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Cimarron Rose (Abridged) Audiobook
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(3.01) - 1,479 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
Texas attorney Billy Bob Holland must confront the past in order to save his illegitimate son from a murder conviction in this brilliant, fast-paced thriller from beloved New York Times bestselling author James Lee Burke.
Lucas Smothers, nineteen and from the wrong end of town, has been arrested for the rape and murder of a local girl. His lawyer, former Texas Ranger Billy Bob Holland, is convinced of Lucas’s innocence—but proving it means unearthing the truth from the seething mass of deceit and corruption that spreads like wildfire in a gossipy small town where everybody knows everybody else’s business.
Billy Bob’s relationship with Lucas’s family is not an easy one. Years back he was a close friend of Mrs. Smothers—too close, according to her husband. But when Lucas overhears gruesome tales of serial murder from a neighboring cell in the local lock-up, he himself looks like a candidate for an untimely death, and Billy Bob incurs enemies far more dangerous than any he faced as a Ranger.
With the same electric language and hard-edged style that brought James Lee Burke’s Dave Robicheaux novels to the forefront of American crime fiction, Cimarron Rose explodes with a harsh, evocative setting and unforgettable characters.
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"Texas attorney and former Texas Ranger Billy Bob Holland has many secrets in his dark past. Among them is Vernon Smothers' son Lucas, a teenaged boy about whom only Vernon and Billy Bob know the truth. Lucas is really Billy Bob's illegitimate son, and when Lucas is arrested for murder, Billy Bob knows that he has no choice but to confront the past and serve as the boy's criminal attorney. During Lucas's trial, Billy Bob realizes that he will have to bring injury upon Lucas as well as himself in order to save his son. And as a result, Billy Bob creates enemies that are far more dangerous than any he had faced as a Texas Ranger."
— 1864 (4 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
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“With his tangled family roots and the deep psychic scars he carries from earlier adventures as a Houston cop and a Texas Ranger, Billy Bob already looks like a mythic hero in the making.”
— New York Times Book Review -
“The characters ring true in a weird way. They are quirky and appealing, and even the criminals make good company while the whodunit unfolds.”
— Amazon.com, editorial review -
“Patton does a chilling job.”
— Audiofile -
“Cimarron Rose is a fine, multitextured novel, full of Burke’s lilting, elegiac prose and unflinching in its portrait of the human heart in turmoil.”
— Booklist
Awards
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A New York Times bestseller
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Winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel
Cimarron Rose Listener Reviews
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" I am sensitve to racial slurs or too many prejucidial statements -- even within a novel "
— Irene, 2/18/2014 -
" My first reaction is that Billy Bob Holland is Dave Robicheaux Lite. Instead of Clete Purcel, there is the ghost of L.Q. Navarro. Instead of Alafair from Guatemala, there is the Latino neighbor kid Pete. Instead of Tripod the racoon, there is Beau the horse. Similar chores. Similar sheriff. Similar criminals and crimes. Similar federal agents. Similar violence. Similar expressions. And so on and so on. But I liked it better at the end than the beginning, and I love James Lee Burke's writing, so it should be a 3.5. If I hadn't read so many Robicheaux stories first, I wonder how I would have reacted. Better because I had nothing to compare it to? Or worse because my fondness for Dave couldn't light up Billy Bob? "
— Sherry, 2/1/2014 -
" 1st in Bill Bob Holland series. This had L Q Navarro visiting Billy Bob when things were not going to well. He is a dead Texas Ranger and used to be Billy Bob's partner. Billy Bob is an attorney and trying to clear his sons name because he is accused of killing a girl. It is a very dark book, but I really like it because it appears to be so true. "
— Connie, 1/29/2014 -
" Burke won the Edgar in 1998 for this novel. Wasn't sure if I was going to like, but his writing hooked me at the beginning and all through the book. "
— Jeffrey, 1/20/2014 -
" Billy Bod Holland (a relation of Hackberry Holland?) is an attorny in Deaf Smith, Texas. He finds himself defending his unacknowledged, illegitimate son in a rape-murder case. Lots going on. DEA investigations. Memories of previous times as a Texas Ranger. Will Patton reads this 1997 Burke title. "
— Bayneeta, 1/16/2014 -
" Another great story by James Lee Burke. The story was so engrossing that I couldn't put the book down and spent the day reading it. Highly recommended! "
— Jeff, 12/9/2013 -
" Great book with a stong lead character and plenty of action. It kept me guessing until the end has James Lee Burkes fantastic imagery through out the tale. I will definitely read the next in the series. "
— Poppy, 11/15/2013 -
" Cimarron Rose by James Lee Burke (1999) "
— Julie, 11/8/2013 -
" There were several strands in the storyline, most of which joined together,but I couldn't understand the reasoning behind reading his great-grandfather's journal, except it gave the author the title to the book. "
— Katy, 10/13/2013 -
" I've heard for a long time that Burke is a top notch writer. I am glad to finally add him to my pantheon of "must read" authors. "
— Leon, 10/6/2013 -
" The Texas Rangers from yesteryear and the wild west meet today's idea of justice. Getting to who wins is lots of fun. "
— Maynard, 8/28/2013
About James Lee Burke
James Lee Burke is a New York Times bestselling author of forty novels and two short-story collections. He has won the Edgar Award, the CWA Gold Dagger, and the Grand Prix de Littérature Policièr. He was named Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America. His novel The Lost-Get Back Boogie was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, and two of his books, Heaven’s Prisoners and Two for Texas, have been made into motion pictures.
About Will Patton
Al Gore, former vice president of the United States, is co-founder and chairman of Generation Investment Management. He is also a senior partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and a member of Apple Inc.’s board of directors. Gore spends the majority of his time as chairman of The Climate Reality Project, a nonprofit devoted to solving the climate crisis. Gore was elected to the United States House of Representatives four times and the Senate twice. He served eight years as vice president. He authored the bestsellers Earth in the Balance, An Inconvenient Truth, The Assault on Reason, and Our Choice. He was a co-recipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.