"Tell it to the Rain" Song Lyrics

This is a story about justice and friendship.

In the southern part of Texas, by the Mexican border, the sheriff's office is informed about shots being fired at a certain location the prior night.

Sheriff Hackberry Holland, a Korean War vet, discovers the bodies of nine Asian women. Later, he learns that they were carrying balloons of drugs in their stomachs. Not only were they being used as mules, they might have been traveling to a place of prostitution.

With James Lee Burke's keen ability to describe settings and provide unforgettable characters, we follow the trail of the killers. We learn that they want to kill the young man who called the authorities and the man's girlfriend. They fear that the man could identify them and that his girlfriend may have recognized one of the men also.

In typical fashion, Burke defends characters who are attempting to get out of a difficult predicament. He also shows the ineptitude of government officials to help or show any compassion.

The killers who come after the defenseless characters and soon begin to argue among themselves. Greed is extreme and it is well depicted in this story as if avarice.  Sheriff Holland is a genuinely good man and he shines above the other characters in the story.

The action is well paced so that the reader can observe what is going on with the criminals, the two innocent characters and with Sheriff Holland and his loyal chief deputy, Pam Tibbs.

The characters are well thought out and believable and the story is entertaining.