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Content snapshot
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Violence
A lot
Criminal violence and historical institutional violence against vulnerable women; some graphic scenes
Language
A lot
Very strong language
Sexual Content
Barely any
Some adult content; prostitution in a historical New Orleans setting
Substance Use
A lot
Heavy drinking; Dave's alcoholism is at a crisis point
Emotional Intensity
A lot
The specific grief of a childhood poverty and violence; the cost of looking directly at what you have always turned away from
What this book is about
Dave Robicheaux's mother was a prostitute who was murdered when he was very young — a piece of his past he has never fully examined. When a woman appears claiming to know what happened, Dave is forced to confront the most personal investigation of his career, into the corruption of New Orleans's criminal justice system during a time when it was more brutal and more broken than it is now. James Lee Burke's eleventh Robicheaux novel is his most autobiographically intimate — the investigation into Dave's mother is also an investigation into Dave himself.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
very strong language
prostitution in a historical context
eleventh of the Robicheaux series
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