Crusader's Cross by James Lee Burke

 

I couldn't tell you exactly why I chose this novel rather than any of the others in my stack, but it made an interesting counterpoint to last night's novel, to be sure. Putatively more realistic. Absolutely steeped in ideas about manhood and how they're damaging to everyone. Violent as heck. Deeply personal, as all Burke's novels at least seem to be (I have zero doubt there's some artistry, that the things that look like Easter eggs from Burke's life are--at least mostly--something like authorial sleight of hand). This has all of Burke's usual strengths, and in 2005 the characters wouldn't be far too old for some of the stuff they get up to. The prose is lean but lyrical, laden with delicious turns of phrase; the characters are all eminently believable--even and especially the worst of them--the story loops and whorls and eventually unwinds. Every James Lee Burke novel feels like a treasure.