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    Cadillac Jukebox
    Cadillac Jukebox
    Cadillac Jukebox
    Audiobook11 hours

    Cadillac Jukebox

    Written by James Lee Burke

    Narrated by Mark Hammer

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    James Lee Burke has been hailed as a “national treasure” (Tampa Bay Times), and in his ninth Dave Robicheaux thriller, it’s easy to see why. This taut, twisted tale of corruption in the Louisiana bayou truly brands Burke as “America’s best novelist” (Denver Post).

    Aaron Crown comes from a long line of shady Cajun characters, and rumors of Klan ties swirl around his family—so his arrest for the murder of a black civil rights leader would seem to be an open and shut case. But when the man who worked hardest to put Crown away ascends to the governor’s mansion, detective Dave Robicheaux begins to suspect that Aaron may be innocent of the crime. Soon key figures in high places start pressuring Dave to drop his investigation…but that only makes him more determined to uncover the truth at any cost.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateAug 1, 1996
    ISBN9781442356191
    Author

    James Lee Burke

    James Lee Burke is a New York Times bestselling author, two-time winner of the Edgar Award, and the recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts in Fiction. He has authored forty novels and two short story collections. He lives in Missoula, Montana.

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    Reviews for Cadillac Jukebox

    4/5

    309 ratings7 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I’m ok no no ok keep it just fine kk
    • 5/5
      This is my second time reading James Lee Burke’s books and I find myself more engrossed in these novels. I am gleaning more entertainment and insights to ponder this time through as many years have passed since my first read. I now have to listen to them as Audiobooks and instead of reducing or dimming my attention to details and subsequent understanding and insight to his storytelling , I am gifted with more time spent with the characters and their lives and lessons to be examined and incorporated into my own understanding and application if I am so inclined. Thank you Mr Burke by the GOG.
    • 3/5
      I read the first seven of the Robicheaux series in a row, but was so disappointed by "Dixie City Jam" that I decided to speed up a bit, skip "Burning Angel" (many of whose reviewers mentioned the same faults that I found with DCJ), and go straight to "Cadillac Jukebox." Thankfully, the template has changed a bit, and Dave is not doing battle with yet another local Mafia family whose scion he happened to go to school with, nor are there wise, talking ghosts or sadistic latter-day Nazis. The villain here, or so it seems, is the new liberal governor of Louisiana, whom Dave believes is in financial cahoots with various nasty folks, and has profited also from the unjust conviction of a North Louisiana redneck for the murder of a civil-rights leader.It's not a spoiler to say that not everything is as it seems. The truth underlying the puzzle, though, is so complicated and hidden that this isn't a mystery in the classic sense—there's no real way for the reader to keep track of the possibilities and arrive at the correct solution. And Dave Robicheaux, for better or worse the reader's surrogate, really stumbles in this one. His aggressive pugnaciousness, in better books a character flaw that adds depth and spice, is so much in the forefront that I found my sympathies sometimes moved to the other side. In the course of this book, more level-headed characters give him plenty of feedback about how he's giving too much rein to his peculiar obsessions. And much of the time, they're right.So for most of this book we're watching this guy who should be our hero stumbling around picking fights and chasing the wrong leads, and we don't even have the benefit of being able to see things that he doesn't, and watching him catch up.Pluses: Vivid description, great phrases, occasionally sharp insight into human character. Many characters are exceptionally well drawn and believable.Minuses: Overly webbed plot, with some threads leading nowhere. Some characters are little more than cartoon figures: bogeymen and bad women. A detective protagonist who's too blind to find the right clues in all this mess.
    • 4/5
      If one wants an example of overwriting, here it is; Too many monsters, and not enough positive emotions. everybody hates. a world where everbody hates isn't a good world, even if written by james lee burke. I left the book confused, thinking now, what was that all about?
    • 4/5
      Another well-written, though not perfect, Dave Robicheaux novel. The usual great sense of place by Burke makes his descriptions of southern Louisiana worth the read alone. The ultra-malevolent almost super-human bad guy is once again part of the story and once again I fret over the safety of Dave's family. Looking forward to the next one.
    • 4/5
      James Lee Burke lives up to his high standards in this suspenseful story. This book is distinctive for the number of villains that run a broad range of psychological deviancy. I don't think I have ever encountered a prostitution boss who is shunned by his cohorts in crime because of frequent outbursts of profanity caused by Tourette's syndrome. He also has psychic powers that give him knowledge of the dead.Buford LaRose is a former LSU football player turned professor who is running for Governor with financial help from organized crime figures, a more common adversary for Robicheaux. Buford's wife Karyn had a brief romance with Dave in the past and is suitably vicious as the woman scorned.Aaron Crown on the surface is a former member of the KKK who was convicted of a racial murder by LaRose. He is a northern Louisiana peckerwood with an unusually offensive body odor. He escapes from Angola prison and his quest for revenge is one of the major plot lines of the book. The past of his daughter Sabelle, a prostitute, ties together some of the leading characters in a fashion that would do Shakespeare proud.Jimmy Ray Dixon, the brother of the slain civil rights leader, wears a hook for a hand, courtesy of the Vietnam war. His activities, including his connection with Sabelle, provide a twist in the ending that must be kept secret.The psychopathic sadists are represented by Mookie Zerranga whose past also provides another now you know them now you don't element to the ending.As you can gather the ending is suspenseful and surprising in fine Robicheaux fashion.Dave Robicheaux as always is trying to solve the case with too little information and berating himself for his human frailties. The sheriff provides a steady hand throughout the story adding insight when Robicheaux will listen.I found the combination of bizarre villains and the multiple surprises at the end takes this book out of the realm of pulp fiction into the arena of well written literature. This step up is aided by Burke's almost poetic descriptions of scenery and his constant use of the past of New Iberia the present events.
    • 5/5
      Racially motivated murder; mob bosses, corrupt governor.