It’s the summer of ’52. We, who are old enough to have lived it or have seen the romanticized version in movies and on TV, may think nostalgically of hot rods, kids dragging main, long days at the beach, or perhaps sneaking beers or exploring sex in the back seat of dad’s car. To fans of James Lee Burke, first love and hot rods hardly sound like a scenario for a noir page-turner. THE JEALOUS KIND winds down pathways leading from petty street punks and gangs to the mansions of the privileged upper classes, leading ultimately to the Mob, murder, drugs and grand theft.

Like no other contemporary writer, Burke evokes the times and mood of that legendary era of assumed innocence into a gripping drama. And there is no narrator who better sets the scene of that period and place better than Will Patton, whose refined southern delivery places the reader right in the middle of the action.

"Patton’s narration will keep you glued to the wheel of your car, distract you from the incessant din of election year babble, escape the mind-numbing monotony of air travel, or simply help you get through a long hot summer."

High school junior Aaron Holland Broussard learns more about life, true love, class discrimination and, above all, fear than any young man of those outwardly innocent times might expect. When he rescues a girl who is fending off a drunk and abusive date at a drive-in theater, Aaron discovers that gallantry comes at a perilous price. Her name is Valerie Epstein, the most beautiful girl in his class, who moves in a circle so far beyond his humble reach as to be unobtainable. But love at first sight will nearly destroy them both.  Aaron will soon learn to factor the constant anxiety he feels every morning of that fateful summer into the events of the day. He likens it to a pebble in his shoe --- an unrelenting sensation that never goes away.

Patton has brought life to the words of Ernest Hemingway (TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT), Jack Kerouac’s ON THE ROAD, Don DeLillo, Larry McMurtry, Charles Frazier, and Burke’s Dave Robicheaux and Billy Bob Holland detective novels. Most recently, he narrated WAYFARING STRANGER, featuring Weldon Avery Holland, Aaron’s grandfather, and starred on the TNT series “Falling Skies.”

Burke’s overriding themes of good versus evil, cultural warfare, and the glory and heartbreak of the great American Dream continue post-World War II in THE JEALOUS KIND. Patton’s narration will keep you glued to the wheel of your car, distract you from the incessant din of election year babble, escape the mind-numbing monotony of air travel, or simply help you get through a long hot summer.