James Lee Burke's writing, while always good, seemed not long ago to be bogging down: book after book recycled the same character types, themes and locations; and Dave Robicheaux was running out of jobs to quit and wives to bury. Things looked up when Burke introduced Billy Bob Holland, ex-Texas Ranger with a violent past, but the previous BBH book, Bitterroot, suffered from the extravagant plot twists and caricatures in place of characters that were beginning to mar Burke's writing.In the Moon of Red Ponies, however, launches Burke back to the very top of crime writing. It is taut and well-plotted, and it beautifully evokes the Montana scenery. Best of all, the characters are ambiguous. They lack the black-and-white shadings of self-righteous zeal or unalloyed evil that had come to typify Burke's books.Billy Bob Holland is continually wrong-footed by the actions of his psycopathic nemesis Wyatt Dixon, who claims to have undergone a spiritual rebirth while in jail; and he finds himself unable to predict the behaviour of a local cop who blames the unravelling of his life on a troubled Native American named Johnny American Horse. Horse - a descendant of Crazy Horse - is in a relationship with the daughter of a US Senator, and so already on a collision course with the establishment; he then blunders into deeper and deeper trouble, and finds that he has added a powerful global corporation to his list of enemies.Holland's sleepy backwood town in Montana suddenly finds itself attracting contract killers and even the FBI, and the body count soon starts to rise. Holland's dilemma is whether he should follow his habit and deal swift and violent justice, or whether he dare put his trust in the better side of the flawed and complex characters that have invaded his world.This is a satisfying book and a compelling read. Burke is so much better than any other crime write alive that it's a mistake to bracket him in this category at all. And even by his own high standards, this book marks his return to top form.