Light of the World - (Dave Robicheaux) by James Lee Burke (Paperback)

About the Book

A summer getaway in Montana for Dave Robicheaux's family and friends is violently shattered by the arrival of serial killer and prison escapee Asa Surrette.

Book Synopsis

Dave Robicheaux battles the most diabolical villain he has ever faced in this atmospheric thriller.

Sadist and serial killer Asa Surrette narrowly escaped the death penalty for the string of heinous murders he committed while capital punishment was outlawed in Kansas. But following a series of damning articles written by Dave Robicheaux's daughter Alafair, Surrette escapes from a prison transport van and heads to Montana, where an unsuspecting Dave--along with Alafair; Dave's wife, Molly; Dave's faithful partner Clete; and Clete's newfound daughter, Gretchen Horowitz--have come to take in the sweet summer air.

Surrette may be even worse than Dave's old enemy Legion Guidry, a man Dave suspected might very well be the devil incarnate. But before Dave can stop Surrette from harming those he loves most, he'll have to do battle with Love Younger, an enigmatic petrochemical magnate seeking to build an oil pipeline from Alberta to Texas, and Wyatt Dixon, a rodeo clown with a dark past whom Burke fans will recall from his Billy Bob Holland novels.

Drawing on real events that took place in Wichita, Kansas, over a twenty-year span, Light of the World "reaffirms Robicheaux's status as one of the most successfully sustained creations in contemporary crime fiction" (The Washington Post Book World).

Review Quotes

"[Light of the World] is vintage Burke: a killer plot, flawed but decent heroes, loathsome villains, a keen sense of history and philosophy and prose that leaves the reader in awe. . . . At once lovely and lethal, Light of the World shimmers with Burke's ability to depict the best and the worst of the human family, and to do so with a steady eye and a generous heart."--Jay Strafford "Richmond Times-Dispatch "

[Light of the World] is vintage Burke: a killer plot, flawed but decent heroes, loathsome villains, a keen sense of history and philosophy and prose that leaves the reader in awe. . . . At once lovely and lethal, Light of the World shimmers with Burke s ability to depict the best and the worst of the human family, and to do so with a steady eye and a generous heart. --Jay Strafford "Richmond Times-Dispatch ""

["Light of the World"] is vintage Burke: a killer plot, flawed but decent heroes, loathsome villains, a keen sense of history and philosophy and prose that leaves the reader in awe. . . . At once lovely and lethal, "Light of the World" shimmers with Burke s ability to depict the best and the worst of the human family, and to do so with a steady eye and a generous heart. --Jay Strafford "Richmond Times-Dispatch ""

I long ago exhausted my skimpy store of superlatives on James Lee Burke s exquisite prose and moving plots. . . . Once again, Burke takes us to the best and worst of worlds. --Margaret Cannon "Globe and Mail (Canada) ""

"["Light of the World"] is vintage Burke: a killer plot, flawed but decent heroes, loathsome villains, a keen sense of history and philosophy and prose that leaves the reader in awe. . . . At once lovely and lethal, "Light of the World" shimmers with Burke's ability to depict the best and the worst of the human family, and to do so with a steady eye and a generous heart."--Jay Strafford "Richmond Times-Dispatch "

"I long ago exhausted my skimpy store of superlatives on James Lee Burke's exquisite prose and moving plots. . . . Once again, Burke takes us to the best and worst of worlds."--Margaret Cannon "Globe and Mail (Canada) "

"Hats off to the Library of Congress cataloger who applied the subject heading 'Good and Evil' to Burke's latest Dave Robicheaux novel. In that simple tag lies the core of this acclaimed series. . . . Occasionally the evil comes in a more chilling, vaguely supernatural form--depravity beyond sociology--giving these novels a darker, more mythic tone . . . but it works, enveloping the reader in the visceral terror of the moment."

About the Author

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.