Every Cloak Rolled in Blood

What else can be said about grandmaster James Lee Burke? Each of his novels is an epic lesson in characterization, dialogue, plot and style. The passages are poetic, and heartfelt, and at times violent. Not a word is ever wasted. In this newest, narrated by novelist Aaron Holland, we’re thrust into a world both real and supernatural. After the death of his daughter, Fannie Mae, Holland is adrift in his grief. His decision to help two young boys who are adrift in a different way, leads him into battle for his life. This is highly recommended!

At this point, what other superlatives can readers give to James Lee Burke? He is a master storyteller, a literary stylist unparalleled, and I would read a grocery list if he wrote it. EVERY CLOAK ROLLED IN BLOOD bleeds Mr. Burke's own personal pain on each page (RIP to his beautiful daughter Pamala). It's the story of Aaron Holland, a wise old novelist, who is suffering from the grief of his daughter Fannie Mae's untimely death. His efforts to assuage the hurt lead him to taking on the cause of two young men clearly headed on the wrong path. In the process, he will encounter evil, both dead and alive, and possibly a new love. This has supernatural tinges of a bigger sort than Burke has previously written, though he has always touched that line. In the end, though, the plot doesn't matter. The genre doesn't matter. You WILL ABSOLUTELY savor each page, each beautifully crafted sentence in this short scorcher of a novel. Burke is quite simply, a master. Highly recommended.

To the edge of mortality and beyond.

I admit to being an ardent fan of James Lee Burke. The beautiful descriptive language he deploys travels effortlessly from the bayous of the Dave Robicheaux novels to the austere mountains of Montana in the Holland family books of which this is the most recent. Aarron Holland Broussard is a successful novelist living alone on a large ranch in Montana. At the age of 85 he keenly feels the diminution of his physical being. His greatest sorrow, however, is for the recent loss of his daughter Fannie May. She appears to him in times of need and offers spirited guidance. Her help is sorely needed as he finds himself enmeshed in violence from human and inhuman evil. The characters are, as usual, vibrant and complex. Another spellbinding tome from this wonderful author!