In The Electric Mist With Confederate Dead (1997) - Plot & Excerpts
Darum geht’s:In den Atchafalaya-Sümpfen ist ein Jahrzehnte altes Skelett aufgetaucht. Das jedenfalls behauptet der große Filmstar Elrod Sykes. Detective Dave Robicheaux schenkt der Geschichte zunächst keine Beachtung. Denn Sykes, der für seine Trunksucht bekannt ist, nimmt es möglicherweise mit der Wahrheit nicht so genau. Doch dann gerät Robicheaux ins Grübeln: Vor 35 Jahren nämlich war er zufällig Zeuge eines kaltblütigen Mordes an einem Schwarzen.Ich hätte dieses Buch eigentlich mögen müssen. Ich bin ein großer Fan der ländlichen USA. Ich liebe deren Wildheit, Weite und unbändige Natur. Und Burke gelingt es meisterhaft diese Atmosphäre einzufangen. Gemeinsam mit dem Titelhelden Dave Robicheaux erlebt man hautnah die Sumpfgebiete Louisianas.Man leidet unter der erdrückende Schwüle und Feuchtigkeit. Man wird zerstochen von Moskitos und hört die Alligatoren durchs Gebüsch rascheln während man durch dichte Nebelschwaden stapft. Diese rohe Wildheit spiegelt sich auch bei den Einwohnern wieder. Die gesellschaftlichen Konflikte brodeln und die Rassentrennung ist nur auf dem Papier aufgehoben. Als Ordnungshüter hat Robicheaux dementsprechend viel zu tun. Der trockene Alkoholiker mit Patchwork Familie ist ein echter Haudegen und in seinen Ermittlungen nicht zimperlich. Probleme löst er gerne auf und mit eigener Faust.Dabei bewegt er sich in seinem sechsten Fall in einem Ensemble von skurrilen Charakteren. Da ist sein Schulfreund “Baby feet” Balboni, der mittlerweile zum gefürchteten Mafiosi aufgestiegen ist, die zierliche aber knallharte FBI-Agentin Rosie Perez, die ihm bis zum bitteren Ende zur Seite steht und der emotional labile Filmstar Elrod Sykes, der seine Alkoholsucht nicht in Griff bekommt. Somit liegen alle Zutaten für einen stimmungsvollen Krimi vor.Doch leider will die Geschichte nicht in die Gänge kommen. Der Fall mäandert ohne echten Spannungsbogen vor sich hin. Die Verbindungen zwischen dem Lynchmord der Vergangenheit und den Frauenmorden der Gegenwart sind schwach. Diverse Handlungspunkte wirken konstruiert und der fantastische Aspekt um Robicheaux Visionen von Soldaten der konföderierten Armee will nicht zur realistischen Grundstimmung passen. Ich habe eigentlich nichts gegen die Ich-Erzählperspektive aber hier wirkt sie durch die ausführlichen Landschaftsbeschreibungen deplatziert. Positiv aufgefallen ist mir dagegen der kritische Unterton zu Themen wie Korruption, Umweltverschmutzung und Rassismus. Fazit – Die Story bleibt im Sumpf steckenTrotz dichter Atmosphäre und literarischem Schreibstil, schwächelt “Im Schatten der Mangroven” in Punkto Geschichte und Erzählrhythmus und bleibt so leider unter seinen Möglichkeiten.Die für einen Genre-Roman überdurchschnittliche Schreibe, lässt mich aber hoffen, dass mir einer der anderen Robicheaux-Fälle (aktuell 19 an der Zahl) mehr zusagen könnte. Mehr Rezensionen und abenteuerlichen Content gibt's aufhttp://awesomatik.com
James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux novels are never 'typical' crime novels. First, there's Robicheaux, a disgraced, former NOPD Homicide lieutenant turned sheriff's detective in Iberia Parish. Robicheaux is a good man with a chequered past; a Vietnam veteran and recovering alcoholic who carries traces of post-traumatic stress disorder and an unspecified, but lingering, guilt from the eruption of his parents' marriage, his father's death and his mother's violent murder at the hands of corrupt, NOPD detectives. His background is working class,backwoods, Louisiana Cajun. He's Catholic. He runs a bait shop and bayou cafe when he's not detecting. He has problems with authority, is single-minded in his pursuit of wrongdoers, corporate polluters and the antebellum remnants of the southern ascendancy.Robicheaux, although an essentially good man, has a violent streak. Some of Burke's other novels, like Two for Texas, are historical explorations of the complex forces that combine to make up Robicheaux's contemporary environment; Louisiana's