*Starred Review* Over five previous novels, Burke's multigenerational account of the Holland family has jumped around chronologically, dropping in at various points to track the often tortured doings of a clan whose ungoverned passion for living always seems to be on the verge of running amok and leading, not to life, but to self-destruction. So it is here, in the coming-of-age story of Aaron Holland Broussard, grandson of Hackberry Holland (seen most recently in House of the Rising Sun, 2015). Life kicks into overdrive for 17-year-old Aaron one night in 1952 on Galveston Beach, when he sees a beautiful girl in a pink Cadillac being bullied by a rich kid and decides to intervene. The rest of the novel charts the roiling waves that follow in the wake of that life-changing decision. The story plays out as so many Burke novels do, with the aggrieved hero plowing forward against seemingly absurd odds, endangering himself and those he loves, but unable to put the brakes on the emotions that drive him. The repetitiveness of this story line may bother some, but Burke devotees recognize in it a kind of mythic archetype, an ur-story that bears the weight of multiple retellings because the teller is able to infuse it with an infinite variety of shadings. As Aaron follows his love for Valerie Epstein into a morass of Mob-related trouble, we see that story playing itself out yet again, this time driven by adolescent passion and lethal jealousy. As always, though, what brings the myth-laden story to pulsing life is Burke's lyrical prose and his ability to use description to mirror emotion. That and what is perhaps the best last paragraph in this author's landmark career. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Nearly 40 books, multiple Edgars, a reserved chair on every best-seller list now that's backstory.--Ott, Bill Copyright 2016 Booklist

Raging teenage hormones, gangster violence, class warfare, and a pink Cadillac stuffed with cash and gold bars set up Burke's latest novel, a mystery set in Houston, Tex., in 1952. Burke has a hit with this dark, atmospheric story of teenagers trying to make it through high school without getting killed by Mafia hitmen, low-life thugs, and greasers with oily ducktails and switchblade knives. Seventeen-year-old Aaron bumbles into a steamy teenage romance with Valerie Epstein, angering Grady, her rich country-club ex-boyfriend, who vows jealous revenge. With his prankster best pal, Saber, Aaron unwittingly steps into a messy world of violence that escalates to involve parents, punks, and the police. Beatings, arson, and a murder ramp up the tension as the boys are framed and futilely declare their innocence. Then Grady's pink Caddie full of money and gold is stolen and the Mafia steps in. They think it's their money, they want it back, and they believe Aaron and Saber have it. Burke portrays Houston as rife with crime, complete with a corrupt police force, and the boys have little hope of surviving this cesspool. Fortunately, they have good parents, an honest detective, and a savvy prostitute to back them up. Agent: Philip Spitzer, Philip G. Spitzer Literary Agency. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Strife between fathers and sons propels this acrid portrait of 1950s Houston, the latest of Burke's Holland family novels. Aaron Holland Broussard, as he stiffly introduces himself, is a teenager ensnared by a bipolar mother and an alcoholic father. He takes solace in his pets, a Gibson guitar, the occasional bull ride. After he intervenes in a spat between Valerie Epstein ("known for her smile and singing voice and straight A's") and her rich, swaggering beau, the son of a local tycoon keen on eugenics and Ayn Rand, the seemingly negligible encounter precipitates a host of clashes - with a hot rod full of greasers; a mob mistress; a sadistic mob enforcer and his unhinged son; an ex-Communist and an ex-O.S.S. agent; a dogged detective; a cadre of heroin dealers; a corps of Sicilian assassins. Beware whiplash: Burke likes things fast and furious. The author, in fact, maintains command, even through Aaron's woefully convenient spells of amnesia. This thoroughgoing entertainment is garnished with descriptions both delightful (a car painted "a creamy pink that you could eat with a spoon") and less so (a "guy sitting behind the steering wheel like a tall drink of water") and a slowly accumulating poignancy. As the paternal relationships of Aaron's contemporaries implode, he uncovers quiet strength in his own principled father. Burke hammers the tension between his old-fashioned, charmingly naïve hero and the unfolding bedlam. Even after a Mafioso menaces Aaron ("I'll pull your insides out with a pair of pliers"), the boy clings to his optimism. Surely most folks, he tells himself, are "better than we think they are."