menu

bestsellers

best books

free newsletter

sign up now

The Lost Get-Back Boogie

James Lee Burke, Author Henry Holt & Company $8.95 (241p) ISBN 978-0-8050-0541-7

During the 1960s, a Korean War veteran is released from a Louisiana prison farm after serving a term formanslaughter. While visiting his acid-dropping buddy, he battles between adjusting to straight life and doing what might send him back to jail. A ""wonderful novel,'' PW wrote. (October)
close
Details

Reviewed on: 09/30/1987

Release date: 10/01/1987

Genre: Fiction

Mass Market Paperbound - 376 pages - 9781416517061

Hardcover - 347 pages - 9780752842677

Mass Market Paperbound - 323 pages - 9780786889341

Paperback - 232 pages - 9780786881017

Paperback - 241 pages - 9780805005417

Hardcover - 241 pages - 9780807113349

Hardcover - 241 pages - 9780807130322

Other - 416 pages - 9781451618464

Paperback - 347 pages - 9781409109532

Open Ebook - 264 pages - 9780807155714

Other - 264 pages - 9780807155738

Other - 264 pages - 9780807155721

More By and About this Authorchevron_right

  • Burning Angel
    Burning Angel
    James Lee Burke, Cortese
    In his latest absorbing and violent adventure, moody Louisiana deputy Dave Robichaux confronts plaited evils: ages-old injustices based on race and class; the legacies suffered by modern-day Continue reading »
  • Black Cherry Blues
    Black Cherry Blues
    James Lee Burke
    Burke pits a land-hungry oil company against a Blackfeet Indian reservation in a stunning novel that takes detective fiction into new imaginative realms. His Cajun sleuth, Dave Robicheaux, an ex-New Continue reading »
  • The Tin Roof Blowdown: A Dave Robicheaux Novel
    The Tin Roof Blowdown: A Dave Robicheaux Novel
    James Lee Burke
    In Burke's meticulously textured 16th Dave Robicheaux novel (after 2006's Pegasus Descending ), Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath provide the Continue reading »
  • The Tin Roof Blowdown
    The Tin Roof Blowdown
    James Lee Burke
    The pain, dismay and anger brought on by the events surrounding Hurricane Katrina explodes from the pages of this new Dave Robicheaux novel. For nearly a quarter of a century, Burke has used this Continue reading »
  • Heaven's Prisoners
    Heaven's Prisoners
    James Lee Burke
    First met in Burke's excellent mystery, The Neon Rain, Dave Robicheaux is a driven mandriven by his constant battle with alcoholism; by memories of his past as a detective on the New Orleans police Continue reading »
  • IN THE MOON OF RED PONIES
    IN THE MOON OF RED PONIES
    James Lee Burke
    In this top-notch fourth novel in Burke's series featuring ex–Texas Ranger attorney Billy Bob Holland, Billy Bob has moved his family and practice to the pastoral city of Missoula, Continue reading »
  • Dixie City Jam
    Dixie City Jam
    James Lee Burke, Daniel Steinberg
    After his dreamy sojourn into Civil War history in In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead , former New Orleans cop Dave Robicheaux comes up against the residue of Nazism in his action-packed, Continue reading »
  • Feast Day of Fools
    Feast Day of Fools
    James Lee Burke
    In Edgar-winner Burke's outstanding third novel featuring smalltown Texas sheriff Hackberry Holland (after Rain Gods), Hackberry joins a motley crew of killers, idealists, psychos, mobsters, and Feds Continue reading »
  • BITTERROOT
    BITTERROOT
    James Lee Burke
    A two-time Edgar Award winner, Burke touches on a variety of hot-button issues sure to thrill his fans in his first book since last year's Purple Cane Road. Continue reading »
  • In the Electric Mist with the Confederate Dead
    In the Electric Mist with the Confederate Dead
    James Lee Burke, Lucht
    In the sixth Dave Robicheaux mystery (following A Stained White Radiance ), Burke explores new narrative territory with qualified success, leading his Cajun detective into a series of dreamlike Continue reading »
  • Crusader's Cross: A Dave Robicheaux Novel
    Crusader's Cross: A Dave Robicheaux Novel
    James Lee Burke
    Superb writing and a throbbing pace lift two-time Edgar-winner Burke's powerful, many-layered 14th Dave Robicheaux novel (after 2003's Last Car to Elysian Continue reading »
  • Rain Gods
    Rain Gods
