out at the end of a slingshot held by Jubal Fowler. The Fowlers are a bad, bad bunch,

James Lee Burke pours a lot of added grit into his novels. His characters are carved and hewn out of ancient rock.......some for the good and often for the bad. So bad, at times, that they transfer evil within every step. We'll meet all kinds of folks who'll cross Bessie's path during her teenage years. Ida Banks, her teacher and suffragette, will have a great impact on Bessie along with a shared unspeakable experience. And her Papa will almost drain the life out of her on a daily basis.

Burke injects a clever element of the supernatural in the character of Mr. Slick who follows Bessie around like a stray puppy. Dressed in derby hat and spats, Mr. Slick will pop up in the most unlikely places offering solace lined with irritation at best.

But the all and everything is in the character of Bessie who is one of the best characters that Burke has ever developed. Bessie is often left on her own to face the dark side of the Moon. It's Bessie who puts herself out there for the weak and for the small. Bessie is determined to land on her feet even when she is tossed to the wind.

Don't Forget Me, Little Bessie can definitely be read as a standalone even though it is in the Holland Series. This is certainly not my first Burke novel, but I've not read any in the Holland Series until now. A brilliant and captivating storyline that leaves your heart pulsating after the last page. Bravo, as always, James Lee Burke. Just bravo!

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Atlantic Monthly Press and to the talented James Lee Burke for the opportunity.

Bessie Holland is telling her stories and what stories they are...it's the new century and the violence is more powerful than ever. Young Bessie finds her mentor in a suffragette English teacher, who teaches her to see she can and has to fight against the evil that is all around. When Bessie is older she accidently kills and unarmed man while defending her father and flees to New York and her older brother. There she learns all about the gangland members and what they do. Later returning to Texas and the land she grew up on that is now oil rich, the evil from New York follows her and wants to end her. She will have none of that. Bessie will fight with everything she has to survive and live her life, no matter what it takes or who she has to fight. She is determined to overcome and survive, which in the end she does, but not without much suffering for her and all she loves.

Don’t Forget Me, Little Bessie is the forthcoming next installment in James Lee Burke’s Holland family saga. The book relates the life of Bessie Holland, who at the start of the novel, is fourteen years old and living with her father Hackberry, a retired Texas Ranger, in Texas in the early 1900’s. It’s a tale replete with violence and revenge, with numerous historical references to such disparate characters as Davy Crockett and Meyer Lansky., and events such as the Alamo and World War One. The action starts in Texas, moves to the tenements of the lower east side in Manhattan, and then back to Texas for the rather violent denouement.

I’ve read most of Mr. Burke’s novels, and Bessie may well be one of the most fascinating characters he’s created. Determined, opinionated and fearless, she dominates the narrative, continually fascinating this reader with her exploits and reasoning as to her actions. While many of the supporting characters are well drawn, I felt that Indian Charlie, the main villain in the piece, was more cartoonish than believable. But this didn’t detract from my enjoyment of this book from one of my favorite authors.

My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing an ARC of the novel.

Don't Forget Me, Little Bessie by James Lee Burke is a very highly recommended historical fiction family drama/coming-of-age/good vs. evil story set in Texas opening in 1914 during the WWI time period. This is the fifth novel in the Holland Family Saga.

Young teen Bessie Holland is struggling through life with an alcoholic, former Texas Ranger father, Hackberry Holland, and her brother Cody. Their mother is deceased. An ongoing feud with the Fowler family results in Cody losing an eye via Jubal Fowler and his slingshot. Cody runs away to NYC. Hackberry confronts Jubal's father Winthrop, which result's in Bessie shooting Winthrop. She ends up in jail, but is later released, but the violence around her continues. Bessie flees to stay with Cody in NYC where more trouble awaits. She later returns to Texas where the ongoing violence there escalates.

The writing is exceptional as Burke descriptively captures the setting (in Texas and NYC) and the time period. This is when oil drilling was new in Texas and cars were becoming more common. Women were often dismissed and/or abused by men. Bessie is fourteen when the novel opens so this is set during her teen years. The violence and corruption around her is overwhelming, yet she always speaks her mind, stands up for herself, doesn't back down from conflict and fights back against the bullies and thugs.

