Blackheart Highway

by Richard Barre

Book Overview

After being paroled from prison, a former country music star imprisoned for the murder of his wife and children returns to California's dusty Central Valley to seek revenge. Reprint. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0425169030
• ISBN13: 9780425169032
• Release Date: June 1999
• Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group
• Length: 326 Pages
• Weight: 1.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Terrific read, fascinating characters, multi-level plot.

For anyone who likes spending time with characters and plots that resonate well after the last page is turned, Richard Barre is the author for you. Blackheart Highway, brings the fascinating Wil Hardesty roaring back to life for the fourth time. Barre's writing is spare and exquisitely elegant, his plots are complex and ultimately satisifying. No one writes more realistic and wonderfully rounded characters. I'll follow Wil Hardesty and Richard Barre wherever they will take me. It is a darn good read, but then so were The Innocents, Bearing Secrets, and The Ghosts of Morning. Don't start any of these books late at night, you won't be able to put them down.

Barre's best so far!

Richard Barre has done it again with his latest novel Blackheart Highway. I started reading this author after a trip to Bouchercon where I heard him read an excerpt from one of his novels. After that I read The Innocents and Bearing Secrets in short order and waited anxiously for The Ghosts of the Morning. Blackheart Highway is Mr. Barres fourth offering and in some ways his best. One of the most compelling aspects of Richard Barre's writing is the subtle quality of the plot. The characters and events are believable while the feeling of the story has a haunting timbre. As the story progresses the line between villain and victim start to blur as Will finds himself embroiled in much more than vague threats or long ago murders. I am struck by Mr. Barre's understanding of the "little evils" of compromise and need that seem to be the foundation for the monstrous wickedness.I liked this book very much and liked even more the time between readings. The flavor of the story lingered and I found myself wanting to hurry up and finish whatever silliness I was doing so I could get back to the real stuff of Blackheart Highway. Michaele Bryant

Marvelous! The Best Book I've Read This Year

Once again Barre weaves the past with the present and no one does it better. Wil Hardesty is hired to find someone and in the course of his investigation becomes interested in an old murder case everyone else wants to forget. The writing is superb with wonderful characters, fast pacing, and a plot that wouldn't let me put the book down. I wish I could give it six stars.

This mystery has it all!

Richard Barre gets better and better with every book, but it's hard to imagine how he can top this one. The plot is compelling, clear, and complex. The characters have depth and soul. They are real people dealing with real life joys and sorrows. The setting is beautifully realized. Bakersfield and the surrounding Kern River Country are lovingly depicted as a part of the mythic American West. Past, present, and future blend seamlessly. The mystery is taut, filled with unexpected twists and turns that nonetheless make sense when finally revealed. Barre's voice is unique and unmistakable. His terse, yet fluid, use of language adds richness to the story. This is an excellent storyteller at the peak of his craft. Read Blackheart Highway. You won't be sorry.

A stunning achievement, bound to one day be a classic!

Spare, economical tight writing. A complext multi-generational plot. PI Wil Hardesty goes to Bakersfield with a woman he's getting serious about. It's to be a vacation, but after thwarting a robbery, Hardesty is offered a large amount of money to find a recently released and former country western singer who's back in town. There's more to it, and as Hardesty probes deeper, more and more questions arise. This is an outstanding novel without a wasted word. Plots and subplots intertwine with spiraling tension to a very high level. This one is a grabber you'll want to read in a single setting.