    James Lee Burke
    MWA Grandmaster Burke spins a tale replete with colorful prose and epic confrontations in his second novel to feature smalltown Texas sheriff Hackberry Holland (after Lay Continue reading »
  • Light of the World: A Dave Robicheaux Novel
    Light of the World: A Dave Robicheaux Novel
    James Lee Burke
    Bestseller Burke’s 20th Dave Robicheaux novel (after 2012’s Creole Belle), a powerful meditation on the nature—and smell—of evil, finds the Louisiana sheriff’s detective on vacation in Montana with Continue reading »
  • The Convict and Other Stories
    The Convict and Other Stories
    James Lee Burke
    Burke brings the reader inside the minds and emotions of his characters, in stories that strike to the heart. They each concern the search for a reason, a purpose behind the interminable battle Continue reading »
  • The Pinball Effect: Journeys Through Knowledge: The Extraordinary Patterns of Change That Link Past, Present, and Future
    The Pinball Effect: Journeys Through Knowledge: The Extraordinary Patterns of Change That Link Past, Present, and Future
    James Lee Burke
    Picking up the theme of his bestselling Connections and utilizing cross-chapter margin references that imitate computer hypertext, Burke investigates the dynamic interplay of scientific discovery, Continue reading »
  • Sunset Limited
    Sunset Limited
    James Lee Burke
    After stepping into stand-alone territory with Cimmaron Rose (1997), Burke choreographs a masterful return to the lush and brooding world of volatile New Iberia Sheriff's Deputy Dave Robicheaux Continue reading »
  • A Stained White Radiance
    A Stained White Radiance
    James Lee Burke, James Lee Burke
    Sadistic villains and interior demons plague Cajun police detective Dave Robicheaux as the murder of a local cop draws him into the painful conflicts of the Sonnier family, with whom he grew up near Continue reading »
  • Purple Cane Road
    Purple Cane Road
    James Lee Burke
    HAfter the relatively lightweight Sunset Limited (1998), Cajun cop Dave Robicheaux returns in a powerhouse of a thriller that shows Burke writing near the peak of his form. Robicheaux faces his most Continue reading »
  • Jesus Out to Sea: Stories
    Jesus Out to Sea: Stories
    James Lee Burke
    The 11 previously published stories in this strong collection showcase Burke's handling of familiar themes and places, minus the trappings that accompany his popular Dave Robicheaux or Bill Continue reading »
  • Swan Peak
    Swan Peak
    James Lee Burke
    Detective Dave Robicheaux is pitted against all types, from an oil tycoon's deformed brother to a sexually indiscreet minister. With these colorful characters running rampant, narrator Will Continue reading »
  • Light of the World
    Light of the World
    James Lee Burke
    Will Patton has read several Burke books before, and that experience shows. In this audio edition of the author’s 20th crime novel featuring Louisiana detective Dave Robicheaux, Patton boasts a Continue reading »
  • The Jealous Kind
    The Jealous Kind
    James Lee Burke
    Raging teenage hormones, gangster violence, class warfare, and a pink Cadillac stuffed with cash and gold bars set up Burke’s latest novel, a mystery set in Houston, Tex., in 1952. Burke has a hit Continue reading »
  • Pegasus Descending: A Dave Robicheaux Novel
    Pegasus Descending: A Dave Robicheaux Novel
    James Lee Burke
    Drawing on classical antecedents, bestseller Burke peoples his 15th Dave Robicheaux novel (after 2004's Crusader's Cross ) with his usual assortment of Continue reading »
  • House of the Rising Sun
    House of the Rising Sun
    James Lee Burke
    In Edgar-winner Burke’s stunning follow-up to 2014’s Wayfaring Stranger, former Texas Ranger Hackberry Holland sets off to look for his estranged son, Ishmael, a U.S. Army captain, in a Continue reading »
  • A Morning for Flamingos
    A Morning for Flamingos
    James Lee Burke
    In a muddy, weed-filled coulee, Louisiana detective Dave Robicheaux begs an escaped convict for his life and is left more troubled by his lack of courage than by his gunshot wounds. Burke ( Half of Continue reading »
  • Cadillac Jukebox
    Cadillac Jukebox
    James Lee Burke
