The Tin Roof Blowdown (#16 Robicheaux)

Description

'Hurricane Katrina ripped the soul out of Burke's beloved New Orleans and inspired him to write what has to be his most gripping thriller to date.' Mirror New Orleans is awash with corpses after Hurricane Katrina unleashes its awesome power. In a city patrolled only by looters, all law and order gone, the survivors wait in trees or on rooftops for help that never comes. In a landscape transformed into a violent wasteland, Dave Robicheaux must investigate the shooting of two looters and find out why some very dangerous people are hunting a third. Is it because they unwittingly ransacked the house of a notorious mob boss? Or did a chance encounter with the father of a raped girl seal their fate? As Robicheaux starts to uncover a ruthless tale of greed, torture and murder, his own family comes under threat from a sinister psychopath, and the devastated city provides the perfect stage for a final confrontation between good and evil. 'A beautifully written howl of rage and pain over the disaster - social, political, human - that was Hurricane Katrina.' Time Out

Promotion info

'James Lee Burke is a genius' Guardian. He has won the Gold Dagger once and the Edgar Award twice. Movie version of In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead starring Tommy Lee Jones due for UK release in 2008. 'THE TIN ROOF BLOWDOWN is the novel James Lee Burke was born to write ... the passages describing the actual flooding are tremendously powerful but Burke also weaves a fully satisfying novel into this extreme event' Evening Standard. 'THE TIN ROOF BLOWDOWN is more than a crime novel; more than a literary novel even. It is a work of profound historical value and importance' Independent on Sunday. 'The story, about greed and murder and redemption, contains some of Burke's most brilliantly realised characters ... a compelling and moving narrative, punctuated by his devastating descriptions of the ravaged city' Sunday Telegraph. 'The definitive crime novel about Hurricane Katrina and the devastation of New Orleans' New York Times. 'We always knew James Lee Burke was a master craftsman of the crime genre. This proves him to be more than that' The Times. Includes Reading Group Notes.

Awards

Shortlisted for British Book Awards: Books Direct Crime Thriller of the Year Award 2008 and CWA Duncan Lawrie Dagger 2008.

Reviews

"This crime writer wears Faulkner's mantle now" -- Boyd Tonkin INDEPENDENT "Brutal, lyrical and brilliant" GUARDIAN

Author description

James Lee Burke is the author of many previous novels, many featuring Detective Dave Robicheaux. He won the Edgar Award in 1997 and 1989 and SUNSET LIMITED was awarded the CWA Gold Dagger in 1998. He lives with his wife, Pearl, in Missoula, Montana and New Iberia, Louisiana.