Down In The Flood-Kenneth Abel

Down In The Flood
Kenneth Abel
Minotaur, Aug 2009, $24.99
ISBN: 9780312377199

As Katrina buries New Orleans and politicians point their fingers at everyone but themselves, former assistant district attorney Danny Chaisson works insurance claims. However, the Feds pressure one of his clients Louis Sams to turn state’s evidence against his boss during a Grand Jury inquiry into corruption, who runs a company that manufactures cement.

Danny learns two former cops turned paid killers kidnap Louis. The lawyer blames himself for Louis’ dangerous predicament as he provided inadequate counsel. He walks through streets filled with mud, debris and lakes in a quest to rescue Louis before the two flotsam and jetsam hit men make his client part of the floating rubble.

This is a gripping thriller that showcases how the government on all levels and both parties failed during Katrina in spite of the advanced warning from the National Hurricane Center. The story line focuses on one ethical man trying to rectify an error he made that could kill his client; contrast Danny’s stand to the politicians who did the finger pointing let them eat cake and dance from a distance as the buck not only failed to stop it floated away. Danny treks across the dead sea called New Orleans while the hurricane of the century and its aftermath storm the Mississippi Delta. With a depth matched by few novels, Kenneth Abel provides a great tale of how greed drowned New Orleans and the surrounding area.

Harriet Klausner