The Tin Roof Blowdown is a crime novel by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

 James Lee Burke

James Lee Burke

James Lee Burke is an American author of mysteries, best known for his Dave Robicheaux series. He has won an Edgar Award for Black Cherry Blues and Cimarron Rose . The Robicheaux character has been portrayed twice on screen, first by Alec Baldwin and then Tommy Lee Jones...

.

Synopsis

After Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...

 devastates his beloved city of New Orleans, Dave Robicheaux

Dave Robicheaux

Dave Robicheaux is a fictional character in a series of mystery novels by American crime writer James Lee Burke.-About Robicheaux:Once an officer for the New Orleans police department, Robicheaux constantly breaches the ethical code over the course of just about every case he works on - seemingly...

 is drawn into the fatal shooting of two young black looters, and the subsequent torture murder

Torture murder

Torture murder is a loosely defined term to describe a murder where death has been preceded by the torture of the victim. In many legal jurisdictions a murder involving "exceptional brutality or cruelty" will involve a harsher sentence.-Punishment:...

 of a third. Soon several suspects, including an insurance

Insurance

In law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...

 salesman whose daughter may have been brutally rape

Rape

Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...

d by the men, and a sadist

Sadism and masochism as medical terms

In psychiatry, the terms sadism and masochism describe a personality type characterized by the actor or actrix deriving pleasure and gratification from inflicting physical pain and humiliation ; and from suffering pain and humiliation upon the self ; such pleasure often is sexual, but not...

ic gangster

Gangster

A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Some gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from mob and the suffix -ster....

 whose house they raided, start emerging from the woodwork. However, the investigation becomes much more personal for Dave when his own family comes under threat from an evil sociopath

Psychopathy

Psychopathy is a mental disorder characterized primarily by a lack of empathy and remorse, shallow emotions, egocentricity, and deceptiveness. Psychopaths are highly prone to antisocial behavior and abusive treatment of others, and are very disproportionately responsible for violent crime...

, and he finds himself drowning in a sea of violence

Violence

Violence is the use of physical force to apply a state to others contrary to their wishes. violence, while often a stand-alone issue, is often the culmination of other kinds of conflict, e.g...

, degeneracy

Degeneracy

Degeneracy may refer to:* DegenerationIn science and mathematics:* Degeneracy , a property of quantum states sharing the same energy levels...

 and corruption, juxtaposed against the terrible suffering he sees everyday as a result of the hurricane.