Product Description

Dave Robicheaux is trying to put a life of violence and crime behind him, leaving homicide to run a boat-rental business in Louisiana's bayou country. But one day while fishing in the Gulf with his wife Annie, he witnesses an event that will change his life forever. A small two-engine plane suddenly crashes into the sea and Robicheaux dives down to the wreckage to find four bodies and one survivor; a little girl miraculously trapped in a pocket of air. When the authorities insist only three bodies were recovered from the plane, Robicheaux decides to investigate the mystery of the missing man.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #24058 in Books
• Published on: 2005-06-16
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

About the Author
James Lee Burke is the author of twenty-two previous novels, including twelve featuring Detective Dave Robicheaux. He lives with his wife, Pearl, in Missoula, Montana and New Iberia, Louisiana.

Customer Reviews

A tragic start to Dave Robicheaux's new life in New Iberia
Heaven's Prisoners is the second book in the Dave Robicheaux series. Following his departure from the New Orleans Police Department he sets up home with his wife Annie in the swamp and bayoux country of the New Iberia of his childhood.

One day whilst out fishing in the gulf he witnesses a plane crash which heralds the start of a tragic series of events.

Dave explores the darkest corners of his soul as he battles with his alcoholism and tries to conclude some business with an old school friend Bubba Rocque.

This book is an important link into the future stories and introduces some of the key characters including his daughter Alafair and Batiste the paid hand at Dave's boat and bait shop.

Not the best of the series but an emotional and revealing insight into the complexities and dichotomy of Dave's character. An introduction to the Dave's world in southern Louisiana as we later come to know it.

Excellent story without a boring page.
For lovers of crime novels, you should ask yourself why you haven't read any of Burke's novels before, and if you are tempted this time, I assure you it won't be the last. There is a series of Burke novels with this character (Dave Robicheaux) and many more besides without. You could keep yourself happy for months on Burke's novels alone. This may be one of his best and therefore a good starting point, but "The Neon Rain" was his first Robicheaux book.

The return of Robicheaux
With Heaven's Prisoners, James Lee Burke delivers an excellent sequel to The Neon Rain and ensures the success of his fictional detective, Dave Robicheaux.

The plot centres around the crash of a light aircraft into the Gulf, and it's passengers, both dead and alive.

What differentiates this book from the morass of dull "Thriller-by-numbers" is not only the plot, but also the creation of a truly lasting central character and the delightful and thorough description of the book's setting.

In Dave Robicheaux, James Lee Burke has created possibly the finest fictional detective of modern times. In my opinion, only Ian Rankin's Inspector Rebus is worthy of comparison to Robicheaux. Both Robicheaux and Rebus are deeply flawed men, deemed under-achievers by their peers, haunted by personal demons, yet great believers in truth and justice, but not necessarily their respective judicial systems. The reader cannot help but be drawn to Robicheaux as Burke cleverly engenders feelings of sympathy and compassion for his character by subjecting him to some quite horrific twists of plot and fate.

Burke's literary talents are also exhibited by his portrayal of Southern USA and it's inhabitants. His love of this troubled part of the USA is apparent in every word as he transports the reader to the bayous and bars of the South with a detail again reminiscent of Rankin's Edinburgh.

A great novel by any standards, Heaven's Prisoners depicts good and evil, not in black and white, but in myriad shares of grey which is infinitely more satisfying. Devotees of great crime fiction could do no better than to discover James Lee Burke and Dave Robicheaux.