Publication
New York : Simon & Schuster, 2007.
Collection
Call number
Fiction B
Physical description
373 p.; 25 cm
Status
Available
Call number
Description
Fiction. Mystery. Suspense. Thriller. HTML:Winner of the 2008 Audie Award for Mystery Dave Robicheaux returns in an adventure as timely as real life: the fight against crime, and the fight for life in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In the waning days of summer 2005, a storm with greater impact than the bomb that struck Hiroshima peels the face off southern Louisiana. This is the gruesome reality Iberia Parish Sheriff's Detective Dave Robicheaux discovers as he is deployed to New Orleans. As The Tin Roof Blowdown begins, Hurricane Katrina has left the commercial district and residential neighborhoods awash with looters and predators of every stripe. The power grid of the city has been destroyed; New Orleans reduced to the level of a medieval society. There is no law, no order, no sanctuary for the infirm, the helpless, and the innocent. Bodies float in the streets and lie impaled on the branches of flooded trees. In the midst of an apocalyptical nightmare, Robicheaux must find two serial rapists, a morphine-addicted priest, and a vigilante who may be more dangerous than the criminals looting the city.… (more)
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User reviews
LibraryThing member wildbill
This is James Lee Burke's eulogy for the city of New Orleans destroyed by hurricane Katrina aided by the sloth,greed and corruption of many people from George W. Bush on down. The human tragedy of Katrina is a significant part of the story. It appears everywhere in the book and provides a scene
What I really enjoyed in this serving of the Dave Robicheaux saga were the characters. The characters in this book go against the grain of stereotype. The most tormented character in the book is Bernard Melancon a young black man who has participated in two violent gang rapes. A portion of the story comes from his voice telling of his constant inner torture firsthand. His reading of a handwritten apology for his wrongs to the stepmother of one of his victims is the ultimate cry for help rejected by a shallow evil women completely lacking in Bernard's honesty.
The women are some of the strongest characters. We meet the adult Alafair who hates being called "Alf". Her ongoing struggle with the villain was for me the emotional center of the book. Molly breaks new boundaries insisting on a fuller identity than Dave Robicheaux's wife. Burke through Robicheaux shows a refreshing ability to accept the fact that women are persons in their own right.
The star of the book is the villain. He speaks in a soft voice and is courteous to a fault, a sexual psychopath who early in the book picks Alafair for a victim. He frustrates all attempts at identification until a reference librarian lifts the veil he hides behind. The final confrontation between Alafair and Ronald Bledsoe is worth the price of the book. Behind Bledsoe are the representatives of money and power using him to seek more.
The end of the book finds New Orleans permanently diminished, no longer the Big Sleazy. Power and money are still in the saddle unharmed by the slings and arrows of that which is good. Bernard Melanconon makes his own ending finding the glimmering lights in the water.
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that recurs throughout the story. Jude LeBlanc, a priest who is afraid to give communion because his hands shake from heroin addiction, is killed on the roof of a church attempting to rescue people trapped inside. Everyone connected with the scene reports glimmering lights in the water that is rising inside the church. LeBlanc's fate and the glimmering lights haunt the story in ways true to Burke's style.. What I really enjoyed in this serving of the Dave Robicheaux saga were the characters. The characters in this book go against the grain of stereotype. The most tormented character in the book is Bernard Melancon a young black man who has participated in two violent gang rapes. A portion of the story comes from his voice telling of his constant inner torture firsthand. His reading of a handwritten apology for his wrongs to the stepmother of one of his victims is the ultimate cry for help rejected by a shallow evil women completely lacking in Bernard's honesty.
The women are some of the strongest characters. We meet the adult Alafair who hates being called "Alf". Her ongoing struggle with the villain was for me the emotional center of the book. Molly breaks new boundaries insisting on a fuller identity than Dave Robicheaux's wife. Burke through Robicheaux shows a refreshing ability to accept the fact that women are persons in their own right.