sub-tropical swamplands, struggling to survive against the elements of natural phenomena like hurricanes, corporate greed and pollution and the complicit dealings of corrupt politicians, police and the Mafia.Into this milieu in 'In the Electric Mist', he introduces a story about a violent and sexually perverted, serial killer, an alcoholic, Hollywood actor with psychic leanings and a sociopathic, Mafia boss turned film producer. The actor taps in to Robicheaux's own psychic inclinations by introducing him to the ghost of a one legged, one armed, Confederate general who, along with his ragged bunch of soldiers, haunts the swamps around his home.Now he's worried it's just a dry drunk dream or living nightmare or has he conscripted into a new struggle with the Confederate dead, to fight the forces of evil, whether corporate, criminal or perverse or combinations thereof, that threaten his life and the lives of those he love as well as the environment they live in?I've read everything I could find of James Lee Burke's and I'm a fan.
What do You think about In The Electric Mist With Confederate Dead (1997)?
1.5 stars - I didn't like it.Stereotypes and tropes galore, I could not wait to leave the southern Louisiana town full of hatred, vitriol, racisim, bigotry, sexism, and where ignorance in general just runs amuck. There was no enjoyment to be found spending literary time in a shoddy place full of weak, despicable people. Not even the paranormal ghost story element could save this one for me, which is normally a fictional favorite for me. If it had not been a selection for a local book club, it would have been DNF'd early on, easily and without regret. I never became invested in any of the characters and found almost every character to be dislikeable. To be fair, this was the first book for me in this series, so maybe those that have read the others will have more of an attachment to the characters. I dislike reading a series out of order, but again, it was chosen for a local book club. I will say the author developed the characters enough for me to detest spending time with them, which requires more skill than poor characterization with flat, cardboard cut-outs, for which you feel nothing. I'd be open to reading something else by him, but have no inclination to pick up anything else from this particular series. --------------------------------------------------------------------Favorite Quote: Maybe we have so much collective guilt as a society that we fear to punish our individual members.First Sentence: The sky had gone black at sunset, and the storm had churned inland from the Gulf and drenched New Iberia and littered East Main with leaves and tree branches from the long canopy of oaks that covered the street from the old brick post office to the drawbridge over bayou Teche at the edge of town.
—Cher
I have read all of his novels. I have even read his daughters first novel, she is called Alafair, the name of Dave Robicheaux's daughter in the books! I have watched his writing mature to its present gravitas. Early on, I admit, I used to rush through his descriptive passages but as he wrote, these became more and more beautiful, and now the darkness of the crimes and violence are melded with the beauty of the landscape. In this book, the psychic element was introduced in an historical invocation of American history. Magnificent! I can never wait for the paperback to come out I rush out for the hardback as soon as they are published. Can there be a better reccommendation?
—Lorna
Just love James Lee. I probably shouldnt give him 5 stars as the stories, like many mysteries tend to run to the same end and are quickly forgettable having said that he manages it better than most. His language is always evocative and rich and heavy with mood. The thin veil that lies between us and the otherworldly is sketched more strongly in this novel than in others. Somehow Burke seems to stay on this side of the ludicrous(for us recovering romantics) when describing the ghosts that surround us...always worth a read.
—Clare
