REVIEW
James Lee Burke --- Cadillac Jukebox
Orion (0 75280 452 9) £16.99
More complex Louisiana heat, landscape and history for Dave Robicheaux to navigate in this latest James Lee Burke. At bottom a cautionary tale of the past returning to haunt an all American family, Cadillac Jukebox digs deeper even than is usual for Burke into what makes the modern South tick. The La Rose family, in the shape of Buford, nominee for governor, and his wife Karyn, are the recipients of some pretty heavy family baggage; inherited wealth made on the backs of migrant workers in the Texan oil fields and shady Civil War connections with the "Knights of the White Camellia". Has Buford managed to live down his family’s past? Is he the liberal breath of fresh air the electorate needs? When a decade's long murder case is re-opened Robicheaux starts to have his doubts.
As we’ve come to except Burke tells his tale through some fine writing. Few writers place as much emphasis on atmosphere and place with as much skill as Burke does, the first half of the book in particular being laden with passages which evoke the South with a steady power. Bayou, steam, swamp are ever present, giving the book a cloying, claustrophobic feel. Against this finely drawn background Robicheaux works out his moral dilemmas, fighting the usual hopeless fight against corruption and injustice. Although plotting is not one of Burke’s greatest strengths and, for those who like their mystery truly believable, aspects of this particular tale may seem way off the reality scale, his strength lies in his ability to tap into the history of the South and make it present and concrete. Burke’s books are full of skeletons and half forgotten deeds, biding their time, waiting to see the light. Although he seems to have backed away from some of the more supernatural intrusions of history in passages of recent novels, he shows no sign of letting up on the message that history cannot be escaped. With few exceptions the characters in Cadillac Jukebox are victims of past ill-judged acts; racism, deception, lust, addiction. The book is riddled with guilt. It isn’t an accident that Robicheaux is becoming increasingly pre-occupied with the confessional. You probably won’t need to be reminded but any new Burke book is an event not to be missed and Cadillac Jukebox is no exception I’ll give it an unqualified recommendation as if you needed to be told.
(RL)