Bitterroot
 James Lee Burke
 (Sr. Staff Reviewer - D. H. BROWN)
 2001 Simon & Schuster
  ISBN: 0743204832


Billy Bob Holland leaves Louisiana for Montana to answer an old friend's cry for help.

In this third Billy Bob Holland novel, James Lee Burke takes us out of the steamy South & plops us, lock, stock & barrel into the high country, where mineral & water rights are in disupute, an old Viet Nam Veteran is up to his eyeballs in mayhem, & the high lonesome land is awesome.

Senior Staff Reviewer D. H. BROWN writes:

While browsing our local library shelves, the name of one of my most favorite authors, James Lee Burke, popped out & I found myself drawing from the shelf his latest work Bitterroot

I'm a longtime fan of this author. He brings to literary fiction a grittiness that we all subconsciously know lies just below the surface of our world. Most of his characters are not people that I would want to be friends with, & yet I find the glimpses of a social underbelly that I believe lurks continutally in the periphery of my vision.

In Bitterroot Burke takes us far away from Louisiana, the land of his birth to the high country of Montana & continues the development of his new character of Billy Bob Holland.

One thing Burke does well with his characters is that they all have a past & I like that. I don't like characters cut from whole cloth, fresh formed, because when I read I want to lay my eyes upon the patched quilt that makes up a character's life, that way I truly feel like I know them.

Billy Bob Holland definitely has a past, not a nice one, but Burke allows him to continue to develop while living with that past.

The social content of Bitterroot deals with some very real probelms that are ongoing in today's society. & raises questions about just where one should place one's feet when straddling the fence & makes it very clear that fence straddling can be a dangerous occupation.

Thus far, James Lee Burke has never written a disappointment, & that I can say with emphasis about Bitterroot.

So if your life is a little dull & boring, pick up a copy of Bitteroort. & you don't, really don't, want to take up walking the sidewalks at 2am in the seedier parts of town, pick up a James Lee Burke novel & start with Bitterroot & then go to Purple Cane Road.

You'll be hooked!

More from James Lee Burke: Purple Cane Road; Heartwood; Lay Down My Sword and Shield; Sunset Limited; Half of Paradise; Cimarron Rose; Cadillac Jukebox; Heaven's Prisoners; Burning Angel; The Lost Get-Back Boogie; The Convict; Dixie City Jam; In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead; A Stained White Radiance; The Neon Rain; A Morning for Flamingos; Black Cherry Blues; Two for Texas; To the Bright and Shining Sea.
(05/12/02)

D. H. BROWN
A RebeccasReads.Com Sr. Staff Reviewer

Reviewer's Bio:
D. H. BROWN is the author of the critically acclaimed HONOR DUE and the Citizens Warrior Series. The son of missionary parents and with the help his Uncle Sam, he has touched base in more than 40 countries.  In 1986 he produced the independent children's film Lessie's Rainbow.  During the late 80s and early 90s, he wrote the book Common Sense and delivered the seminars of the same name for the Community Action Network of Seattle (CAN).  While doing his early Vietnam recovery work, he counseled Veterans and spoke widely to men's groups in Washington state, and was a founder of The Lodge of the Wolf.

D. H. BROWN has worked as a Logistics and Weapons Specialist in Viet Nam; day laborer; Director of Security; Armored Car Driver; Police Officer; Professional Hunting Guide; Trapper; Dog Sledder; Homesteader; Truck Driver; General Contractor; Minister; Editor; Writer; Speaker; Restaurateur; Movie Producer; Antique Restoration Specialist; Personal Care Worker; PC Repair Specialist; Computer Instructor; Webmaster and Web Designer. "I write about what I know."

He lives deep in the Pacific Northwest rainforest with his wife, author and editor Rebecca and Buddy Dog, working on his next book.
Visit him at: www.dhbrownbooks.com