Author James Lee Burke
James Lee Burke is probably best known for his mystery series about Detective Dave Robicheaux, but he also pens novels about the Holland family. This book is about Aaron Holland Broussard, grandson of former Texas lawman Hackberry Holland. The story is narrated by Aaron as an adult, looking back at the summer of 1952, when he was seventeen. The book works fine as a standalone.
*****
Seventeen-year-old Aaron Holland Broussard lives in Houston, Texas; is finishing his third year of high school; rides bulls in the junior division of the rodeo; works in a gas station; and aspires to be a writer.
Aaron's mother works in a bank and suffers from depression; Aaron's father is a white collar employee of an oil company, is writing a book about the Civil War, and drinks too much.....but never in the house.
Aaron loves his parents and greatly admires his father, who's a WWI hero in Aaron's eyes.
A turning point of Aaron's life occurs on Galveston Island, where Aaron's gone to swim and have fun with his friends. On the way home, Aaron stops at a drive-in fast food restaurant and sees gorgeous Valerie Epstein arguing with her preppy boyfriend Grady Harrelson.
Aaron offers his assistance, Grady behaves like a bully and boor, and - in the end - Valerie breaks up with Grady and stalks off.
Aaron goes to Valerie's house the next day, to 'see how she's doing', and is harangued by neighborhood tough Loren Nichols and his cronies.
Aaron assumes Loren has been egged on by angry Grady Harrelson, who's the scion of a wealthy and connected Houston family. Aaron blows off the hoodlums and embarks on a relationship with Valerie, an unusually mature teenager who he considers the love of his life.
Unfortunately, Grady causes more trouble for Aaron and his best friend, class clown Saber Bledsoe.
Grady's father is a right wing zealot in cahoots with gangsters, a corrupt cop, and a pedophile high school teacher. With the powerful Harrelsons on their case, Aaron and Saber find themselves ensnarled in bloody fights, murder, theft, arson, trumped up arrests, mob retribution, and more.
Aaron would like to work things out righteously, but Saber - who's wild and reckless - falls in with Mexican drug dealers, and his ongoing criminal activity makes everything worse.
One of the main themes of the book is the effect of bad fathers on their children. Aaron, who's grown up with caring parents, is honest and well-adjusted. The other young men in the story, including Grady Harrelson, Loren Nichols, Saber Bledsoe, and Vick Atlas - the son of a mobster, have fathers who are some combination of hateful, mean, alcoholic, and violent. These unloved boys all go bad in one fashion or another. Aaron tries to help them when he can, but it's a tough proposition.
In lighter moments of the book, Aaron and Valerie go for drives, watch movies, play miniature golf, enjoy ice cream, eat watermelon, get cozy, and so on.
In the novel's darker moments, Aaron and Valerie's lives are endangered, with sadistic mobsters on the prowl. Like all Burke's books, the overarching motif of the story is good vs. evil (greedy, corrupt, narcissistic, and selfish).
Because the story is told from the point of view of an adult looking back, some of the teenagers speak like graduate students majoring in philosophy, which can be jarring. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the book and highly recommend it.
Rating: 4 stars
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