Hmmm... I am really stumped on what to say about this book. I really liked it, it was a real page-turner, but I am at a loss when it comes to the words to describe what it is about. Well, basically it's about a woman who is a detective but she has studied under the school of Jacques Silette, and the mode of detection is very mystical and spiritual, and thus difficult for me to describe as I have little experience of either of those things.Claire DeWitt is a the detective. Recovering from a recent breakdown, Claire receives a call from Leon, a man down in New Orleans. Leon's uncle Vic has gone missing after Hurricane Katrina and he wants help to find out what happened to Vic. Claire used to live in New Orleans, when she was being mentored in the art of detection by another student of Jacques Silette, Constance. Claire has many memories of those times, some good, some awful, and a good deal of her own life's mystery needs to be shaken out and examined while she is back in New Orleans.
The mystery to be solved involves the kids of New Orleans, the forgotten ones, the kids in the Wards, the ones who got left off or disappeared from the foster rosters. Their struggle to survive during the storm and their lives in the aftermath are part of the weave in the web of this mystery. I live along the Gulf Coast and Katrina refugees are still here in my area; some never went back, some had nothing to go back to. The story also incorporated the Indian culture of New Orleans. This was really interesting and I wanted to know more about the groups and subcultures of this old city.