Bessie is a fully realized, complicated character with both strengths and weaknesses. She finds a friend and mentor in her former English teacher, Ida Banks, and Mr. Slick, a spirit/drifter/haint who helps her again and again. Most of the characters around her are unethical, evil, threatening men. The few exceptions stand out.

Even though this is the fifth book in the Holland family series, it can be read as a stand alone novel. I was unsure when supernatural elements appeared early in the narrative and almost stopped reading, but Mr. Slicks appearance and on-going presence in the plot isn't distracting and ends up adding to the plot. Ultimately this is a very violent plot where any justice is hard fought with moral ambiguity, but it also showcases a strong, young female protagonist.

Don't Forget Me, Little Bessie would be an excellent choice for those who like westerns and family dramas with strong women. Thanks to Grove/Atlantic for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

The review will be published on Edelweiss, Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

Bessie Holland is Scout raised by Dirty Harry and she narrates one of the most moving, violent novels of the year.

We first become enamored by our willful teenage protagonist in a ferocious 1920s Texas revenge story. The setting shifts to darkly atmospheric NYC with a gangster-loaded theme, and for the final act, we return to Texas as characters chase the oil boom and try and stay alive. No matter the backdrop, sick and wicked adversaries do not discriminate dealing out evil. Bessie's wisdom grows as the blood of those dear to her pools.

A Fight Club mind/body duality is at play and with the presence of major historical figures blended throughout the book give off a Forrest Gump undercurrent. Gorgeous depictions of bursting geysers will remind readers of Sinclair Lewis/There Will Be Blood.

Burke's powerfully pared down writing is comparable to Cormac McCarthy, Hemingway, James Ellroy, and Donald Westlake. This author fills pages with perfectly manicured prose and makes it all seem so effortless we should each be inspired to pick up a pen.

How Burke’s 88 year old soul so accurately channels the youthful voice of Bessie throughout the book is astonishing. Joyce Carol Oates has competition from another octogenarian. Highly recommended!

Thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for the review copy.

Just finished Don’t Forget Me, Little Bessie and I’m honestly stunned. Burke’s prose is as lyrical as ever—achingly beautiful, haunting, and soaked in memory. This is a story of reckoning, of ghosts that linger in the soul and a lifetime’s worth of pain carved into every page. It’s not a light read, but it’s a necessary one—full of grit, grace, and the kind of sorrow that sings. A masterwork from a legend.

Set in Texas at the beginning of the 20th century, the novel focuses on Bessie Holland; a headstrong and likeable character, who reminded me of an older version of Scout, the protagonist from “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Taking place at a time when racism, injustice, and women’s disenfranchisement were all part of the landscape, Bessie is fearless about standing up for what is right…even when it means walking into a dangerous or tense situation. Living with her alcoholic father, who is a remnant of the cowboy era of the 19th century, the book follows Bessie from her teenage years to that of a young woman.

All in all, this is an ideal book for anyone who enjoys historical novels. In this regard, as with his other books about the Holland family, James Lee Burke does an amazing job of capturing a time and place in history. As the late 19th century was just behind the corner, the story included passing references to Davy Crockett, Wild Bill Hickok, the Sundance Kid, and others; many, of whom, Bessie’s father directly encountered during his days as a Texas Ranger. For that matter, given the role that Bessie’s father played in violence of that time period, I appreciated the narrator’s observation that we can’t judge the 19th century “…with modern day eyes.”

Although some readers might not enjoy the role that the supernatural world periodically plays throughout the novel, I felt that Burke masterfully used it to enhance the dynamics of the story. Also, as with his other books, I appreciated that Burke filled the novel with very believable characters, who struggled with their own share of flaws, defects, and redemption. Overall, Burke is an incredible storyteller whose words simply flow off the page; and, luckily for readers, this is definitely the case with his current novel.

I would like to thank Atlantic Monthly Press for providing me with an early copy of this novel via Net Galley. All of the opinions above are my own.