The star of the book is the villain. He speaks in a soft voice and is courteous to a fault, a sexual psychopath who early in the book picks Alafair for a victim. He frustrates all attempts at identification until a reference librarian lifts the veil he hides behind. The final confrontation between Alafair and Ronald Bledsoe is worth the price of the book. Behind Bledsoe are the representatives of money and power using him to seek more.
The end of the book finds New Orleans permanently diminished, no longer the Big Sleazy. Power and money are still in the saddle unharmed by the slings and arrows of that which is good. Bernard Melanconon makes his own ending finding the glimmering lights in the water.
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LibraryThing member bsquaredinoz
Set in the aftermath of 2005’s Hurricanes Katrina and Rita which devastated New Orleans and highlighted the many years of neglect which preceded the storms, The Tin Roof Blowdown is a big story. Burke’s hero, detective Dave Robicheaux, tries to track down who shot two people, one of whom was
I’ll admit it: I lost the plots, literally, on several occasions. Between the multiple story threads, the continual jumping between first and third person point of view and the seemingly endless string of connections between people bent on revenge or consumed with guilt I got lost. There are whole threads I never found the end of despite re-reading several long passages of the book. It was as if the storms and the neglect of the city and its people before and after them weren’t quite enough for Burke to rail against and he had to throw in Vietnam flashbacks, systemic corruption, an ugly sociopath, Al Qaeda (am I allowed an exclamation point after that?) and a half-dozen other sub plots for good measure. In a debut novel I can forgive the writer including every idea they’ve ever had but from a seasoned professional I expect something more (or less as the case may be).
To round out the confusion, the book required a more detailed knowledge of local geography than I can recall needing in 41 years of reading. I’ve visited New Orleans several times and spent a month touring through Louisiana only a couple of years before this book was set but I had to read with a map at my side just to make sense of some of the events. That’s not a normal thing for me to have to do even with books set in places that exist only in someone else’s imagination.
There’s a lot of Burke’s anger and heartache wrapped up in the fiction here and I found it tiresome. I’m not suggesting Burke’s fury isn’t genuine, I’m positive it is. I’m not saying it isn’t well-directed because I’m sure at least some of it is deserved. Neither am I saying it failed to move me: I cried more than once, at least at the beginning. All I am saying is that Burke’s version of the facts surrounding the storms and their aftermath were jammed into the narrative so often and so loudly that it felt at times like the story was an inconvenient interruption to a rant. Nothing I read here has changed my long held opinion: regardless of the worthiness of the message, fiction should entertain first and the political or social themes the author wants to explore should be part of the narrative not the written equivalent of Vegas-style neon signs flashing “insert empathy here”.
There were elements of the book I did enjoy. Burke’s writing, especially his dialogue, is at times beautiful. The kind of beautiful that make you read it out loud just to hear what the words sound like. And there are several interesting themes weaved expertly throughout the book. For example I’ve spent a lot of time contemplating the different ways a person’s past can influence their present as this story has unfolded. Having never read any books by this author before I also enjoyed meeting loyal, persistent Dave Robicheaux and his extended family. There are other parts of the book that I think I might have enjoyed more, such as the strange journey of Bertrand Melancon, if I hadn’t been quite so annoyed by being preached at so consistently.
Overall though, possibly due to over-hype syndrome (my copy proclaimed it’s ‘the novel Burke was born to write’ among other superlative statements), it was a somewhat disappointing read. It seemed to try a little too hard to do a bit too much and managed to push nearly all of the reading buttons that lead to me grinding my teeth and muttering under my breath. I can appreciate that the author wanted to tell a big story about something he felt very deeply but, for me anyway, it was a hard slog that didn’t have the reward I would have liked.
