Rain Gods by James Lee Burke

I just finished James Lee Burke's newest book called Rain Gods, go read his books now, five star rating. First, let me say, he is in my top five favorite all time authors, probably in the top two. I learned about him in 1998 when I first moved to Texas. I met a guy, Ed, who I dated for a few months. Ed was a Cajun guy who was a retired Navy Seal (hard to believe I dated someone who was a Navy Seal) and worked for the FAA, he was kind of a tough guy who could cook and also read a lot. This relates together because James Lee Burke is a Cajun author, well, mostly just a fantastic author who is from the New Orleans area. Burke lives there and also in Montana. Ed was a good guy who told me about this author and I started from the very beginning of his body of work and now I wait with anticipation for his new novels. There is a series with 17 books out of his 30, that has a character called Dave Robicheaux; sheriff, struggling with sobriety, widowed twice, struggles with many inner demons and walks the fine line between law and vigilantism. This book is part of another series he has written based in Texas, the first book with this character, Hackberry Holland, was written in 1971! His characters in all of his books are flawed and interesting. He's an award winning author, nominated for a Pulitzer, won two Edgar awards for his writing and my guess he will some day win a Pulitzer. He has such prosaic writing and I can't say enough about his books. But start at the beginning, you learn about the different layers of his characters in each novel. He has also published some short stories that are great. What can I say, Ed, wherever you are thanks!

http://www.jamesleeburke.com/