THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD by James Lee Burke

Finished Th 1/16/2020

I got this from Amazon  Fr 9/13/19. It sat around for a few months and for some reason I thought that this was Burke's first novel. It was not. It is the 13th in the Robicheaux series and it's set in Lolo, Montana. Since most of the series is set in and around New Orleans I thought it odd. Then I read that Burke owns a home in Lolo and spends part of the year in this part of the country- ten miles southwest from Missoula, Montana. Also, it's near Flathead Lake which is the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi. I had never heard of it. 

CHARACTERS;

Dave Robicheaux he and his daughter are staying at the home of a writer/ friend of Dave.

Alafair- Dave's daughter, and his wife, Molly. Alafair is now a lawyer and a writer. She had done an in jail interview with evil serial killer Asa Surrette.

Asa Surrette- this man might be some kind of demon and has a strong feral smell. Possibly this odor might be linked to a peritonitis infection.

Clete Purcell- Dave's ex-partner on the NOPO and now he is a private detective.

Gretchen Horowitz- She was a hired killer for the mob, but now is not affiliated. 

Wyatt Dixon- This man is an ex-rodeo clown and bronc rider. He has knuckles like large ball bearings.

From the books page at Goodreads:

"In Light of the World, sadist and serial killer Asa Surrette narrowly escaped the death penalty for the string of heinous murders he committed while capital punishment was outlawed in Kansas. But following a series of damning articles written by Dave Robicheaux’s daughter Alafair about possible other crimes committed by Surette, the killer escapes from a prison transport van and heads to Montana—where an unsuspecting Dave happens to have gone to take in the sweet summer air, accompanied by Alafair, his wife Molly, faithful partner Clete, and Clete’s newfound daughter, Gretchen Horowitz, whom listeners met in Burke’s most recent bestseller Creole Belle."

From the book's page at Amazon:

"New York Times bestselling author and “America’s best novelist” (The Denver Post) James Lee Burke is back with the twentieth mystery in the masterful Dave Robicheaux series.

Sadist and serial killer Asa Surrette narrowly escaped the death penalty for the string of heinous murders he committed while capital punishment was outlawed in Kansas. But following a series of damning articles written by Dave Robicheaux’s daughter Alafair, Surrette escapes from a prison transport van and heads to Montana, where an unsuspecting Dave—along with Alafair; Dave’s wife, Molly; Dave’s faithful partner Clete; and Clete’s newfound daughter, Gretchen Horowitz—have come to take in the sweet summer air.

Surrette may be even worse than Dave’s old enemy Legion Guidry, a man Dave suspected might very well be the devil incarnate. But before Dave can stop Surrette from harming those he loves most, he’ll have to do battle with Love Younger, an enigmatic petrochemical magnate seeking to build an oil pipeline from Alberta to Texas, and Wyatt Dixon, a rodeo clown with a dark past whom Burke fans will recall from his Billy Bob Holland novels."


I loved the book and plan to read everything by James Lee Burke. I just learned that the Wyatt Dixon character is from the Holland series.