To paraphrase former Texas senator Lloyd Bentsen, I knew Dave Robicheaux (I've read all the books and much of Burke's other work) and Billy Bob, you're no Dave Robicheaux. Or maybe you are--and that's part of the problem. In Dave's books, all the lawyers are corrupt scum; in Billy Bob's, it's all the cops. Otherwise, when I read Billy's Bob's first person accounts, I might as well be reading Dave's thoughts and words. Good and bad; bad and good. Burke is a writer of LITERATURE, not just a mystery writer (of course, he was a writer of literature whose books didn't sell, which is why he turned to mysteries). However, he has single-handedly re-invented the crime genre in the '90s. I find a kind of comfort and salvation in the early Dave Robicheaux books (Black Cherry Blues, A Morning For Flamingos--still my favorites) that comes in only the best literature. Thank you, James Lee Burke, for writing this series. But alas, it seems to me that you've become a victim of your own winning formula, and are trying to top yourself each time out with more complicated plots, the way each James Bond movie tried to be better than the one before. Don't play this game, podna; it may make you big bucks but I know you can do better than this. Give us one plot, not five; one memorable bad guy, not three or four unmemorable ones. There's some gorgeous writing in the new book that your late cousin, Andre Dubus, would admire. But stick with what makes literature ignite--character, not plot. Until we get a Billy Bob Holland novel that's character as opposed to plot-driven, this series will never have the same drama, suspense, or emotional resonance of the earlier work.

James Lee Burke looks like a cowboy or a roustabout, but writes like a poet. His love of place is evident in his novels, whether they are set in New Iberia, Lousiana, or Deaf Smith, Texas. He also displays his affection for life's underdogs, and returns again and again to the theme of the abuse of power by the priviliged few.

In this book, "Heartwood" refers to a type of tree whose core increases in strength as the tree grows, until it is so strong that saws cannot cut through it. Burke's protagonist, Billy Bob Holland, is on his way to becoming a man with a center of heartwood. He has a tragedy in his past, an illegitimate son who is also on his way to becoming a fine and courageous man, and an idealized love for the town beauty, Peggy Jean Dietrich. Peggy Jean is married to the rich, powerful and ruthless, Earl Dietrich. When Earl sets up the naive dreamer, Wilbur Pickett, as the thief who stole a fortune in bearer bonds from his home, Billy Bob takes his case. That's when all hell breaks loose in Deaf Smith, Texas!

The plot is densly populated and complex. Burke has always infused his tales with a lot of mysticism, and this one is no exception. Wilbur's blind wife is gifted with second sight, and Billy Bob has visions of the man who was his partner when both were Texas Rangers. Burke writes of gangbangers, drug dealers, crooked cops and the overpriviliged sons and daughters of the wealthy. This book is beautifully written and peopled with fully realized characters, admirable, evil, and all the degrees in between. I have not yet read "Cimmaron Rose", but I am looking forward to another visit to Deaf Smith, Texas.

I should have purchased HEARTWOOD last year when it first came out in hardback, but I was so irritated with James Lee Burke for not writing a "Robicheaux" novel that I decided to get my revenge by waiting for the paperback to come out. I mean, it's bad enough to have to wait a year in between novels that have your favorite character in them, but two years is simply intolerable. Anyway, I just finished reading HEARTWOOD in paperback and consider it to be one of Burke's best novels to date. The story deals with Billy Bob Holland (first introduced in CIMARRON ROSE), who is an ex-Texas Ranger and assistant U.S. attorney, and who now practices law in his home town of Deaf Smith, Texas. When Wilbur Pickett, a down-and-out ex-rodeo bull rider and current employee of millionaire Earl Deitrich, is accused by his boss of stealing an antique watch and three hundred thousand dollars in bearer bonds, Billy Bob, against his better judgment, decides to take the case. Wilbur freely admits to taking the watch, but not the bonds. This makes Billy Bob wonder if Earl has set Wilbur up so that he can run a scam on the insurance company for the supposedly missing bonds. The question is why? Earl is rich. Why risk something like this? Billy Bob also has another problem to deal with. He is still in love with his old, teenage flame, Peggy Jean, who happens to now be married to Earl Deitrich. Billy Bob doesn't want to do anything which might hurt Peggy Jean, but at the same time, he doesn't want to see Wilbur get railroaded for something he didn't do. It isn't long, however, before Billy Bob has his hands full when he begins to suspect that there is something more going on behind the scenes than the apparent theft of the watch and bearer bonds. What he finds out may cost him his life, as well as the life of his son, Lucas. HEARTWOOD is the most complex novel Mr. Burke has written so far. There are so many hidden layers here that I haven't even touched the tip of the iceberg. Billy Bob will have to deal with gangbangers, ex-mercenaries, corruption in the local police department, the guilt he still harbors over the death of his best friend who he accidently killed, and the love he has for another man's wife. HEARTWOOD is a powerful novel of love, betrayal, greed, and murder. It is skillfully woven with characters that burst from the pages with a life all of their own. You won't want the book to end...it is that good! James Lee Burke doesn't just write an excellent novel, he gives you a "reading experience" that I wish other authors could duplicate. Needless to say, when the next "Billy Bob Holland" novel comes out, I won't wait for the paperback.