A Private Cathedral

A Dave Robicheaux Novel

De: James Lee Burke

Narrado por: Will Patton

After finding himself caught up in one of Louisiana’s oldest and bloodiest family rivalries, Detective Dave Robicheaux must battle the most terrifying adversary he has ever encountered: a time-traveling superhuman assassin.

The Shondell and Balangie families are longtime enemies in the New Iberia criminal underworld and show each other no mercy. Yet their youngest heirs, Johnny Shondell and Isolde Balangie, rock and roll-musician teenagers with magical voices, have fallen in love and run away after Isolde was given as a sex slave to Johnny’s uncle.

As he seeks to uncover why, Detective Dave Robicheaux gets too close to both Isolde’s mother and the mistress of her father, a venomous New Orleans mafioso whose jealousy has no bounds. In retribution, he hires a mysterious assassin to go after Robicheaux and his longtime partner, Clete Purcel. This hitman is unlike any the “Bobbsey Twins from Homicide” have ever faced. He has the ability to induce horrifying hallucinations and travels on a menacing ghost ship that materializes without warning. In order to defeat him and rescue Johnny and Isolde, Robicheaux will have to overcome the demons that have tormented him throughout his adult life - alcoholism, specters from combat in Vietnam, and painful memories of women to whom he opened his heart only to see killed.

A Private Cathedral, James Lee Burke’s 40th book, is his most powerful tale, one that will captivate listeners—mixing crime, romance, mythology, horror, and science fiction to produce a thrilling story about the all-consuming, all-conquering power of love.

©2020 James Lee Burke (P)2020 Simon & Schuster Audio

A Love Affair

My love affair is with great characters like Dave Robicheaux and Clete Purcell who continue to keep me coming back time and time again into their tormented and imperfect world. More than that, I keep coming back because James Lee Burke is heads and shoulders above any modern day writer. His gift with prose and describing events, scenery, and the complexity of his characters goes well beyond any other. I dare say, Mr. Burke belongs to the list of classic writers like Charles Dickens, Ernest Hemingway, Edgar Allen Poe, and others.

This particular tale takes place after the death of Bootsie and while Alafar is still in college. He misses her absence, but there is only one brief but memorable encounter with his step daughter. Robicheaux shares the lead this time with Clete Purcell who adds both his overly violent nature and his misunderstood soft side to the goings on that tell a story of death and the supernatural that will linger with the listener long after the conclusion of this story.

As far as narration, Will Patton comes through once again as the voice of Dave and the other assortment of characters. His delivery is spot on and it is a pleasure to listen to. Should Dave Robicheaux ever be portrayed in cinema again, Will Patton would be the perfect choice. Unfortunately, what has been done thus far just does not do the justice of Mr. Burke's character. Speaking of which, there has yet to be any portrayal of Clete Purcell who definitely deserves to be right there with Dave as the former NOPD Bobbsie Twins.

Interestingly, Mr. Burke and I are 180 degrees apart in our political views, but I refuse to let that get in the way of my enjoyment of his works. His thought process that the far right is the cause of our current political unrest is counter to my view that the left is taking every opportunity to make all of us feel guilty about the sins of the past. They are the real cause of our current turmoil using every riot and the current COVID 19 crisis to paint the right as the culprits of discontent in order to line their own pockets and push for power. Enough said on that Mr. Burke as I know we will never agree, but I do love you. Thank you and please, please keep these splendid works coming.

Narration is fantastic

I love JLB, and there is a lot to love in this book. Beautiful, melodic prose...sadly for me it is accompanied by a mostly disjointed story.

stellar

well done, well told, well narrated. continuing in the path these novels have been going, jjst getting better each time.

My favorite author!

I love every book he's written and I love the way Will Patton reads them!

Fantastic Story and Performance!!

Another great novel by the Master Story Writer!!! Another great performance by the Master Story Teller!!! Well worth the listen. I will let it be for a day or two and then listen to it again.

James Lee Burke/Will Patton = Perfection

Don't be discouraged by a few negative reviews. If you love Dave Robicheaux and Clete Purcel you won't be disappointed. No doubt James Lee Burke and Will Patton are perfect together. Burke takes us on a lyrical journey as the battle between good and evil continues. Dave and Clete are the good guys, and even when they sometimes make wrong choices, still they come out on the right side of the battle. I did not see this as a statement on current political affairs, but a timeless tale of good men in a struggle against darkness. Suspend belief and let yourself be taken on the journey. You won't know where you are going but you will be changed by the experience. Perhaps you, too, will feel the bonds of time slip away. Thank you, Mr. Burke and Mr. Patton. More, please!

Not the best Robicheaux adventure

Slow moving story. Too many characters. Too weird scenarios. Outcome predictable early on. Just not the best of the series of which I have listened to all. I preordered this book and sorry to say it was a disappointment.

Marvel comics

None believable ghosts and goblins hurting and swearing . To long in the teeth. Wasted time finding black sails and dead soles.

weird but poetic

Great book, Will Patton brings it to life. Burke is a poet philosopher as he bridges the two worlds.

Confusing continuity

Maybe I missed the mention of it, but this book doesn't seem to follow chronologically in the series. Clete states he doesn't know what his daughter is up to even though she has been featured in previous books, Dave calls his raccoon 'Tripod' who died a few books ago and was replaced with 'Monty Coon' (sp?), when he talks about his deceased spouses, he does not mention Molly only the previous two, and it seems to be the first meeting of Dave and Helen after her becoming sheriff. Again, I may have missed it being stated somewhere, but it was very difficult to place where this story falls in terms of the lives of these characters and it took away some of my engagement with it. Will Patton can read my phone book to me and get 5-stars, so his performance is outstanding as it always is. I know these are supposed to be flawed characters, but the level of poor and self-destructive decision-making has gotten a bit out of hand even for them. This is coming from someone with a history of addiction and, even at my worst, I did not make the wrong / absolute worst choice in EVERY decision I was faced with from morning until night like these characters do. It takes me beyond rooting for them and able to identify with them and just makes me annoyed and unsympathetic towards them, which was never how I felt in previous books in this series. I think you could honestly skip this one and, instead, enjoy literally any one of the other books in this series.