Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #68822 in Books
• Published on: 2007-11-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 384 pages

Customer Reviews

excellent
I have just finished this book after the latest scare scare to hit southern USA. The story and characters are well drawn and the plot brilliant. I am now in the the process of reading the other novels in the series.

A surprisingly engaging read
Although I am an avid reader, I do not frequently read crime/mystery/thrillers such as this book. I was initally disappointed as I followed the first few chapters as I found it hard to reconcile the two very different perspectives of the book and understand how the book's structure balances them against one another. The story essentially follows a detective trying to unravel a complicated murder case whilst New Orleans begins to recover from the chaos of Hurricane Katrina. However as I settled into the writing style, a few chapters later I began to become more interesting in the plot, the murder investigation the focus of the narrative with the backdrop of a shattered New Orleans playing an important role in the social and political impact of the case.

Also, the characters gradually became more interesting and individual as the novel progressed, whereas initially I found many of them a little indistinct and hard to keep track of, particularly the secondary characters. The thriller elements of the novel become more prominent towards the end as the tension mounts and I was surprised to find myself gripped as I didn't think I would have been as I slogged through the first few chapters. One comment (and not necessarily criticism) I would make is that I was surprised how little of the focus of the story was actually on the events during the hurricane as I had anticipated (because there is certainly a lot of potential there), but was instead on the breakdown of law and order in its aftermath and the struggle of different people and groups to protect the city. Watching the protagonist Dave Robicheaux try to maintain a sense of morality and justice in a world which has been torn apart was one of the most satisfying aspects of the book, and watching how extraordinary events offer ordinary people the chance to be heroes or take advantage of the situation for their own gain.

The portrayal of New Orelans and its inhabitants in convincing in its variety and breadth. Burke's prose is usually quite sparse and effective, however his occasionally descriptions of the sights and sounds of New Orelans and the surrrounding area is often poetic and strongly evocative of a place lost almost to memory. Although this is the latest instalment in a series of crime books following the character of Dave Robicheaux, I had very little trouble understanding the story despite not having read any previous instalments, and in fact based on the strength of this novel I would definitely think about reading some of the earlier stories written by James Lee Burke.

Hard to get through
I found The Tin Roof Blowdown hard to get through because it's clearly part of a series, and hard to read as a standalone. Like many detective series, it's assumed that you are already a fan and familiar with the main character, making it hard to engage if that's not the case.

Also, I found some of the descriptions of looting etc to be crude and unrepresentative of events as a whole following Hurricane Katrina.