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Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780786889006
ISBN number: 0786889004
Label: Hyperion
Manufacturer: Hyperion
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 512
Printing Date: August 01, 1995
Publishing house: Hyperion
Sale Popularity Level: 127683
Studio: Hyperion
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Product Description:
Cajun detective Dave Robicheaux matches wits with neo-Nazi psychopath Will Buchalter to find a sunken German submarine, while a Mafia war explodes in New Orleans. Reprint.
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Rated by buyers 
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Warning: spoilers---
This is my very first Burke novel. It won't be my last, but I sure hope that Robicheaux wises up in the other books. Let me count the ways in which he demonstrates he's not smart enough to dress and feed himself, let alone be a cop:
1. Twisted bad guy attacks and terrorizes wife. What does hero cop husband do? Does he tell his tough-as-nails fearless hired man, who works all day a hundred feet away from the house about it, and to keep an eye on her? No. Does Bootsie the wife go "yo, husband, I'm taking a little vacation until you catch this lunatic."? No. Does Robicheaux stay home himself? No, he gallivants all over the landscape and when he comes home gets ambushed by the exact same bad guy, who has an accomplice and Bootsie tied and gagged.
2. All kinds of people, both cops and colorful bad guys, warn him that he's up against something seriously bad and scary. He goes "huh" and leaves it at that.
3. Twisted bad guy breaks into the house a couple nights later, while Bootsie and hero cop are sleeping, and watches them sleep. Then writes a message on the mirror and leaves other obvious signs he was there. Meanwhile, Robicheaux doesn't have nightmares about twisted bad guy like a normal person, oh no, he has nightmares about something a creepy little preacher told him, and sleeps right through this guy breaking through a deadbolt and sneaking around his house. No alarm system, no dog, none of his tough but colorful cop friends helping out.
4. Three times the twisted bad guy invades their home and does horrible things. But Bootsie still stays put, and Robicheaus gets dumber, which hardly seem possible. Every strange car that creeps down their driveway he dismisses as nothing important. Then he gets caught by the twisted bad guy in the absolute stupidest ambush of all time- a truck supposedly broken down just down his street, with a suspicious vehicle lurking behind it. He walks right into it, not a care in the world.
Burke creates a nice sense of atmosphere and locale, and he draws a colorful cast of characters. Men characters, that is, the women might as well be cardboard cutouts. Bootsie gets terrorized, and she's worried about husband? Yeah, whatever! Still, it's a lively, engrossing read. I just wish the hero cop wasn't such a dunce.
Rated by buyers 
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James Lee Burke is a good writer, but this isn't a good book. The paperback edition is more than 500 pages long. The book would have benefited greatly from an editor who could wield a blue pen and delete about 250 pages of excess fat.
The story makes the protagonist, Dave Robicheaux, look like a dunce. He knows someone is out to intimidate him and his family but he takes no precautions. So time after time, the bad guys get into his house and physically abuse his wife and then him. It is hard to believe a former New Orleans' homicide detective who now works for the sheriff's office could be so stupid and cavalier.
The story is written in the very first person. Rather than explain some of the local New Orleans lingo, the author has Dave's friend Clete Purcel explain it to him. Pretty tedious.
I recommend trying one of Burke's other books.
Rated by buyers 
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Burke can do no harm with this series. All additions are wonderful and dark and thoughtful and memorable. See my review of his Crusader's Cross for a general picture.
Rated by buyers -
Only a writer as talented as Burke could get away with a plot this far-fetched. Nazi submarines, nuns and psychopaths-- these are subjects that in the hands of a lesser writer would make us cringe and close the book. Burke somehow almost makes it believable. He definitely makes the material into a one of his trademark dark and absorbing reads.
Bit by bit, Robicheaux is having his innocence and idealism chipped away. Dixie City Jam does not reveal what the readers will find underneath.
I can believe that this is not the best of the Robicheaux books. The premise of the plot is just a bit too far-fetched. Still, the characters have some truly brilliant moments-- I particularly liked Tommy Bobalouba. This was the second Burke that I have read, and it only strengthens my desire to read the other books in the series.
Rated by buyers -
For the very first time in a long time, Dave Robicheaux's life seems to be going well. His wife Bootsie's Lupus is under control, his business is doing well as is his daughter Alafair. Then Dave sees an old german sub, sunk during WWII and all kinds of strange things begin to happen in his life.
This time the woman in Dave and Clete's lives are the targets of a lunatic, who has been murdering people all over the world. He has a compatriot who will surprise you later in the book. Most of the time Dave is busy chasing after this guy who seems to be a ghost and lives completely off the radar. No history or background and nothing in the NCIS computer files.
Clete has more fun in this book than is legal; he fills a guys car with cement from a stolen cement mixer, and drives an earth grader through the guys brothers house. In between he gets some great lines and gets to spend a week fishing, while Dave runs around southeastern Louisiana chasing his ghost.
As always, come the end, Dave works everything out; the good guys win and the bad guys get their just desserts. There is a great line from Stephen Crane in the book that I'll paraphrase as:
Most people aren't nouns, their adverbs, spending their time modifying situation and dangers they have no control over.
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