I regard Burke as one of the greatest novelists of the last 20 years. In this book, Dave Robicheaux, his wife Molly, and his buddy Clete head to Montana for a relaxing holiday of fishing and mountain hikes. Clete’s nose for trouble and Dave’s Quixotic spirit, however, make the hikes dangerous, fishing unlikely, and the holiday anything but relaxing. One of the main skills I admire about Burke is his ability to create in-depth characters that live and breathe outside of the readers’ expectations. We learn more about affable, drunken Clete; we get to know an escaped convict whose voice recalls the open roads of America last sung in the ballads of Woody Guthrie; and we are present to the unlikely partnership developing between a hardened prison guard and a young woman. The good guys have deep flaws and the bad guys are believable products of their past. As ever, the plot is as complex as the characters. All Burke’s books are worth reading.
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