House of the Rising Sun
A Novel
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4.2 • 237 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
Bestselling author James Lee Burke’s “stunning” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) masterpiece is the story of a father and son separated by war, circumstance, and a race for the Holy Grail—a thrilling entry in the Holland family saga.
After a violent encounter that leaves four Mexican soldiers dead, Texas Ranger Hackberry Holland escapes the country in possession of a stolen artifact believed to be the mythic cup of Christ, earning the ire of a bloodthirsty Austrian arms dealer who places Hack’s son, Ishmael, squarely in the cross hairs of a plot to recapture his prize.
On the journey from revolutionary Mexico in 1918 to the saloons of San Antonio during the Hole in the Wall Gang’s reign, we meet three extraordinary women: the Danish immigrant who is Ishmael’s mother and Hackberry’s one true love; a brothel madam descended from the Crusader knight who brought the Shroud of Turin back from the Holy Land; and a onetime lover of the Sundance Kid, whose wiles rival those of Lady Macbeth. In her own way, each woman will aid Hack in his quest to reconcile with Ishmael, to vanquish their enemies, and to return the Grail to its rightful place.
An epic tale of love, loss, betrayal, vengeance, and retribution, The House of the Rising Sun further cements Burke’s reputation as “one of America’s all-time masters” (New York Journal of Books).
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
James Lee Burke’s fourth Hackberry Holland mystery finds the Texas Ranger bouncing across the Mexico-U.S. border in pursuit of an artifact thought to be the Holy Grail. House of the Rising Sun is a crisp, tough-minded story that pits Holland against an Austrian arms dealer and reunites him with his estranged son. As usual, Burke’s dialogue is spare and gritty while the characters’ philosophies run deep—an entertaining juxtaposition that breathes life into the archetype of the Old West man.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Edgar-winner Burke's stunning follow-up to 2014's Wayfaring Stranger, former Texas Ranger Hackberry Holland sets off to look for his estranged son, Ishmael, a U.S. Army captain, in a journey spanning over two years. In 1916, after a botched Ranger operation in Mexico, Hackberry has in his possession an artifact rumored to be the Holy Grail, incurring the wrath of Arnold Beckman, a vicious arms dealer who wants the artifact for himself. Bloodshed and treachery follow as Hackberry searches for his son while staying ahead of Beckman. As usual, Burke packs this epic novel with stellar characters, the best of whom are women: union activist Ruby Dansen, who's Ishmael's mother, and Beatrice DeMolay, a brothel owner who comes to Hackberry's aid in Mexico. It's easy to picture Hackberry as an avenging angel, albeit one with tattered wings, and his struggle to reconcile his innate sense of goodness with his violent sense of justice is only one of the story's many facets. Crisp dialogue highlights this tale of redemption and the bonds of family, and the breathtaking conclusion is one that readers won't soon forget.
Customer Reviews
House of rising sun
Burke never disappoints. He's of of the best.
Clint Eastwood
Would make a good spaghetti Western. Needs a better ending.
Terrible ending!
Ending very anticlimactic. Didn’t know what happened to most of the characters and the Grail.