    PW gave a starred review to this story of revenge, ambition and blackmail, the ninth Dave Robicheaux mystery. Continue reading »
  • LAST CAR TO ELYSIAN FIELDS
    LAST CAR TO ELYSIAN FIELDS
    James Lee Burke
    Since Burke's last outing (Jolie Blon's Bounce ), hapless Louisiana lawman Dave Robicheaux has lost his wife to lupus and his bayou home has burned to Continue reading »
  • Creole Belle: A Dave Robicheaux Novel
    Creole Belle: A Dave Robicheaux Novel
    James Lee Burke
    MWA Grand Master Burke continues to raise the bar for himself, and the reader, as shown by his lyrical, insightful 19th Dave Robicheaux novel (after 2010’s The Glass Rainbow). While the New Iberia, Continue reading »
  • Swan Peak: A Dave Robicheaux Novel
    Swan Peak: A Dave Robicheaux Novel
    James Lee Burke
    Dave Robicheaux and his former partner, Clete Purcel, find trouble in western Montana in bestseller Burke's fine 17th novel to feature the New Iberia, La., sheriff's deputy (after Continue reading »
  • JOLIE BLON'S BOUNCE
    JOLIE BLON'S BOUNCE
    James Lee Burke
    To read a Burke novel is to enter a timeless, parallel universe of violent emotions and lush, brooding landscapes, where class and racial distinctions and family histories mold society. This is Continue reading »
  • The Neon Rain
    The Neon Rain
    James Lee Burke
    Burke's sixth novel pits New Orleans homicide detective Dave Robichaux against the mob, the contras, the Feds and just about all the other cops. The trouble starts when Robichaux insists on Continue reading »
  • Lay Down My Sword and Shield
    Lay Down My Sword and Shield
    James Lee Burke
    Hackberry Holland—a Texas attorney, Korean War vet, and candidate for Congress—is haunted by memories of his days as a POW and driven to finding relief at the bottom of endless bottles Continue reading »
  • The Glass Rainbow: A Dave Robicheaux Novel
    The Glass Rainbow: A Dave Robicheaux Novel
    James Lee Burke
    MWA Grand Master Burke offers everything his readers expect—brilliant prose, prosaic situations that suddenly become mystic experiences, and a complex plot that repeatedly plumbs the depths of human Continue reading »
  • The Axemaker's Gift
    The Axemaker's Gift
    James Lee Burke
    Prolific psychologist Ornstein and historian Burke, best known for his PBS-TV series Connections, have written an ambitious, entertaining, not always convincing survey of the interaction of Continue reading »
  • Heartwood
    Heartwood
    James Lee Burke
    Burke's newer series hero, Billy Bob Holland (Cimarron Rose, 1997), could have been separated at birth from Burke's long-time protagonist, ex-New Orleans cop Dave Robicheaux. Although Holland is a Continue reading »
  • WHITE DOVES AT MORNING
    WHITE DOVES AT MORNING
    James Lee Burke
    Following the publication of his 11th Dave Robicheaux thriller, bestselling Burke (Bitterroot; Purple Cane Road) keeps the Continue reading »
  • Wayfaring Stranger
    Wayfaring Stranger
    James Lee Burke
    Early in this epic American saga from MWA Grand Master Burke, Weldon Holland, the grandson of lawman and series character Hackberry Holland, has a chance run-in with Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow in Continue reading »
PW EDITORS’ PICKS FOR
THE BEST NEW BOOKS
PW EDITORS’ PICKS FOR THE BEST NEW BOOKS

Featured Fiction Reviews

Sirens & Muses
Sirens & Muses
Antonia Angress
A quartet of artists negotiate love, ambition, and politics during the 2011 Occupy movement in Angress’s winning debut. Nineteen-year-old Louisa Arceneaux is a new transfer Continue reading »
Chinatown
Chinatown
Thuan
Thuận, in her English-language debut, delivers a powerful examination of a woman’s remembering and forgetting. In 2004, an unnamed Vietnamese woman and her son are stuck on a Continue reading »
Dark Earth
Dark Earth
Rebecca Stott
Stott follows up the memoir In the Days of Rain with an impressive narrative set in the aftermath of the Roman Empire. By 500 CE, the Romans have abandoned Britain, their city Continue reading »
Self-Portrait with Ghost
Self-Portrait with Ghost
Meng Jin
Jin (Little Gods) returns with a provocative magical realist collection in which women fall in love, grieve, and figure out what to make of their lives amid constant changes. Continue reading »
chevron_right