Cimarron Rose (A Holland Family Novel) Mass Market Paperback – September 30, 2014

Sometimes you find an author whose work is so fine s/he makes you ashamed of your own pitiful scribbling. James Lee Burke does that for me. His book "Cimarron Rose" is a good example of his stellar performance."Cimarron Rose," one of Burke's Billy Bob Holland novels, is the story of Billy Bob's search for the killer of a killer and his adolescent associates when a teen age girl is killed in a hangout popular with teenagers wilding. In that, maestro Billy Bob Holland takes the lead defending an adolsecent whose lower class family background preselect him as victim. In the episode that follows Billy Bob kicks open a giant hole in town corruption, wealthy power and seemingly immoral leaders of the social upper crust.Billy Bob, raw fisted and quick tempered, seems to embody the fighting truth seeker a la Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer of 50 years ago. This novel is replete with uncountable fist, knife, and gunfights, mano a mano among the bad guys of "Cimarron Rose."In this novel, author Burke follows the progress of attorney Billy Bob Holland gathering evidence of his client's innocence and stirs up a hornets's nest of the rich and their ties with evil forces in American life. The plot and conflict=tension is further enhanced by Billy Bob's dead friend, a PTSD-like ghost enduced by a shoot out with drug runners in northern Mexico, and wisdom found in reading his father's diaries.Author Burke's skills with characterization lie in his deft use of short descriptions such as: "On the trial he met a hollow-eyed preacher whose face had been branded with red hot horseshoes by Comanches north of the Cimarron"; "L.Q. Navarro [the ghost partner] sat on top of a stall, the heels of his boots hooked onto a plank"; "Mary Beth Sweeny . . . still in uniform from the night shift, her thumbs hooked into the sides of her gun belt". With these short machine gun bursts of colorful description, author Burke develops his characters, depicts attitude, and progresses the action all in a single phrase.Like the real estate legend of "location , location, location," in crime novels it's "plot, plot, plot." At that, James Lee Burk is the master plotster.As conflict after conflict, each more life-threatening to allies, it's Billy Bob's personal and cool-headed rage that saves the day time to time. But, that's not to say his sticking his head into the lion's mouth is not dangerous -- because it IS dangerous, but author Burke has developed tough but likeable heroes and we fear for their lives.Finally, James Lee Burke's "Cimarron Rose" will bowl you over with his "writerly" prose, i.e., control over language that literally sparkles with new views of life, e.g., "She pulled her T shirt over her head, her hair collapsing on her shoulders"; "he had crashed through the enemy line like a tank through a hedgerow"; "The headlights shone in my driveway, bounced across the chicken run and filled the barn and horse lot with shadows". If you like an unbridled wordsmith at the top of his game,you'll be as crazy as I am for the work of James Lee Burke. A solid read from the first word to the last.

The Billy Bob Holland books are the equivalent to the "b-side" on a record; they're okay but not quite up to par with the his others. But many of the things that make Burke great are present in these as well so I always read them. His characters are invariably complex and interesting and their discourses on life and love ring true and are frequently eloquent. Billy Bob's neighbor frequently refers to him as being crazy, which I would argue fits. But he's still more interesting than most of the characters out there in the mystery genre so there you go.

First time reading anything by James Lee Burke. Really enjoyed this story. Well written and good plot. Hope there is more with Billy Bob.

This is a good one…Having read them all once in print, now again on a device, I appreciate them even more. No matter the main character of the novel at hand, it’s always a pleasure - hate to reach the end…

This is typical James Lee Burke fare. A good storyline, with characters, stories, and plots tied to some of his other novels and stories, with sprinkles of philosophy about life dispensed here and there. Worth the read and if you like vivid descriptions of polka dots on the wings of butterflies you will love James Lee Burke. I recommend this book.

Great characterizations as usual. No one does it as well. JLB could have been a great poet, but luckily for his fans he chose prose. Somehow this book slipped under my radar, but now I've read all 37. I hope he has a few more stories in him.

I've been asked if I've read James Lee Burke many times. Finally, I picked one up. This one. . . Cimarron Rose. The fluidity and eloquence of his word choices wouldn't let me read with any speed. Those words had to be experienced, soaked up, and often read again to get the full taste of them. Just an uncanny beauty I've never read before. I believe I could read a blind copy of Burke's work and recognize his hand in seconds. And the twists. . . they kept on coming. Bravo. Just...bravo.

Over the years I have read all the James Lee Burke novels featuring Dave Robicheaux. I decided to start reading his other novels. When I describe Burke to someone who hasn’t yet read him, I always say...when you read a paragraph written by Burke you come away thinking you have just read poetry. Cimmaron Rose does not disappoint. The writing is as eloquent. Billy Bob has his faults but remains an hero in the vein of Dave Robicheaux. Burke is and will remain my favorite author and he isn’t capable of writing a bad book.

I’m fairly new to JTB and am beginning to work out his politics.The characters good and bad and in between are very well drawn and complex.Really enjoying BB series.

Used book in very good condition - dust jacket intact and unripped. Corners a little bent but not enough to detract. Overall, a worthwhile purchase

I love JLB novels. Read quite a few of the DR series but it was great to try a different character. The prose is just wonderful - fair makes me want to travel to southern states of the USA.

I really did like this book a lot, but the only reason I'm writing this review is that I can't find another way to get out of the text on my kindle. Don't you hate felling like that?

read about his new book in the daily mail,but i always go for used book.so i ordered this one.it was pure joy to read.i have bought about about eight of his books.every one a gem, all bought through amazon.for a pensioner like me amazon is number one.