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killed and the other paralysed, in the days of anarchy following Katrina. The people who were shot may have been responsible for the rape of a teenage girl some months earlier and were apparently looting the house of one of New Orleans’ most dangerous criminals on the night they were shot. There are loads more twists in the mix but to reveal any more would be spoiling things.I’ll admit it: I lost the plots, literally, on several occasions. Between the multiple story threads, the continual jumping between first and third person point of view and the seemingly endless string of connections between people bent on revenge or consumed with guilt I got lost. There are whole threads I never found the end of despite re-reading several long passages of the book. It was as if the storms and the neglect of the city and its people before and after them weren’t quite enough for Burke to rail against and he had to throw in Vietnam flashbacks, systemic corruption, an ugly sociopath, Al Qaeda (am I allowed an exclamation point after that?) and a half-dozen other sub plots for good measure. In a debut novel I can forgive the writer including every idea they’ve ever had but from a seasoned professional I expect something more (or less as the case may be).
To round out the confusion, the book required a more detailed knowledge of local geography than I can recall needing in 41 years of reading. I’ve visited New Orleans several times and spent a month touring through Louisiana only a couple of years before this book was set but I had to read with a map at my side just to make sense of some of the events. That’s not a normal thing for me to have to do even with books set in places that exist only in someone else’s imagination.
There’s a lot of Burke’s anger and heartache wrapped up in the fiction here and I found it tiresome. I’m not suggesting Burke’s fury isn’t genuine, I’m positive it is. I’m not saying it isn’t well-directed because I’m sure at least some of it is deserved. Neither am I saying it failed to move me: I cried more than once, at least at the beginning. All I am saying is that Burke’s version of the facts surrounding the storms and their aftermath were jammed into the narrative so often and so loudly that it felt at times like the story was an inconvenient interruption to a rant. Nothing I read here has changed my long held opinion: regardless of the worthiness of the message, fiction should entertain first and the political or social themes the author wants to explore should be part of the narrative not the written equivalent of Vegas-style neon signs flashing “insert empathy here”.
There were elements of the book I did enjoy. Burke’s writing, especially his dialogue, is at times beautiful. The kind of beautiful that make you read it out loud just to hear what the words sound like. And there are several interesting themes weaved expertly throughout the book. For example I’ve spent a lot of time contemplating the different ways a person’s past can influence their present as this story has unfolded. Having never read any books by this author before I also enjoyed meeting loyal, persistent Dave Robicheaux and his extended family. There are other parts of the book that I think I might have enjoyed more, such as the strange journey of Bertrand Melancon, if I hadn’t been quite so annoyed by being preached at so consistently.
Overall though, possibly due to over-hype syndrome (my copy proclaimed it’s ‘the novel Burke was born to write’ among other superlative statements), it was a somewhat disappointing read. It seemed to try a little too hard to do a bit too much and managed to push nearly all of the reading buttons that lead to me grinding my teeth and muttering under my breath. I can appreciate that the author wanted to tell a big story about something he felt very deeply but, for me anyway, it was a hard slog that didn’t have the reward I would have liked.
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LibraryThing member monica67
What gripped me about this story was less the crime that made up the main plot and more the role the hurricanes Katrina and Rita and their consequences played in it. The effects of the storms on the native city of Dave Robicheaux and Clete Purcell were not separate from how they affected the
The entire book is filled with his grief over the losses endured by the city and its people. Details I'd never heard of -- like the flocks of birds flying in the sky as if they had nowhere to land -- made the destruction and loss all the more real. In the end, the book gave me a strong sense of how it might have felt to have been in New Orleans after the hurricanes. A unique novel.
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characters. I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that James Lee Burke had been to New Orleans right after Katrina or while it hit. The entire book is filled with his grief over the losses endured by the city and its people. Details I'd never heard of -- like the flocks of birds flying in the sky as if they had nowhere to land -- made the destruction and loss all the more real. In the end, the book gave me a strong sense of how it might have felt to have been in New Orleans after the hurricanes. A unique novel.
