Jolie Bon's Bounce

From Singles 2009

He lifted his chin and rubbed the whiskers on his throat, the cast in his green eyes as ancient and devoid of moral light as those in a prehistoric, scale-covered creature breaking from the egg.

Meet Legion. Another fine, very disturbing Burke bad guy.

Another Burke novel where the lines of reality and the divine blur. Legion seems to be a demon with unexpected strength and supreme malice, an odor from hell and a second voice. Marvin Stokes is a traveling Bible salesman who pulls his suitcase of scripture tied to a roller skate yet is suffused with an air of predation. And, then there's Sal Angelo, a homeless, drug fogged Vietnam vet who claims to have been responsible for transporting a seriously injured soldier Dave out of the field and harms way.

The second tier of bad and good guys are more mundane: Tee Bobby Hulin - guitar player extraordinaire who's accused of raping and murdering a high school girl, his manager Jimmy Dean Styles, his lawyer, Perry LaSalle (of THE LaSalles), the prosecutor, Barbara Shannahan - who Clete falls for, a former "button man", Joe Zeroski, who's daughter has been brutally murdered, Joe's niece and various, ahem, associates... Someday I need to re-read one of these books immediately while I know all the characters.

And, of course, there's Dave and Clete. And, its a great Clete book.

He ran his big hand across the firmness of her back, the taper of her muscles along her hips.

"You're stand-up," he said.

"Not really," she said.

"You feel great, Barbara. Wow, do you feel great," he said, rubbing his cheek against her hair, petting her back, closing his eyes as he breathed in the fragrance and heat on her neck.

"So do you. But, Clete..." she said uncomfortably.

"What is it?" he asked, looking with alarm at her face.

"You're standing on my foot."