The Tin Roof Blowdown
Tin Roof Blowdown by James Lee Burke
Hardcover: 384 pages
Publisher: Simon and Schuster (July 17, 2007)
ISBN-10: 1416548483
ISBN-13: 978-1416548485
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,535 in Books
Source: Personal Collection
About this book, Publisher’s Weekly wrote:
‘In Burke’s meticulously textured 16th Dave Robicheaux novel (after 2006’s Pegasus Descending), Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath provide the backdrop for an account of sin and redemption in New Orleans. When Detective Robicheaux’s department is assigned to investigate the shooting of two looters in a wealthy neighborhood, he learns that they had ransacked the home of New Orleans’s most powerful mobster. Now he must locate the surviving looter before others do, and in the process he learns the fate of a priest who disappeared in the ill-fated Ninth Ward trying to rescue his trapped parishioners. Burke creates dense, rich prose that draws the reader into a web of greed and violence. Each of his characters feels the hands of both grace and of perdition, and the final outcome of their struggle is never quite certain. Burke showcases all that was both right and wrong in our response to this national disaster, proving along the way that nobody captures the spirit of Gulf Coast Louisiana better.‘
—Publisher’s Weekly
It’s a fabulous read. I’m almost finished with it, and continue to be amazed by his writing and by my fascination with it, since it’s not normally a genre I spend much time with. Highly recommended. ★
• 235 Words written by Steve @ 23:53 | 19-Nov-07 in Fiction • Critique It
New on the Reading List: 11-Aug-06, #2
Also currently reading:
Pegasus Descending by James Lee Burke
Hardcover: 368 pages
Publisher: Simon and Schuster (July 18, 2006)
ISBN: 0743277724
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #101 in Books
Source: Personal Collection
About this book, Publisher’s Weekly wrote:
‘Drawing on classical antecedents, bestseller Burke peoples his 15th Dave Robicheaux novel (after 2004’s Crusader’s Cross) with his usual assortment of near mythic characters, demonstrating how our everyday lives are beset with age-old, universal dilemmas. … With peerless naturalistic descriptions and lush, metaphysical imagery, Burke creates another challenging morality play for his flawed, everyman hero.‘
—Publisher’s Weekly
The Dave Robicheaux novels grabbed me about seven or eight years ago and haven’t let go. I’ve read every one of the last 14 and can’t wait to get into #15.
They are a bit formulaic, but the writing, like the landscape, is lush and descriptive, hypnotic and spellbinding.
I’m not normally into detective/mystery stuff, but this series is the one exception that I make.
Can’t wait to get into this one. ★
• 159 Words written by Steve @ 12:54 | 12-Aug-06 in Reading • Critique It