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LibraryThing member MarthaHuntley
There is a lot of violence and heartbreak in this novel. The characters rise and fall in the churn of the deep waters of the soul as well as of the hurricane's aftermath. There is also a good bit of Theology; the whole book is about spiritual warfare expressed through human viole heroism, and
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endurance. Show Less
LibraryThing member Tasker
I should have written my comments immediately but I didn't; it's a Robicheaux novels with the regulars back; Mr. Burke offers observations regarding the tragic conditions immediately following Katrina which reminds me that politicians are all noise and no action - three trillion dollar budget and,
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two years later, the area's still a place that, for the most part, is unihabitable. Well, enough of my soapbox. Show Less
LibraryThing member idiotgirl
Listened as an audiobook. Set in New Orleans before and after Katrina. A pretty intricate plot. But I enjoyed the story.
LibraryThing member cogitno
James Lee Burke at his grim, gritty and poetic best. But this time he is angry!
LibraryThing member smik
New Iberia, the home of both author James Lee Burke, and his detective Dave Robicheaux, is just 200 km west of New Orleans. When Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans at the end of August 2005, then people from lesser affected New Iberia were amongst the first on the scene.
Burke obviously feels
It is against the background of what happened during and after hurricane Katrina that Burke sets THE TIN ROOF BLOW DOWN. The opening chapters introduce characters who run like threads through the rest of the book: Catholic priest Jude LeBlanc dying from cancer and a drug addict; Otis Baylor an insurance agent who loves his job and whose daughter Thelma has been raped by some black youths; Tom Claggart, Otis' neighbour, an export-import man; Clete Purcel, Dave Robicheaux's partner hunting for bail skips and drug pushers; the Melancon brothers and Andre Rochon, low life flotsam of New Orleans, connected to and symbolic of an underworld that thrives.
As Hurricane Katrina advances on New Orleans, those who can take heed official warnings and evacuate or move into public buildings such as churches, the Convention Center and the Superdome. Those who can't are at the mercy of the rising waters from the tidal surge. And the low life turn to looting. The streets in every town in south west Louisiana become clogged with evacuation traffic seeking temporary shelter. No-one is prepared for the destructive force, five times greater than the bomb that hit Hiroshima, that strikes New Orleans.
Dave Robicheaux begins to search for his friend Jude Le Blanc who appears to have disappeared while assisting people trapped in the attic of St. Mary Magdalene in the Lower Nine. Otis Baylor lives in uptown New Orleans and although his street is flooded, his house is on higher ground and is powered by its own generators. Four young black men in a boat are systematically working their way up his street entering the unoccupied houses and looting them. The looters leave and the crisis seems averted. The next day the boat comes back and someone is killed. The Otis Baylor case becomes just one of a number of investigations that Dave and Clete pursue.
I did have a problem early in my reading of THE TIN ROOF BLOWDOWN with the amount of information that Burke was pumping out. Even as the plot developed it did make it difficult to distinguish what is now historical fact from crime fiction. The dilemma diminished as I read on, but for the first 100 pages or so I kept thinking of Truman Capote's "fictionalised facts" - hence yesterday's blog posting.
My main problem probably stemmed from the fact that I haven't read all the Dave Robicheaux series, in fact very few, so this novel was almost a stand-alone read. While the plot is complete in itself, there is back-story I have missed. A second problem was the consequence of my poor knowledge of US geography: that I didn't have a vision of where New Iberia is in relation to New Orleans.
However James Lee Burke has a pretty good job of bridging the story of what he wanted to say about Hurricane Katrina with elements of a thriller. I think perhaps the thriller bit didn't work as well as he wanted, but followers of Dave Robicheaux will no doubt have read of his role in the re-establishment of law and order in post-hurricane New Orleans with interest.
I visited New Orleans over 35 years ago and it's sad to think that what I saw then has gone.
