Burke moves the scene from the familiar Louisiana parish of New Iberia to western Montana for this novel. Dave Robicheaux, his deeply troubled and fatally flawed protagonist and Clete Purcel, his human train wreck of a companion, become embroiled in complex web of deceit as ancient ghosts come back to visit.
Like many of Burke's Robicheaux novels, it explores the themes of corrupted wealth, and moral vacuity. Unlike many of the novels in the series, it tells a significant part of the tale from other viewpoints than that of Robicheaux, which gives it an unusual feeling for those familiar with the series. Burke is a very good writer, and isn't afraid to step outside of formula, either that of the genre he writes, nor his own. While this is not the strongest of his novels, its damn good and well worth the read. I would not, however, recommend it as place to strart reading Burke.
