Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Book of the Month - Tin Roof Blowdown

Tin Roof Blowdown by James Lee Burke


Hurricane Katrina struck Louisiana and the area around the Gulf Coast on August 29th, 2005. This past week was the five year anniversary of that hurricane strike, and the area is still working to re-build after the devastation.


Tin Roof Blowdown is a complex and dark mystery, starring Burke's Sherriff's Detective, Dave Robichaeux, that takes place amidst the chaos and confusion that was New Orleans during and shortly after the Hurricane's landfall.


Mr. Robicheaux, currently working out of New Iberia, is on loan to the New Orleans Police Department because they are short staffed (to say the least). He is asked to investigate the murder and assault on two young men who were looting. Unfortunately for them, the house they chose to plunder belonged to Sidnet Kovick, a New Orleans mob figure, notorious for his wealth and cruelty.

Robicheaux's prime suspect in the case is a mild-mannered insurance salesman who lived next door to Kovick. Otis Baylor had chosen to ride out the storm at home. He owns a rifle similar to the one that did the shooting, and his daughter had been raped by four black men whose description matched that of the looters. To add to the complexity, Dave is also seeking a good friend, Jude Leblanc, who has disappeared into the storm and who might just be another victim of the looters.

Amidst the plot stands the descriptions of New Orleans during and after Katrina, a hurricane that struck with greater force than the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. "New Orleans [had been] reduced to the level of a medieval society," with no electricity, grossly overburdened medical facilities, little law enforcement, and no place to put the dead - who lie rotting and bloated in the filthy water that surrounds and fills the city.

This is truly a powerful book that is not for the squeamish, and that offers a portrait of a city in ruins and citizenry in despair. It is a disturbing but highly worthwhle read. Meg

 

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