James Lee Burke remains a titan of American fiction. I can think of no writer since John Steinbeck who matches him for combining imagination and realism with a keen sense of social perception.
It's 1962 and in the American West, Aaron Holland Broussard is still haunted by the loss of his best friend in Korea. He's an aspiring novelist trying to find a publisher for his debut novel.
The author paints a vivid and brutal portrait of life on the land which is still riddled with divisions of faith, class and colour. It is an intense exploration of morality and vanquished hope in the months before Americans were threatened by the Cuban missile crisis. The denouement inside the Sangre de Cristo Mountains is as dark as anything in Dante's Inferno.
Southern Noir at its very best.

Loved this.

And thrilled James Lee Burke has a whole back list of novels that I will now be purchasing.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review.

Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

The storyline kept me glued to my Kindle through the whole book! I definitely recommend reading this book! Its well worth reading! Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!

Beautiful pros as always, but at times it feels like it wants to be a Dave Robicheaux book. Strictly for hardened James Lee Burke fans.

James Lee Burke has been, for over half a century, a brilliant star on the American literary scene and Another Kind of Eden is his forty-first novel. Set in the American west of the early 1960s, it straddles multiple genres and features Aaron Holland Broussard, a war veteran and aspiring writer, as its lead.

Aaron is exploring the country by riding freight trains and stops at Trinidad, Colorado, where he finds a job as a farmhand. Suffering from non-chemically induced blackouts and frequent nightmares from the war, he tries to lose himself in his new life on the farm. Suddenly, due to some freak events, his idyllic existence is threatened as he finds himself on the wrong side of a local man of terrifying repute and his seemingly psychopathic son. Meanwhile, he falls in love with a beautiful, fiery girl who, somehow, is mixed up with a shady art professor and a busload of banged up hippies. Amidst all this, a local policeman pesters Aaron to help him catch the killer of a number of girls and women in the area. Things start to deteriorate quickly and Aaron finds that nothing is as it seems anymore. In order to save himself and his love, Aaron has to confront several demons—both inside his head and outside of it.

This was my first experience of Burke’s work and I was expecting it to be a mystery / suspense thriller out and out. Though it feels like one initially, it ends up being something entirely different thanks to the heavy dose of magical realism that permeates it in the latter half. Burke’s characters are etched with a lot of detail and all of them are messed up one way or another. There are multiple layers to these characters, which get peeled off as the narrative progresses, showcasing the author’s supreme skill. Aaron, as the narrator, is quite engaging, but is exasperating at times due to his unreliability. Burke’s description of the people and the scenery is starkly lifelike and his dialogues are snappy.

As much as enjoyed Burke’s engrossing storytelling, I could not help feeling cheated by the utterly inconclusive epilogue—following the nerve-racking climax—that leaves many questions unanswered. Maybe I was expecting something different from what Burke normally delivers, but I was still disappointed by the ending and would rate it 3.5 out of 5.

Another Kind of Eden is sure to be loved by Burke’s fans but, in my opinion, it may not be the ideal place to start reading him.

My sincere thanks to James Lee Burke and Orion Publishing Group for the e-ARC through NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased review.

After almost 30 years I'm still waiting to be really disappointed by any novel penned by James Lee Burke.
With Another kind of Eden
we once again get sucked into a menacing noir full of unforgettable twists and turns where violence lurks at every corner and doom is omnipresent from the start. A rollicking and truculent fictional journey through the American West of the 60s blessed with an unforgettable cast of heroes and misfits and some marvellous verbal pyrotechnics created by one of the best American wordsmiths at work today.
To be enjoyed without any moderation whatsoever👍👍

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving the opportunity to read this terrific ARC

Fascinating story. Menacing, thrilling, great characterisation, lots of twists and captures the period it,s set in brilliantly. The writing is really good. I enjoyed reading this book.

Thanks to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for this copy.

I loved the style of writing and the storytelling, this is the first book I read by this author and I'm happy I discovered a master writer.
It's a complex story, different genres, multiple layers and great characters.
I savored the writing and would like to read the trilogy.
A fascinating and enthralling read.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

My thanks to the Author publisher's and NetGalley for providing me with a Kindle version of this book to read and honestly review.

Genius at work.

Completely and utterly brilliant a genuine wordsmith of the art of literature.
Compelling from start to finish with superb characters throughout, some good some bad some evil but all totally believable. Authentic atmospheric descriptive narrative that leaps from the page or screen in this case. At times a sweet gentle love story, somewhat coming of age, at others a murder mystery and psychological thriller, with occasional gruesome violence, moments of mental instability and not being sure of what's dream or reality. Always engaging gripping and intriguing.
No flaws yes the ending seemed slightly rushed and didn't go how I would have preferred, but not enough to lose stars and who am I to quest this master of the art.

