HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN by JAMES LEE BURKE

I reviewed House of the Rising Sun (Simon & Schuster) by James Lee Burke for Lone Star Literary Life. A Burke novel is always an experience and this one is no exception. If I were handing out stars, this one would get all five. From the review:

It�s 1916, Pancho Villa is raiding across the border, and Texas Ranger Hackberry Holland is searching for his long-lost son, Ishmael, a captain in the US Army, in Mexico, �a feral land, its energies as raw and ravenous as a giant predator that ingested the na�ve and incautious.� Hackberry doesn�t find Ishmael this time, but he does run afoul of the Mexican Army and Arnold Beckman, an international arms dealer, escaping with a religious artifact that had been in Beckman�s possession, which may or may not be the Holy Grail. 

House of the Rising Sun is an apocalyptic tale of addictions � alcohol, Morpheus, pain, love, power � which rob us of mercy, kindness, and human dignity. �I have nothing of value to impart,� Hackberry says. �My life has been dedicated to Pandemonium. That�s a place in hell John Milton wrote about. That also means I�m an authority on chaos and confusion and messing things up.�

 To read the entire review please click here. Thank you!