Hell or High Water

Nola Cespedes Mysteries #1

by Joy Castro

Nola Céspedes, an ambitious young reporter at the Times-Picayune, finally catches a break: an assignment to write her first full-length feature. While investigating her story, she also becomes fixated on the search for a missing tourist in the French Quarter. As Nola's work leads her into a violent criminal underworld, she's forced to face disturbing truths from her own past and is confronted with the question: In the aftermath of devastation, who is responsible for rebuilding what's been broken?
Vividly rendered in razor-sharp prose, this haunting thriller is a riveting journey of trust betrayed―and the courageous struggle to rebuild. Fast-paced, atmospheric, and with a knockout twist, Hell or High Water features an unforgettable heroine as fascinating and multilayered as New Orleans itself.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Thriller, Mystery Thriller, Audiobook, Crime, Contemporary

352 pages, Hardcover

First published July 17, 2012

Reviews

[Marjorie DeLuca · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up a hardback copy of this book from a bargain book sale and boy, did I get a deal! This is a tightly written thriller set in post-Katrina New Orleans, and by the time I was finished reading it, I was ready to book the next flight south to "The Big Easy".
Nola Cespides is the gutsy, gritty aspiring journalist at the centre of the story, but it's her love-hate relationship with the gorgeously decadent city of New Orleans that really provides the heart to the novel. Castro's descriptions of the city are lush, detailed and delicious! Especially when it comes to food!
Nola, ex-projects girl and diamond in the rough who made it to a top university, still has some rough edges to her despite her eclectic collection of friends and her promising job at the New Orleans Times. But she still has some unresolved issues that manifest themselves in some binge drinking, promiscuous and risky sex, and a runaway mouth.
When she's given a chance to write a big feature on sexual predators, she grabs the opportunity and immerses herself in the issue. Too bad it means interviewing some dangerous perverts and eventually uncovering some secrets from her past.
The book unfolds at a fast pace and soon you're rooting for Nola and hoping she overcomes her demons because even though she claims she wants to leave New Orleans, she sure as hell seems to love the place and you will too after reading this book.

[Book Concierge · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book jacket promises: A gripping, rich psychological thriller set in post-Katrina New Orleans that introduces an intense and spellbinding protagonist.

Allowing for the usual hyperbole, this isn’t too far off the mark. Nola Cespedes is a reporter at the Times-Picayune, trying hard to get off the “lifestyle” page and onto the city desk. Finally, she gets the chance – when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans many formerly registered sex offenders were evacuated and no one kept track of their locations. Sure, some have re-registered, but many have “gone off the grid.” As she begins to research the story, the city’s attention is captured by a new disappearance – a young tourist has been kidnapped in broad daylight from a popular French Quarter eatery.

There were several things I liked about this thriller. I liked that Nola is a pretty strong female lead; she tackles her work (mostly) like a responsible adult, and she has a good network of girlfriends to hang with. I liked also that she maintained contact with her mother, though she seemed to resent their weekly church-going, and that she was trying to be a good “big sister” to Marisol. I liked the pace that Castro set for this novel, although some of the sidebars giving background information on politics, or the Cajuns, or environmental issues did slow the action. Still these elements also enhanced the sense of place. (I definitely felt the torpidity of a New Orleans’ hot humid day; I think my hair even frizzed just reading about the weather!)

I wasn’t so happy with Nola’s bad behavior and risk-taking. Although I do appreciate that Castro was showing us her underlying psychological issues rather than simply telling us about them. Still, there were sections where Nola seemed far too damaged to be able to hold it together at all. I wondered why the three girlfriends all had to be from upper-middle class families, with no financial worries. Then again, hanging with these girls may be another way for Nola to hide her own background.

There were several loose threads at the end, leaving me wondering but hopeful. I’d certainly be willing to give another book a try.

[April Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Cindy Roesel · Rating 4 out of 5]

**This was first posted on Chick Lit Central.

A new summer thriller is out and this one may scare you into sleeping with the lights on.

