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The Tin Roof Blowdown [Paperback]

James Lee Burke
3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (119 customer reviews)
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Book Description

26 Jun 2008

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.


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Product details

  • Paperback: 464 pages
  • Publisher: Phoenix (26 Jun 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0753823160
  • ISBN-13: 978-0753823163
  • Product Dimensions: 12.9 x 2.8 x 19.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (119 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 105,740 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

Review

This crime writer wears Faulkner's mantle now (Boyd Tonkin INDEPENDENT )

Brutal, lyrical and brilliant (GUARDIAN )

James Lee Burke is one of our finest writers of crime fiction (DEADLY PLEASURES )

Book Description

The new Dave Robicheaux novel - a powerful evocation of Hurricane Katrina and its devastating effects on his beloved New Orleans.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
24 of 24 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars The best got better 21 Aug 2007
Format:Hardcover
This novel is the latest in the Dave Robicheaux series. Robicheaux is Burkes flawed hero; an ex-alcoholic cop and a man so basically fair and decent that he almost represents another age. A violent man too, when pushed.

The Tin Roof Blowdown takes place against a backdrop of Hurrican Katrina and the destruction it caused to New Orleans. Called from his local district of New Iberia to help out in beseiged Big Sleazy, Robicheaux gets caught up in the dissapearance of a Catholic Priest, a random shooting that turns out to be anything but and the theft of money and jewels from a member of the mob. Burke weaves a story so involving and creates characters that you care for so much that it was difficult for me not to read this book in one sitting.

Burke does not deal in black and white but in the struggle between light and dark (and the grey areas in between) that wages in all of us. His wrongdoers are often people who have made poor choices or ordinary people caught up in circumstances that they feel unable to control.

Dave and Cletus (his ex-partner and the sort of man we'd all love to have at our side when our backs are against the wall)are characters so real in my mind that I can think of very few authors capable of drawing them so vividly. This book is a triumph and although it is part of a series of books about Dave Robicheaux I would not let that stop you reading it. Read it and I guarrantee you'll want to start at the begining and read them all; it really is that good.

James Lee Burke is one of America's finest authors and I would urge you to check him out. Not only is he an excellent storyteller but as a social commentator on the basic human condition and the immense greed and wickedness that thrives in the 21st Century, he has no peers.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A triumph - an insider's view of misery 13 Aug 2007
Format:Hardcover
Once again Burke delivers!
We all saw the images of the misery caused by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans now we can read the thoughts of a man who saw it all.
Once again marvellous characters - some good some bad - ain't we all!
The reader can actually smell the distruction and putrefaction of a society brought to its knees by nature and the failures of the powers that be. Here nature wins - both the elements and the innate "nature" of man!
A book which is very hard to put down but one which you hope never ends!
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Blowing hot and cold 13 Jan 2010
Format:Paperback
I fell in love with the writing of James Lee Burke when I came across "Cimarron Rose". At last, I thought, a crime writer who dares to use an adjective here and there, even, gasp, adverbs. Burke has an expressive flow to his prose which carries you along, effortlessly, as though transported on a current of warm air. This makes his work ideally suited to settings in the southern states - the fictional town of Cimarron Rose is located in Texas - where the heat, dust and occasional hurricane provide the ideal backdrop for his laid back style.

For those paying attention the word "hurricanes" was a clue. "The Tin Roof Blowdown" is set in New Orleans at the time of That hurricane. Dave Robicheaux, hero of many previous Burke novels, witnesses the destruction of his city. Then he sees it destroyed a second time, by another blow down. Then a third, by government inaction and the profiteers who descend like vultures on the corpse. Robicheaux's city dies three times, just like his comrades during a fire fight in Vietnam long ago. And there are other deaths too. Two looters are shot in a wealthy suburb and Robicheaux must find the killer, his investigation bringing his own family under threat as powerful men seek to conceal exactly what the looters had stolen.

It's a lot simpler than it sounds. Burke isn't a fan of tight plotting and is quite capable of shamelessly introducing a new suspect two thirds of the way into the tale if he feels the action is starting to flag. He's not averse to the occasional bout of improbability too - how many rapists are stupid enough to leave the stuffed toy carried by their last victim in the back of their van, along with the rope used to bind the victim? How likely is it that a PI pal of Robicheaux's would happen to take a look inside the van and put evidence, crime and perp together?

Not very likely. But Burke's prose allows him to skim over these rough spots. A more serious weakness is the spiritual note he attempts to strike. Mysterious lights appear under the flood waters when a saintly priest is attacked. One of the rapists seeks redemption and is last seen sailing a boat towards nothing so commonplace as land. And the devil is found lurking too of course, setting the scene for a final showdown and fairly predictable conclusion. This element mixes uneasily with the rest and I can't help feeling Burke uses it as a short cut explanation for his characters' motivations. But I'll still be back for more.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing take on the terrible storm
Very american in style and often colloquial but makes for an interesting read. Rather distressing insights into the aftermath of the storm. Would read it again
Published 15 days ago by Mr. Michael A. Leonard
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
I'm a new follower of JLB and from this title it looks like I might become a long-term one! It vividly depicts the Hurricane Katrina tragedy as the backdrop to an engaging murder... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Mo
2.0 out of 5 stars Not for me
The blurb on the back promised so much, but I just couldn't get into it. The language was 'too American'.
Published 1 month ago by Anne Yeomans
2.0 out of 5 stars two books clunked together unconvincingly
I've read a few of Burke's previous books but I had a hard time with The Tin Roof Blowdown. Some of the lyrical prose for which Burke is known is present, and the dialogue is often... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Rob Kitchin
5.0 out of 5 stars Tin roof blowwdown
Mr Burkes is without doubt the fineest writer I have had the pleasure of reading,I have many of his books and each time I read one I am filled with joy of reading such lovely... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Mulvihill
5.0 out of 5 stars Delivers the Devastation of New Orleans by Katrina with Passionate...
"The Tin Roof Blowdown," (2007) is the 16th novel published by American author James Lee Burke in his mighty New York Times bestselling Detective Dave Robicheaux series. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Stephanie DePue
4.0 out of 5 stars A book in 2 halves
The first half of this book is a terrifying evocation of the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina and what the population had to cope with afterwards. Read more
Published on 25 April 2011 by charliewalnut
5.0 out of 5 stars A "must read"
This is the first time I've read a James Lee Burke book and it certainly won't be the last. His fantastic description of the terrible aftermath of the New Orleans/Louisianna floods... Read more
Published on 27 Jan 2011 by Mark Dene
5.0 out of 5 stars More than a crime novel.....
Hurricane Katrina tears across Louisiana wreaking havoc as she passes. The wind and the water are both destructive forces and cause many casualties. Read more
Published on 28 Sep 2010 by Wynne Kelly
5.0 out of 5 stars The Start of a Beautiful Friendship
I suppose i should start this review with a disclaimer, this is the first James Lee Burke i have read, so five stars may leave me nowhere to go in future. Read more
Published on 12 April 2010 by Edward C. Williams
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