Friday, June 14, 2024

The Tin Roof Blowdown


The Tin Roof Blowdown is a 2007 novel by James Lee Burke. I learned of this particular Burke novel after reading a more recent book by Ken Bruen, one of my favorite mystery/thriller writers. The book takes place in New Orleans during and just after the hurricane Katrina in 2005. I had forgotten that less than a month later, a second powerful hurricane, Rita, struck some of the same land that had already been devastated by Katrina. 

Burke is always dependable for a good plot and great characters that will evoke strong feelings in the reader, but it is his prose that attracts me to his novels, and he is better a better writer in that regard than most authors in this genre. Once again, Dave Robicheaux was his protagonist. Much of the plot centered around Dave’s relationship with his best friend, Clete Purcel, a PI with a very checkered history who continued to consume alcohol in epic amounts. Otis Baylor and his wife were only a couple of the people that we complicating Dave’s investigation into the murders. 

Burke wrote about the power of the storms, as well as the lack of preparedness for a storm of that enormity despite the fact that everyone knew their protections were inadequate. For decades, funds that were intended to update the levy system were syphoned off to other things. The author wrote poetically about the loss of life, especially in the lowest land in the Ninth Ward. That’s where two murders took place in the immediate aftermath of Katrina when the Ninth Ward, almost entirely composed of Black poverty-stricken citizens, was left without any evidence of police. Looters were allowed to run riot. Drowned bodies were floating everywhere. 

This is one of Burke’s best efforts, and it gets my 5-star rating. There’s a new book coming out this month (6/24) entitled “Clete” and I’m putting that one on my list of must reads – I’ve already placed an order through Libby.

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