Burke obviously feels
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very strongly about what happened to New Orleans both as a consequence of the hurricane, but also the human and physical degradation that he witnessed. He says New Orleans was a song that went under the waves... Category 5 hurricanes don't take prisoners... New Orleans was systematically destroyed and that destruction begin in the early 1980s.. one of the most beautiful cities in the Western Hemisphere was killed three times, and not just by the forces of nature.It is against the background of what happened during and after hurricane Katrina that Burke sets THE TIN ROOF BLOW DOWN. The opening chapters introduce characters who run like threads through the rest of the book: Catholic priest Jude LeBlanc dying from cancer and a drug addict; Otis Baylor an insurance agent who loves his job and whose daughter Thelma has been raped by some black youths; Tom Claggart, Otis' neighbour, an export-import man; Clete Purcel, Dave Robicheaux's partner hunting for bail skips and drug pushers; the Melancon brothers and Andre Rochon, low life flotsam of New Orleans, connected to and symbolic of an underworld that thrives.
As Hurricane Katrina advances on New Orleans, those who can take heed official warnings and evacuate or move into public buildings such as churches, the Convention Center and the Superdome. Those who can't are at the mercy of the rising waters from the tidal surge. And the low life turn to looting. The streets in every town in south west Louisiana become clogged with evacuation traffic seeking temporary shelter. No-one is prepared for the destructive force, five times greater than the bomb that hit Hiroshima, that strikes New Orleans.
Dave Robicheaux begins to search for his friend Jude Le Blanc who appears to have disappeared while assisting people trapped in the attic of St. Mary Magdalene in the Lower Nine. Otis Baylor lives in uptown New Orleans and although his street is flooded, his house is on higher ground and is powered by its own generators. Four young black men in a boat are systematically working their way up his street entering the unoccupied houses and looting them. The looters leave and the crisis seems averted. The next day the boat comes back and someone is killed. The Otis Baylor case becomes just one of a number of investigations that Dave and Clete pursue.
I did have a problem early in my reading of THE TIN ROOF BLOWDOWN with the amount of information that Burke was pumping out. Even as the plot developed it did make it difficult to distinguish what is now historical fact from crime fiction. The dilemma diminished as I read on, but for the first 100 pages or so I kept thinking of Truman Capote's "fictionalised facts" - hence yesterday's blog posting.
My main problem probably stemmed from the fact that I haven't read all the Dave Robicheaux series, in fact very few, so this novel was almost a stand-alone read. While the plot is complete in itself, there is back-story I have missed. A second problem was the consequence of my poor knowledge of US geography: that I didn't have a vision of where New Iberia is in relation to New Orleans.
However James Lee Burke has a pretty good job of bridging the story of what he wanted to say about Hurricane Katrina with elements of a thriller. I think perhaps the thriller bit didn't work as well as he wanted, but followers of Dave Robicheaux will no doubt have read of his role in the re-establishment of law and order in post-hurricane New Orleans with interest.
I visited New Orleans over 35 years ago and it's sad to think that what I saw then has gone.
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LibraryThing member LittleRedWagon
Listened to this book on audio. Will Patton was the reader. Wonderful.
The story is told with such vitality and right on descriptions, that it made me cry.
It didn't hurt that the plot was a definite "pull you in until the end" one. My husband and I would find reasons to go somewhere in the car so we
The story is told with such vitality and right on descriptions, that it made me cry.
It didn't hurt that the plot was a definite "pull you in until the end" one. My husband and I would find reasons to go somewhere in the car so we
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could listen to this wonderful tale of Katrina ravaged NO. Show Less
LibraryThing member jmcilree
Good enough, light fare. Why are all protagonists tortured souls skirting the line between good and evil?
