In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead

By: James Lee Burke

Narrated by: Will Patton

Hollywood has sent its emissaries to New Iberia Parish to film a Civil War epic in the steaming mists of the Louisiana bayou, reawakening the ghosts of a past best left undisturbed. The restless specters wait in the shadows for Cajun cop Dave Robicheaux as he hunts a serial butcher who is preying on the less-than-innocent young. For these spirits are the guardians of Robicheaux's darkest torments, and they hold the key to ultimate salvation - or a final, fatal downfall.More mayhem? Listen to more of James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux thrillers.©1993 James Lee Burke. All rights reserved (P)1993 Simon and Schuster Inc. All rights reserved.

Critic reviews

"Dave's visions of the Confederate dead bring a Faulknerian resonance to the miasmal guilt and self-doubt that enrich all his encounters with evil. After outstanding success in the genre, Burke has produced a violent, somber, deeply satisfying crossover novel." (Kirkus Reviews)

Who will I read next

Sometimes I worry who I will read if James Lee Burke and Tony Hillerman stop writing. If you are southern and from Louisiana you will love this book and you will see ghost through the eyes of Burke. If you are not southern and from Louisiana,here is a little taste of Bayou country, And thanks again Will Patton for choosing to read Burke books.

Back to Neon Rain form

I absolutely loved this book. I read the other three books that followed Neon Rain, and none seemed to capture the electricity that Neon Rain had. They all seemed to be remixes of the same song with less effect. In the Mist is a return to form. I can't wait to see the film with Tommy Lee Jones..

Dave's hearing voices

I have just downloaded this book again to listen to during the summer. Burke is a terrific writer, and Will Patton is the perfect Dave Robicheaux.

Narrator Problem

What made the experience of listening to In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead the most enjoyable?

The storyline.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The narrator did a good job with South Louisiana dialects (I'm a South Louisiana Native); but mispronounced 90% of proper nouns (ie) pecans, Lafayette, Prejean, Atchafalaya, etc. That I can live with and even understand; but, his voice volume went from 0-100 with each character. I was driving while listening and had to constantly change volume to try to hear and keep up with the book. His Dave Robichaux voice was a deep, soft whisper almost impossible to hear and understand, while other characters were loud and strident. Horribly disconcerting. I'm only glad that I bought the abridged version or I would never have finished this book.

Any additional comments?

If you want to read this book, you might want to purchase the paperback version or Kindle book. . . . . .it is too difficult to listen to.

Wish It Was Unabridged

Great story and a wonderful reader. Will Patton is the perfect reader for Burke's narratives. However, his books are too complex to be abridged, at least in this length. Check out Tin Roof Blow Down for a really great listen. It will make you purchase all the others as it did for me.

Warning: abbridged version of the story

I cant understand why anyone would chose an abbridged version of any story worth knowing.

Hypnotic

Zanax meets Nyquil! The narrator has the most soothing voice in the world and it really was a joy to listen to..However, there were so many charachters dropped into this book that identifying with the them was impossible. They were introduced and then they vanished. I felt like I needed to make a list of them so I could refer to it when they popped back in so that I could remember who was who! Lets face it, when your chapters into the read and are still unsure of who the main charachter is there may be an identity crisis!

Abridged Version - Wish it wasn't

I loved Crusader's Cross and The Tin Roof Blowdown so I wanted to go back and listen to the Burke/Robichaux series in order.

I started with Heaven's Prisoners and move on to this one.

These abridged audiobooks are not nearly as good. It just seems there are too many holes in the storyline and storytelling aspect of the book.

This was a tad better than Heaven's Prisoners, which was REAL choppy, and I only rated it 3-stars solely due to the reader, Will Patton.

Will Patton is an extraordinary reader and I will also bump this rating to a 4 instead of 3-star solely based on his performance of the book.

Electric Mist

James Lee Burke is one of my favorite authors. His imagery is powerful his words lyrical.

Abridgement ambiguity

Abridging a James Lee Burke 'Dave Robicheaux' novel is akin to parsing a sentence in one of Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County short stories. You can do it, but why would you want to? So much is lost in the process of a mere mortal attempting to modify the words of a master. Just as Faulkner once brought the secrets of the Old South of 1920's and 30's northern Mississippi alive through Yoknapatawpha County, Burke uses New Iberia Parish as a vehicle to bring the dichotomy of the richness of the multi-cultural spiritual richness and the historical moral bankruptcy of Louisiana alive today. Burke's prose takes one aback at first for its vividness. In a lesser hand it would be sophomoric, just as a Faulkner imitator would turn out run on sentences. Yet nothing short of Burke's prose could do justice to his subject matter. The capricious ambiguities of both men and nature are Burke's playground.

Political correctness is always a victim to the truth Mr. Burke's books, so his books are for adults only. (This yarn is being made into a movie to be released in December of 2007. Tommy Lee Jones will be playing Robicheaux.) By introducing outsiders, (the movie cast and crew), into New Iberia Parish and the surrounding environs demonstrates that both spirituality and moral bankruptcy can be relative. Will Patten nails the "coon-ass" and southern accents and pronunciations, as usual. The only criticism is the abridgment process itself and what and how much left behind and replaced with short "musical" interludes.