The Tin Roof Blowdown

A Dave Robicheaux Novel

By: James Lee Burke

Narrated by: Will Patton

Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

Winner of the 2008 Audie Award for Mystery

Dave Robicheaux returns in another Bayou adventure, this one more gruesome and gut-wrenching than any that have come before. Hurricane Katrina has ravaged New Orleans, leaving the streets and buildings flooded and the city awash with opportunists, looters, and vicious criminals. There is no order, no law. Police are shooting randomly at innocent people, prison guards have abandoned their posts, bodies float through the streets and hang from trees, and every drug dealer, murderer, and rapist is out taking advantage of the desperate lawlessness that holds the city captive.

In the midst of it all is Robicheaux, doing his best to help regulate the post-Katrina madness, all the while on a dogged search for a pair of dangerous fugitives, a dope-addicted, fallen priest, and a vigilante insurance salesman who takes his family's protection too far. This promises to be the most taxing and emotional case Robicheaux has had to work.

In his singular style, which defies genre, James Lee Burke has created a haunting picture of life in New Orleans after Katrina. Filled with complex characters and vivid descriptions of the destruction and death that gripped the Big Easy, The Tin Roof Blowdown is an action-packed crime thriller as well as a poignant story of what disaster and desperation can do to people.

More mayhem? Listen to more of James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux thrillers.

©2007 James Lee Burke. All rights reserved (P)2007 Simon and Schuster Inc. All rights reserved.

Critic reviews

• Audie Award Winner, Mystery, 2008

"Meticulously textured....dense, rich prose that draws the reader into a web of greed and violence." (Publishers Weekly)

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.

Great crime story set around Hurricane Katrina!

This is not quite as good as some other Dave Robichaux stories, but almost! I really like it. Dave seems to get away with a fair amount of violence in all his episodes, without paying much of a price. Still, the story is great, the characters well created, and it was thoroughly enjoyable.

First Time Burke - Loved It

This was my first James Lee Burke novel and my first listen to a Will Patton narration.

I love both!

The characters, story lines and narration were so good, I can't wait to listen to another JLB offering read by Patton, and have already purchased and downloaded!

One of my favorites since joining Audible!

Awesome story.

The narration was excellent. Im not really into serial detective stories but there is something about Dave Robicheaux and his buddy Cleet that make me want to hear more.

Burke back at his best

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! One if the best in the Robicheaux storyline.

Will Patton did a great job. His telling of the trials and tribulations is one of the highlights in this series.

Tin Roof Blowdown is a 10!

This is one of the best books I have listen to in a long time. The writing is superb andWill Patton is the perfect person to narrate it. The pictures and feelings created of New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina and the people affected by it caused me to feel like I know them and they are my neighbors and friends. Sometimes it is hard to understand the hardships and lives of people who live in another place and time, but I feel a lot closer to those people who survived this terrible tragedy.