LibraryThing member andyray
This may be the definitivge story abgout New Orleans aftger Katrina, but the reason it earns just four tars is that Burke leaves sooooooo much unresolvfed. What is the change that Cleat made at the end of the book? What were those glowing lights under the water seen by so many people? What happened
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to the "blood diamonds" at the end? Who has them? Was the Taliban involved and, if so, who was working for (or with) them? The whole bad-guy scenario is messed uj; fo tghe reader, and there is no lear definitions on who works for who, who was after what? Finally, the total reversion of street scum Randolph to a choir boy making amends forf a elxceedingly violent rape and beating just doesn't wash. At best, it's ujnlikely behavior, and at worst,x it's simplyh unbelievable. I didn't behieve it. Show Less
LibraryThing member tinkerbellkk
Interesting book set in the aftermath of Katrina. Kind of dark and depressing given the surroundings and the characters.
LibraryThing member jepeters333
In the waning days of summer, 2005, a storm with greater impact than the bomb that struck Hiroshima peels the face off southern Louisiana. This is the gruesome reality Iberia Parish Sheriff's Detective Dave Robichaeux discovers as he is deployed to New Orleans. Hurricane Katrina has left the
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commercial district and residential neighborhoods awash with looters and predators of every stripe. The power grid of the city has been destroyed; there is no law, no order, no sanctuary for the infirm, the helpless, and the innocent. Bodies float in the streets and lie impaled on the branches of flooded trees. In the midst of an apocalyptical nightmare, Robicheaux must find two serial rapists, a morphine-addicted priest, and a vigilante who may be more dangerous than the criminals looting the city. Show Less
LibraryThing member BudBarclay
Fantastic novel by Burke, clearly one of his best. The backdrop of Horricane Katrina and the devastation of New Orleans added a passion to his prose. Dave Robicheaux continues to be one of the most interesting and enigmatic protagonists in detective fiction.
LibraryThing member Peterabun
Just a good old detective story. This one is based in post-Katrina New Orleans and vicinity and uses the aftermath of that catastrophe and the government's ineptitude almost as additional characters. This book, as all of Burke's books carries a strong regional flavor and a very unique and engaging
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voice. Show Less
LibraryThing member jrtanworth
I've read several Dave Robicheaux books. The strength of this one are the description of the Katrina caused desolation of New Orleans and the surrounding areas, and the chaos that ensued for people living there. The weakest part is the description of the some of the criminals: one, a looter,
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murderer, and serial rapist turns to selfless acts of redemption; a second, a big time gangster with a feasome reputation turns out to be not a bad guy after all. Just not believable. Show Less
LibraryThing member otterley
A powerful and angry book. This brings home the horror of Katrina and its human and environmental consequences to those who, like me, watched from a television in another country. Burke cleverly weaves this story with a compelling crime narrative, dealing with the mafia, drug-related crime,
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smuggling, psychopaths and the struggles individuals have to survive and find redemption in a fractured world. Burke leaves loose ends and questions, but mostly leaves us feeling shocked and shamed for the dreadful and avoidable fate suffered by so many in a natural disaster exacerbated by human inaction and partly redeemed by individuals doing they best they can... Show Less
LibraryThing member Darrol
James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux is one of , if not the best sustained crime fiction series in American literature. This is a very satisfying tribute to New Orleans, post-Katrina. Burke's attitude towards the criminal element in society avoids (for the most part) the Manichean dualisms that some
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other very good series express. Not to mention, that Burke, in Robicheaux's voice, says some of the most complimentary things I have read in literature about reference librarians. Show Less
LibraryThing member mikedraper
Hurricane Katrina smashes into New Orleans with the "...explosive force several times greater than that of the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945."
The tidal surge explodes the levee system and devastates much of New Orleans. Hardest hit of all is the Ninth Ward, an area occupied by many of the
People filled the roads in their automobiles to escape the storm and authorities told those left behind to come to the Convention Center. However, there were no services there. Bodies were left outside, toilets didn't work, there was little food or water and the suffering was extreme.
Looting began and one group of looters included four black men who broke into a number of homes that had withstood the storm. One of homes belonged to one of New Orleans most notorious gangsters, Sidney Kovick. The looters took money, drugs, a gun and diamonds that had been hidden behind the walls.
