Jaine Lee Burke The Tin Roof Slowdown

The Tin Roof Slowdown

James Lee Burke

Simon & Schuster, July 2007, $26.00, 352 pp.

ISBN 1416548483

Nobody knows specifically what will happen when Hurricane Katrina hits but under the cover of wind rain and darkness, braving the floodwaters, criminals come out of the woodwork to steal things. In one New Orleans neighborhood four criminals made a rich score, finding coke, blood diamonds, a gun and money. These same criminals were spotted by a young woman who they raped and tortured earlier in the month. She identifies two of them as her attackers.

A shot rings out later that night leaving one of the criminals dead, one paralyzed from the necke down and the remaining duo flee. The quartet leader Bertrand is on the run as everyone is looking for him while many people remain shell shocked from Katrina. New Iberian Parish deputy sheriff Dave Robicheau looks for Bernard, the stolen diamonds, and becomes involved in the investigation of which victim killed the criminal. Bertrand took them from the most powerful crime lord in the country and it is through that same crime lord that Ronald Bledsoe, a torturer and killer, was hired by that crime lord to find the diamonds. He crosses paths with Dave's daughter Dave knows that Bledsoe will be coming after her because she dissed him leading to a cat and mouse game played on a devastated landscape.

James Lee Burke has written a potent and chilling crime thriller that makes the protagonist ponder the nature of evil as Bledsoe and Katrina are two forces out of control. Like the hurricane, Bledsoe goes his own way doing what he wants. This metaphorical analogy makes this provoking police procedure a chilling work that keeps readers entertained.

Harriet Klausner