Publishers Weekly
★ 05/06/2024
In the gonzo latest from Edgar winner Burke (Harbor Lights), detective Dave Robicheaux’s friend, P.I. Clete Purcel, gets caught up in the bizarre pursuit of a bioweapon in late-1990s Louisiana. Clete wakes one Sunday to find three men disassembling his Cadillac in search of contraband. During a brief confrontation, the men knock Clete unconscious, and from there, the story spins out in a dizzying array of directions. One of Clete’s assailants turns out to be a member of an occult neo-Nazi group; the men appeared to be on a mission that also involves slimy millionaire Lauren Bow and his actor wife, Clara. They’re all after a bioweapon called Leprechaun, which may or may not have been in the Cadillac. Clete gets help from Robicheaux, sheriff Helen Soileau, and Joan of Arc, who appears in prophetic visions to steer him from further harm. Readers will delight in Burke’s sterling prose (Louisiana is “an antediluvian place that could have been formed on the first day of Creation, then forgotten, feral and threatening”) and take heart amid the surreal proceedings in Robicheaux’s assertion that “mysteries exist. The denial of them is an absurdity.” This is a winner. Agent: Anne-Lise Spitzer, Philip G. Spitzer Literary. (June)
From the Publisher
Praise for Clete:
“Make no mistake, this is Clete’s story told in his inimitable voice . . . It’ll come as no surprise to Burke’s fans that this is a perfectly constructed story told extremely well, and the opportunity to see Dave through the eyes of his best friend, from a new and rather intimate angle, absolutely should not be missed.”—Booklist, starred review
“Burke returns to Louisiana’s New Iberia Parish and the late 1990s for a tangled tale that confronts private eye Clete Purcel with monsters in the present and spirits from the past . . . Devils and saints wrestle in the mud of bayou country.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Clete is everything you would want from a James Lee Burke novel – the noir style, the atmosphere of the area as thick as the humidity of the nearby swamps, and characters so fully fleshed out that they jump off the page. I hope we get more time with Clete Purcel in the very near future.”—Bookreporter.com
“This is James Lee Burke writing at the height of his powers. The long wait for a story told from Robicheaux’s pal’s point of view has been worth it.”—Linwood Barclay, #1 internationally bestselling author
“Devotees of James Lee Burke have long yearned for a novel centered around Clete Purcel and finally have their wish. Clete is the human wrecking ball, ferocious force of nature and perfect complement to Dave Robicheaux, the more introverted protagonist of the decades long series. All of the staunch beliefs and inner demons that drive Clete are on display as he once again goes to war against established interests to defend the abused and oppressed. His own novel portrays him as a modern knight, albeit in some tarnished armor, but most of all it is a paean to the person who through all the years of the great novels has always been the true ‘big mon.’”—Bill Cusumano, Square Books, Oxford, MS
“Fans of the previous Robicheaux books will not be surprised by this mingling of the metaphysical and mundane in what is essentially a fast-paced action-oriented thriller. Burke’s writing has long redefined Southern Gothic, forging a sui generis style that mixes woo-woo paranormal with lush and loving descriptions of the vanishing Louisiana wilderness, which stands as a contrast to human depravity… Clete may be masquerading as a whodunit, an action thriller that pits flawed good against implacable evil for a soul-satisfying wallop. But it’s more than that: It’s Beat poetry, suffused with sadness and longing for all those sunsets now gone.” —Arts Fuse Magazine
“A stunning work… Get this now. It will take you apart and heal you. Lord, what a magnificent book!” —Nils Lofgren, Member of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band and Member of Neil Young’s Crazy Horse Band
“James Lee Burke is the reigning champ of nostalgia noir.”—New York Times Book Review
“You can always count on Burke to deliver a white-hot page-turner.”—AARP Magazine
“Burke’s evocative prose remains a thing of reliably fierce wonder.”—Entertainment Weekly
“One of the finest novelists in North America.”—Margaret Cannon, Globe and Mail
“James Lee Burke is one of a small handful of elite suspense writers whose work transcends the genre, making the leap into capital-L Literature.”—Bookpage
