The Jealous Kind

'James Lee Burke is the heavyweight champ, a great American novelist whose
work, taken individually or as a whole, is unsurpassed.' Michael Connelly

On its surface, life in Houston is as you would expect: drive-in restaurants,
souped-up cars, jukeboxes, teenagers discovering their sexuality. But beneath
the glitz and superficial normalcy, a class war has begun, and it is nothing
like the conventional portrayal of the decade. Against this backdrop Aaron
Holland Broussard discovers the poignancy of first love and a world of
violence he did not know existed.

When Aaron spots the beautiful and gifted Valerie Epstein fighting with her
boyfriend, Grady Harrelson, at a Galveston drive-in, he inadvertently
challenges the power of the Mob and one of the richest families in Texas. He
also discovers he must find the courage his father had found as an American
soldier in the Great War.

Written in evocative prose, The Jealous Kind may prove to be James Lee Burke's
most encompassing work yet. As Aaron undergoes his harrowing evolution from
boy to man, we can't help but recall the inspirational and curative power of
first love and how far we would go to protect it.