Three of these looters were meth dealers and rapists. While they were looting, other men formed vigilante groups to protect their homes. Outside Otis Baylor's home, his daughter recognized two of the looters as the men who had raped her.
When one of the looters lights a flame, a shot comes from the dark, killing one of the looters and crippling another.
This tremendous novel details the heartakes and demolishing of New Orleans after Katrina and a second hurricane that struck shortly after Katrina. The reader experiences the feeling of the residents about their desolation and frustration as we follow the hunt for the other two thieves by the people who want to regain what had been stolen.
Dave Robicheaux becomes involved and shares our sorrow about the circumstances. The action includes his daughter, Alafair and his friend, Clete Purcell.
This is a can't put down book whose story will enthrall and haunt the reader.
The tidal surge explodes the levee system and devastates much of New Orleans. Hardest hit of all is the Ninth Ward, an area occupied by many of the
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poor members of the city.People filled the roads in their automobiles to escape the storm and authorities told those left behind to come to the Convention Center. However, there were no services there. Bodies were left outside, toilets didn't work, there was little food or water and the suffering was extreme.
Looting began and one group of looters included four black men who broke into a number of homes that had withstood the storm. One of homes belonged to one of New Orleans most notorious gangsters, Sidney Kovick. The looters took money, drugs, a gun and diamonds that had been hidden behind the walls.
Three of these looters were meth dealers and rapists. While they were looting, other men formed vigilante groups to protect their homes. Outside Otis Baylor's home, his daughter recognized two of the looters as the men who had raped her.
When one of the looters lights a flame, a shot comes from the dark, killing one of the looters and crippling another.
This tremendous novel details the heartakes and demolishing of New Orleans after Katrina and a second hurricane that struck shortly after Katrina. The reader experiences the feeling of the residents about their desolation and frustration as we follow the hunt for the other two thieves by the people who want to regain what had been stolen.
Dave Robicheaux becomes involved and shares our sorrow about the circumstances. The action includes his daughter, Alafair and his friend, Clete Purcell.
This is a can't put down book whose story will enthrall and haunt the reader.
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LibraryThing member Kendall41
Lee Martinez has a golden ear for sounds. The supernatural / speculative genre he writes in does not usually appeal to me, yet I have found his books draw me in. This is my second one to finish (I'm in the middle of a third) and I anticipate reading through his entire oeuvre. The five stars are for
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doing precisely what he sets out to do, without missing a beat and avoiding clinkers; not an easy assignment when you create the whole world. Show Less
LibraryThing member loveseabooks
Will keep you Involved till the conclusion.
I thought that this book was a real page turner. The story was also a chronicle of what Katrina did to New Orleans, South Louisiana, and the suffering brought on to the people who experienced that terrible storm. It was especially real in describing how
Overall, this story will keep you involved right up to its surprising climax.
I thought that this book was a real page turner. The story was also a chronicle of what Katrina did to New Orleans, South Louisiana, and the suffering brought on to the people who experienced that terrible storm. It was especially real in describing how
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it changed their lives dramatically. This is a well written story and Mr. Burke opinions of the handling of the storm's impact are obvious; both in the narrative and in the prologue. Familiar characters and their personalities, and Dave's family are deeply involved in this fast action novel.Overall, this story will keep you involved right up to its surprising climax.
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LibraryThing member knittingfreak
This is the first James Lee Burke book that I've read, and I read this one because it was chosen for my face to face book club. I was pleasantly surprised with this read. I'm not sure what I expected, but I figured I would read it and forget it. I'm not sure how much this book is like Burke's other
"The entire city, within one night, had been reduced to the technological level of the Middle Ages. But as we crossed under the elevated highway and headed toward the Convention Center, I saw one image that will never leave me and that will always remain emblematic of my experience in New Orleans . . . The body of a fat black man was bobbing face down against a piling. His dress clothes were puffed with air, his arms floating straight out from his sides. A dirty skim of yellow froth from our wake washed over his head. His body would remain there for at least three days."
