Detective Robicheaux, a Vietnam Veteran, tells us that he thought he would never again have to ‘witness the wide-scale suffering of innocent civilians, nor the betrayal and abandonment of our countrymen when they needed us most – but that was before Katrina’. I thought those were very strong lines, and with Chapter Two opening with the drug addicted Father Jude LeBlanc and his troubles, I thought I was in for a meaty read. However Father Jude falls off the map, and although he is mentioned throughout the storyline, he really has no relevance to the plot.
Robicheaux is called in to investigate the shooting murder of two black looters in the wake of Katrina, however he finds that Bertrand Melancon, one of the surviving looters, is embroiled in a cat and mouse game with the gangster owner of a house he has burgled and an insurance agent whose daughter he once raped. Add to the mix an alcoholic bail bondsman, a psychopath with his own agenda (and a vendetta against Robicheaux’s adopted daughter Alafair), blood diamonds and counterfeit money it all starts to get a bit laborious.
We are given some idea of the devastation wrought by the hurricane but the story could have been written without it. If you are going to set it during such a momentous event, it should be utilized to its full potential. Unfortunately, this was a long winded story, with an unrealistic ending that was reminiscent of early TV shows where the characters laugh merrily at some comment or another at the end of the show. If it had been real life I’m sure Alafair would have been a blubbering mess.
The final summary chapter was a poor attempt to tie up loose ends, and that sort of summary belongs only to the end of movies depicting real life people as a ‘where are they now’ update in my opinion.
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