Hurricane Katrina Novels

The seventh anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s landfall on the Gulf Coast was August 29^th. This disaster had such an impact on the lives of people in this country that it inspired many novels on the subject.  Authors have woven the anticipation, impact, and aftermath of the storm into a variety of stories.  As our thoughts go out to those who are still recovering from Hurricane Isaac, see how these disasters inspire novelists to create something beautiful out of something that destroys.  The annotations are publisher descriptions.

Down in the Flood  by Kenneth Abel

Danny Chaisson's latest case is bid-rigging.  But as his investigation proceeds, a gathering storm named Katrina blasts his world apart.  Surrounded by death and destruction of New Orleans, the city he loves, Danny searches for one man who'd trusted Danny to guard his identity when he agreed to testify before a federal grand jury investigating corruption in the city's construction industry.  But someone has leaked the identity of this crucial witness, and as the city begins to empty before the approaching storm, Danny learns that a pair of corrupt policemen hired by the wealthy defendants in the case have begun stalking his client.

First the Dead  by Tim Downs

After Hurricane Katrina takes New Orleans by storm, forensic entomologist Nick Polchak starts finding bodies that were clearly dead before the hurricane struck. He understands that all forensic evidence will soon disintegrate in the hot, contaminated water, and he knows that's exactly what the killer wants to happen.

The Map of Moments  by Christopher Golden

Barely six months after leaving New Orleans, history professor Max Corbett is returning to a place he hardly recognizes. The girl he'd loved--and lost--is dead, and the once-enchanted city has been devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Max has not thought much beyond Gabrielle's funeral--until a strange old man offers him a map, and an insane proposition . . .

The Tin Roof Blowdown  by James Lee Burke

Hurricane Katrina has reduced the Big Easy to the level of a medieval society. Now, with looters descending and violence erupting in the streets, Iberia Parish Sheriff's Detective Dave Robicheaux combs the apocalyptic landscape for a quartet of criminals who hijacked a rescue boat from a drug-addicted ex-priest at the height of the storm, and then scooped up a gangster's hidden fortune.