STORM DAMAGE is Ed Kovacs’ first new work in more than eight years. But it’s worth the wait, as this new novel is not only more mature and confident, but also introduces a new series character and features a time and locale that transcends this story of murder and deception.
Cliff St. James is one of the hundreds of people trying to pull his life back together in the wake of Hurricane Katrina’s devastation of New Orleans. A former NOPD cop, he operated a mixed-martial arts dojo that was all but wiped out by the storm.
Now, five months into the New Normal (what the locals call the post-Katrina period), he’s approached by Twee Siu, the daughter of the man murdered during St. James’ last days as a cop.
Everyone in town knew Sam Siu, or “Tiki Hut Sam,” named after the popular bar he used to run. On the first night of the hurricane, St. James was dispatched to the bar’s back office where he found Sam Siu shot dead and his NOPD partner sifting through evidence near the body.
The murder was never fully investigated, as the storm’s intensity shut the entire city down and ended up sweeping Sam Siu’s body away and destroying the crime scene. Now Twee, Sam’s surviving daughter, offers St. James an irresistible amount of money to find who killed her father.
Everyone knew that Sam Siu was a city building inspector and, therefore, connected with the crooked local government. But as St. James discovers, he was also possibly connected to a covert CIA investigation, and rumored to be part of a drug-running scheme. The deeper St. James digs, the more dangerous lies he uncovers. He quickly finds that there are several who prefer Tiki Hut Sam’s murderer remain a secret, even if it means killing off every possible suspect.
While pleasingly complicated and involving, Kovacs’ plot is hardly innovative. Still, St. James’ cynical first-person narration is convincing enough to pull us into his life and the case that gives it a new direction.
What truly makes STORM DAMAGE notable is the author’s portrayal of New Orleans in the immediate aftermath of Katrina. In almost every chapter, he includes St. James’ unsparing observations of how his historic hometown is literally pulling itself out of the rain-soaked muck while overwhelmed by thieves, looters and much higher-profile criminals who rush to take advantage of the desperate survivors.
Seeking any small solace available, St. James is among those who take refuge in the rundown all-night bars, seedy strip joints and the fleeting reassurance that comes from a night of casual sex. Not since James Lee Burke’s THE TIN ROOF BLOWDOWN of 2007 has post-Katrina New Orleans been presented in such heartbreaking, first-hand intimacy.
The novel ends with St. James determined to continue his new career as a private investigator. How well he and his broken but beloved city survive will undoubtedly be part of the attraction of future entries.
In the meantime, get to know St. James and don’t let STORM DAMAGE slip past your radar. —Alan Cranis
Related posts:
- The Dresden Files: Storm Front — Volume One: The Gathering Storm
- Deep Storm
- Forecast: DEEP STORM moving in for Child
- Sun Storm
- Magnetic Storm