Burke is from Louisiana, and you really get a sense of the loss and anger that he feels about what happened following Katrina. The ineptitude and mismanagement of numerous state and federal agencies contributed to the deaths of so many. It is also obvious to the reader that Burke believes much of what happened following Katrina was fueled by racism.
The book is ultimately a detective story with the flawed hero. The bad guys are a little more complex than the stereotypical criminals. One in particular, Bertrand Melancon, evokes pity for the situation he finds himself in. He has made some really bad choices, but he hasn't had many opportunities in life, either. No, that doesn't justify what he's done, but it does allow you to see possibly why he's the way he is. Overall, I enjoyed the book and recommend it to anyone who enjoys this genre.
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work. If you're a fan, please let me know. The book is part of his Dave Robicheaux series, which is set in New Orleans. The setting itself is really another character in the story. Burke spends a great deal of time detailing the surroundings, which I adored. I love to gain a sense of place while reading, especially when it's somewhere I've never been. As you might expect, there are descriptions of lovely tree-lined streets and sunsets over the water. As beautiful as many of these scenes are, there are equal numbers of disturbing scenes. You see, this book is set in New Orleans immediately before and after Hurricane Katrina. So, many of the descriptions are heartbreaking."The entire city, within one night, had been reduced to the technological level of the Middle Ages. But as we crossed under the elevated highway and headed toward the Convention Center, I saw one image that will never leave me and that will always remain emblematic of my experience in New Orleans . . . The body of a fat black man was bobbing face down against a piling. His dress clothes were puffed with air, his arms floating straight out from his sides. A dirty skim of yellow froth from our wake washed over his head. His body would remain there for at least three days."
Burke is from Louisiana, and you really get a sense of the loss and anger that he feels about what happened following Katrina. The ineptitude and mismanagement of numerous state and federal agencies contributed to the deaths of so many. It is also obvious to the reader that Burke believes much of what happened following Katrina was fueled by racism.
The book is ultimately a detective story with the flawed hero. The bad guys are a little more complex than the stereotypical criminals. One in particular, Bertrand Melancon, evokes pity for the situation he finds himself in. He has made some really bad choices, but he hasn't had many opportunities in life, either. No, that doesn't justify what he's done, but it does allow you to see possibly why he's the way he is. Overall, I enjoyed the book and recommend it to anyone who enjoys this genre.
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LibraryThing member krazy4katz
I hate to say that I was totally bored by this book. Looking at the stars, I am obviously in the extreme minority. It was disjointed. It was part inner city crime story, part devastation of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina. Somehow, I felt the two themes did not blend well. None of the characters
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seemed appealing. I thought the ending was somewhat predictable. Show Less
LibraryThing member mfdavis
This is the audio version, read by Will Patton, of James Lee Burke's 16th Dave Robicheaux novel. Robicheaux is a Sherriff's Detective in Iberia Parrish, LA who is deployed to New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Besides dealing with flooding, power outages, looters & other predators,
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Robicheaux must find two serial rapists, a morphine-addicted priest, and a vigilante. I am only on disc 2 but already I'm reliving the horrors of the storm and the epidemc of violence it engendered. Promises to be a good yarn. Show Less
LibraryThing member JBreedlove
Another good story about the aging detective Robicheaux. Al little slow at the beginning and a little forced at the end but a good read as usual.
Awards
Audie Award (Finalist — Mystery — 2008)
Anthony Award (Nominee — Novel — 2008)
Crime Writers' Association Awards (Shortlist — 2008)
British Book Award (Shortlist — 2008)
Spinetingler Award (Nominee — 2008)
Gumshoe Award (Winner — Mystery — 2008)
Publishers Weekly's Best Books of the Year (Fiction — 2007)
Booklist Top of the List: Best of Editors' Choice (Audio — 2007)
Language
Original publication date
2007
ISBN
9781416548485