Thousands of readers the world over eagerly await the next book by James Lee Burke. After the devastation of last year's hurricanes his readers were curious to read how his protagonist Dave Robicheaux would fare during the devastation and what effect it would have on Dave's community.

In the closing paragraphs of PEGASUS RISING the author's voice mingles with the characters' voices. Burke gives a brief update on New Iberia parish and the effect of the storms. One thing is clear in reading those paragraphs - Dave, Molly, Alafair, Clete, Helen, Tripod are all real to Burke as they are to his many fans. As he provides an update for his characters, we can perceive that he provides an update for himself and his family. And this commingling is OK and acceptable, even desired. The world of Dave Robicheaux is not only a paper world, a constructed theater of the imagination. Dave's world is a real world, where James Lee Burke is a familiar visitor and where he works out lessons for us all.

The action of PEGASUS RISING takes place in the last few months before the storm - in the early summer of 2005. Three unsolved deaths are in the workload for the New Iberia Sheriff's department - a badly decomposed body has been found in a ditch, a lovely young college coed has committed a horrific act of suicide, and a young man has been found brutally murdered along a deserted lovers lane. No one is surprised when all three deaths are connected in a single chain of events. As in earlier books in the series, Dave struggles with his long term inability to maintain long lasting control over a violent streak. And the solution to the crimes will also be rooted in long ago memories Dave still carries with him in the present.

REVIEWED BY WOODSTOCK

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