James Lee Burke keeps being the best at what he does, and the worlds he creates. He is the best at the game. Literary thrillers that brim with violence and heart. He writes like a dream, and Bessie would make an amazing character in a movie, and I’m hoping returns in another book down the line.

Great to have the experience of reading a new story by the master. The author could probably make a grocery list into a masterpiece. Characters, plot, and setting are important to any story, but the way they are worked into this novel is like the difference between a 1950’s TV show and a new high definition movie with surround sound. My description cannot possibly do justice to the writer’s talent.

The latest chapter in Burke’s long-running Holland family drama is coming soon in 2025. Bessie Mae Holland, sometimes guided by a kindly but difficult spirit creature, Mr. Slick, offers us a drama about the nature of good and evil. The Hollands, Bessie who is but fourteen at the opening of the novel, narrated ‘were a violent family but they weren’t bullies.” Papa (Hackberry Holland) was an old-style retired Texas ranger and had once, before booze got to him, a hero across the state. Now, he poked around on a battered ranch, nit having much pull politically, and on a rage about the oil corporations ripping people off.

Her grandfather was Sam Morgan Holland, a violent man who had killed nine men. Her brother Cody punched Jubal Fowler for peeking in her outhouse, setting off a series of events that left Cody with one eye and hanging with New York gangsters and left Bessie with shooting an unarmed man.

Thus, she established her Bona fides in the Holland family. She followed her family blood line through gloom and doom and through the veritable gates of hell. Bessie and Cody both have the family curse of finding trouble, but they both also fight back with whatever they’ve got. The world according to Bessie is dark, dusty, and cruel. But she stands her ground, stabbing and shooting rapists and other thugs across half the continent as the world in Europe erupts into war.

None of us though, we are told, are exactly who we think we are. But we are forged by events in our lives and what strength we are granted. Even our dreams are often marred by evil, shrunken and diminished.

At times, Bessie bemoans that she is punished for sins she is not responsible for. Other times, she comes to the realization that she’s on her own and there’s no one she can depend on, not one person, and not the corrupt governmental machine. Eventually, Bessie gets to understand that the evil ones will burn in hell and she won’t be with them. Don’t Forget Me is a long epic poem about the nature of good and evil, told through the eyes of a young girl who sees quite a bit of pain and suffering and evil.

Review follows receipt of an advance reader’s copy.

I don't think James Lee Burke has ever written a bad sentence. This is another in his growing legend of fantastic novels. The main character, Bessie, is a spitfire. Tough, intelligent, and full of gritty wit. The supporting characters, particularly Mr. Slick, are just as sharply drawn. There's a plot here, but with Burke the plot is always secondary. Come for the beautiful writing, the sparkling dialogue, the jump-off-the-page characters, and a lifting of the veil on the darker aspects of our society, histories many would rather see left buried. Highly recommended.