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  • The Neon Rain

  • A Dave Robicheaux Novel
  • Written by: James Lee Burke
  • Narrated by: Will Patton
  • Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (93 ratings)

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The Neon Rain cover art

The Neon Rain

Written by: James Lee Burke
Narrated by: Will Patton
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Publisher's Summary

New York Times best-selling author James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux novels began with this first hard-hitting entry in the series.

In The Neon Rain, Detective Robicheaux fishes a prostitute's corpse from a New Orleans bayou and finds that no one, not even the law, cares about a dead hooker.

©1987 James Lee Burke (P)2009 Recorded Books, LLC

What the critics say

"With its fine local color and driving action, this novel is both chilling and first-rate entertainment." ( Publishers Weekly)
"One of Burke's best." ( New York Times Book Review)

What listeners say about The Neon Rain

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great story and writing

This is my first Burke/Robichaux book. Not sure where I have been to come late to these stories, but I will certainly read/listen to them. Great fun with this one.

The narration by Will Patton is excellent.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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A Dark Journey

The Neon Rain is a very dark and sometimes depressing journey. The violence has bursts of reality, which I love, but what makes this work so well is our hero, Dave Robichaeux. Robichaeux is perhaps one of the most haunted characters I’ve read, but he comes across as a fully developed, three dimensional person. The plot is almost background noise in books like these where the journey prevails.

The narrator, Will Patton, sounds as though he was born to read this book to us.

Very good noir fiction.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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You can feel the day!

Patton brings"Neon Rain" into your life. An excellent story, Patton brings you into New Orleans and gives you the smells, sounds, and pain that Burke invisioned.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Enjoyed This!

Trigger warning: there is use of the n-word in this one.

This was one of Audible's daily deals last year that I am finally getting to now. I went into it expecting your typical crime noir detective story with a setting in New Orleans and written in late 80s. It was that with a bit more nuance to understanding some of the race relations of the area and the time, but the foreward also explained a bit more about that as well.

This wasn't quite my type of story and knowing that there are over 20 more books in the series, this is probably where my reading of Dave Robicheaux ends. It felt like a lot of other these crime novels with a lot of action but not a lot of character deept or emotions. Truthfully, you'd probably get more out of playing L.A. Noire than you will reading this.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A tough one to get into.

I liked the book but had a hard time following the characters. Good story though. Loved the narrator.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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Good late 80s cop drama

Decent story of a cop hunting down some corruption. A good picture of New Orleans and excellent narration

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Loved It

What a gem. It took a bit, but really loved this one. A man out of time.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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ABSOLUTELY AWESOME WRITER

Have been a fan since his first book. My mind sees what he descibes. I am re-reading all his books again. He always has a way of saying words to make you think about certain things. I want to go to New Iberia to see what he so eloquently describes. Thank you James.❤🇨🇦

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Great intro to Dave Robichaux

Great introduction to all Dave Robichaux novels.Looking forward to all the rest of them and more.

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