In James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux series, the author writes about a recovering alcoholic who uses his police background to solve crimes in and around modern day Lafayette and New Orleans. He spends a little too much time with the people inhabiting the underbelly of Louisiana, occasionally taking an action which crosses the "good / bad" line and has unintended negative consequences. BUT he loves his family, and attempts to do the right thing. The antagonists in his novels are rarely 100% bad, and occasionally do the right thing (sometimes for the right reasons, sometimes for the wrong ones). Some of the supporting characters are not who they seem authority figures have a dark side, and shadowy characters own a heart of at least partial gold. AND there are plenty of descriptions of the surroundings, which allow the reader to picture themselves in the setting and occasionally try to provide an allusion to help the reader understand the action on the page and between the lines.

"The Jealous Kind", a standalone novel in Burke's "Holland Family Saga", is nothing like those Dave Robicheaux novels. The protagonist, Aaron Holland Broussard, is in high school, and the action occurs in Houston and Galveston. Oh wait, other than that, the spirit of the novel is essentially the same one that Mr. Burke infuses in the Robicheaux books.

Burke fans will love this book, and his detractors will find nothing that will convince them otherwise.

RATING: 4 stars.

NOTE: I was provided a free copy of this book in a random draw, with the hope (but not requirement) of an honest and hopefully prompt review.

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