Feast Day of Fools, by James Lee Burke

I read a lot of the early Dave Robicheaux books, and I was curious about the Hackberry Holland series. I don't recall Burke being this prone to pontificating -  within and outside of characters' dialogue.  Sheriff Hackberry Holland is an odd duck of a character, his relationship with Deputy Pam Tibbs is as unsatisfying for the reader as it is for Pam Tibbs, and three of four of his very bad villains are capable of regret and sacrifice.  Actually, even the good guys are full of regret and sacrifice.  It's a complicated plot, with lots of political and religious themes to go on and on about.  The plots circle around a weapons designer (who Will Patton makes sound like a moron) who is running around loose with a missile design in his head, and everybody bad guy and government agency wants to catch him to steal or protect the design.  I don't know whether I want to back track and read more of the Hack Holland books or not.