Gonna keep this review short as this one wasn’t for me.

My first James Lee Burke read and I have to say it’s a huge disappointment. The writing style seemed to favour prose over story and character development. I was never fully engaged with the stories or characters.

An unreliable narrator adds to the detached reading experience. I’m sure there were plenty of metaphors in here but honestly I wasn’t interested enough to think about them.

The bizarre finally, a frankly unbelievable love story and a vagueness in writing style led me to have little it no interest in this one.

Some of the prose to be fair were beautifully written but I prefer a good story and well written characters first and they seemed lost in this highly stylised yet vacuous book.

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC through Netgalley.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Orion Publishing Group for an advance copy of Another Kind of Eden, a prequel to the Holland family trilogy, set in Colorado in 1962.

Aaron Holland Broussard lives an itinerant lifestyle and takes a job on a farm south of Denver. There he meets and falls in love with local artist Jo Anne McDuffy, falls out with a powerful local family and messes with a local professor and his cult of drug users.

I thoroughly enjoyed Another Kind of Eden as it is a long time since I immersed myself in Mr Burke’s work. His storytelling is as compulsive as ever, but I can’t help but feel that this novel is a little derivative of his previous work. There is little to differentiate Aaron Holland Broussard from his long term creation Dave Robichaux, the same wartime PTSD, the problems with drink and the sense of justice and how to administer it. Even the bad guys have much the same demons. I’m not saying this is a bad thing as there is comfort in the familiar and what he has to say is worth saying.

I am struggling to define what I find so compulsive and pleasurable about this novel. I like the story with its mixture of strange characters and uncertainty about what will come next, that engenders tension. I like the lyrical tone in the descriptions of the landscape and I like the understated contrast between the American dream and the harsh reality of life for many folks. I like the rather biting social commentary that underlines this point. Another kind of Eden, indeed, one that is edgy, tense and unpredictable, perhaps even supernatural although my jury is out on that.

The novel takes a turn away from the traditional for its final action scenes. Aaron warns the reader in his introduction that some readers might not believe the events that he swears are true. Well, it’s fantastical and I’m not sure what the author is trying to tell me, so I just went with the flow or the action, tension and excitement.

Another Kind of Eden is a good read that I can recommend.

I've been an avid fan of James Lee Burke for more years than I can remember and a new book from him is always like Christmas come early for me.
Another Kind of Eden is the 4th book in the Holland Family series and is the continuing story of Aaron Holland Broussard ,whose teenage years in the 1950's were the subject of the excellent, "The Jealous Kind".

The story begins in 1962 with Aaron riding a Boxcar and jumping off in Denver, it becomes obvious that he's a very troubled man. He's a veteran of the Korean War which has left him with bad memories and PTSD that often lead to blackouts during which there have been several violent episodes that he later can't remember.
Aaaron finds work on a farm and almost immediately falls foul of a powerful local family He also finds love with a beautiful young artist ,a relationship complicated by her friendship with one of her professors,who himself is involved with a group of hippies bearing a resemblance to the Manson family.
To add yet more spice there appears to be a serial killer targeting local women.

This is classic James Lee Burke the lyrical,almost poetic descriptions of the landscape punctuated by crude language , violence and laugh out loud humour,some of it quite near the knuckle. There are the usual range of damaged characters, religious allegory and some quite savage commentary on some of the less savoury,events in American history. One thing regular Burke readers will know is that often his characters speak with the same voice, here Aaron has the same oratory style , mannerisms and observations as Dave Robicheaux ,not least the savage and witty put-downs ,but Burke writes so beautifully he can not only get away with it but I suspect most readers expect it. The great thing about a JLB book is not just the story but the amazing way he uses words, he can be poetic in one paragraph then throw in some crude dialogue or some hardcore violence in the next ,not many authors could make that work.

Great as it is I don't think everyone will like it,possibly not even some fans of JLB as things get decidedly odd in parts of the story. Regular readers will be used to the hints of the supernatural but this book ramps that up a few notches in places. There was a point where I began to think,"What the heck is going on here?" but stick with it and all becomes clear, though the reader is nudged towards a conclusion to what they've just read rather it being presented to them.

This is a fantastic read,as always with a new James Lee Burke book as soon as I got it everything else was put on hold and it was cover to cover until I finished it.