The Tin Roof Blowdown

A Dave Robicheaux Novel

By: James Lee Burke

Narrated by: Will Patton

Winner of the 2008 Audie Award for Mystery

Dave Robicheaux returns in an adventure as timely as real life: the fight against crime, and the fight for life in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

In the waning days of summer 2005, a storm with greater impact than the bomb that struck Hiroshima peels the face off southern Louisiana. This is the gruesome reality Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Detective Dave Robicheaux discovers as he is deployed to New Orleans. As The Tin Roof Blowdown begins, Hurricane Katrina has left the commercial district and residential neighborhoods awash with looters and predators of every stripe. The power grid of the city has been destroyed; New Orleans reduced to the level of a medieval society. There is no law, no order, no sanctuary for the infirm, the helpless, and the innocent. Bodies float in the streets and lie impaled on the branches of flooded trees. In the midst of an apocalyptical nightmare, Robicheaux must find two serial rapists, a morphine-addicted priest, and a vigilante who may be more dangerous than the criminals looting the city.©2007 James Lee Burke. All rights reserved; (P)2007 Simon and Schuster Inc. All rights reserved.

worth every star for its genre

The reader is superb, his character voiceings impeccable and highly distinct from one another thereby presenting the literary skills of Mr. Burke at their highest level. This author's facility with our language is impressive and very much adds to the enjoyment of the book. Burke's phrasing, similes and metaphors paint mind images as tangible as the recollection of a personally perceived sensory experience. The timeline and place of the story, New Orleans during and post Katrina, is not only highly entertaining, but veridical and very educational as well. There is something about well researched fiction that makes learning so much more interesting than the other literary styles, perhaps because the education obtained is incidental and therefore somehow feels experienced.... as if you had actually been there. I could not recommend this book more to those who enjoy fiction for both entertainment and education. There are a few authors (Orson Scott Card and Nelson Demille in Upcountry) and James Lee Burke who should be mandatory reading for anyone wanting to be a wordsmith.

Eulogy for New Orleans

James Lee Burke's words put you in the eye of the storm and they are merciless. They do not let you escape the horror or the heartbreak of a city and people abandoned. There are, of course, murders and mystery. It is an excellent, exciting plot, but it pales beside the descriptions of the aftermath of the storm and the extreme failures. It is powerful and eloquent. The anger and loss are palable. However, while the book is dark and painful; it is not without hope and the redemption of people who do good even when others do evil.

in order to reach a climactic ending

in order to reach a climactic ending the author has his supposedly very experienced detectives and endangered family walking around with blinders on and their heads up their butt.

Great book

Will Patton does a fantastic job bringing this book to life. His range seems limitless as he captures the characters' personalities, attitudes and moods. The narrative, at times is almost poetic as scenes are described in southern Louisiana. I highly recommend this book.

One of Burke's best.

As beautiful as Burke's descriptions of the the bayou have always been, his descriptions of the ravages of Katrina raise the bar. The story and all of the characters leave nothing to be desired, and Will Patton's reading is better than the imagined voices I hear when I read it myself.