Nola Cespedes is a young, ambitious New Orleans Times-Picayune news reporter, sick of covering fluff stories about the latest happenings in bars, fashions and galleries. In Joy Castro’s debut novel, HELL OR HIGH WATER, the young Cuban-American reporter catches a break. In post-Katrina New Orleans, she’s thrown into the middle of tracking sex offenders, rapists, perverts who have disappeared off the grid during the hurricane evacuation and expected to produce a front page story.

Nola finds herself in the middle of working the story when a new serial killer shows up on the New Orleans landscape. At the same time, she finds herself haunted by nightmares from her childhood. Flashbacks from dreams and stories her Auntie Helene used to tell her when she was a little girl in Catholic school. But Castro has created a solid group of characters to support Nola as she goes up against the bad guys in what becomes an exciting, fast-paced thriller.

Nola has her Thursday night girls who include Calinda who works in Justice, so she has access to criminal records, and there’s “Princess Fabi” and the soon-to-be married Soline. All these girls think they know Nola, but she masks her upbringing. No one knows Nola grew up dirt poor in the projects something she’s always been ashamed of. Nola’s more intimate with the silver Olympus tape recorder she uses for interviews.

Whether you have or haven’t been to New Orleans, Castro writes with sweeping descriptions and love about the city she has spent some time in that you feel like you're right there. Visually, I was taken on a tour into the good and bad parts every time I delved into the novel and I’m only minimally familiar with the city.

This isn’t your standard fare chick-lit. It’s a pretty gritty murder mystery with some explicit sex that didn’t bother me as a reader, but just know what you’re getting into. I found it a great read and compelling.

I’m not going to get into the plot and subplots, because there are numerous and I don’t want to give anything away, but I will say once you start HELL OR HIGH WATER, it will be hard to put down. It’s a rock and roll ride from start to finish!

You can find Joy Castro on her website and Facebook.

[Autumn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hell or High Water is a book I ended up having a lot of mixed feelings about. On one hand, it was a pretty decent mystery. On the other, there were way too many political messages forced upon the reader. I also never particularly cared for the main character.


In Hell or High Water, Nola is working at the Times-Picayune. She gets tasked with finding out what happened with all the sexual predators that never were never heard from again after Hurricane Katrina. She ties this assignment with the search for a missing woman. She spends most of the book interviewing sexual offenders and a doctor dealing with PTSD and hanging out with her girlfriends.


Nola is very left-wing. The book is full of accusations regarding Katrina, during, after and years later. I'm always wary of Katrina books, because I live in Louisiana and the issue of Katrina and the aftermath always makes people crazy. The book is asking who is responsible for rebuilding. I think most people have dealt with it and have moved on. These kinds of books just bring all those feelings back for people. If writers could deal with just Katrina and not bring their politics into the story, it would make for a much better story.


Nola was also a psychological mess. Because of her past, a past she hasn't dealt with, she's acting out in ways that most people wouldn't really approve of. She engages in sex with strangers frequently. She's always drinking and hung over. Nola wasn't a character that was very pleasant to read about.


I read the book all the way through mainly because I wanted to know who the killer was. Other than the mystery, there wasn't much else that interested me about the book. I might pass on a recommendation for this book for someone that wants to read about New Orleans and Katrina, but would be able to see past the political platform.

[Kourtney Leibman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really loved parts of this book. I loved Nola. I loved the twist. I loved her views of New Orleans, and I even loved the way she tackled the topic of sex crimes and sex offenders who either checked in or went off the grid after Katrina. I loved the hope we are left with at the end. I have some trouble with the way it was all woven together, though, and I agree with some readers that it was a bit preachy at times. To be honest, I don't have a problem with preachy books when I hear the characters preaching at me and not the author, but in this instance, I heard the author, not Nola.

I enjoyed it enough that I will read the next Nola book, and I recommended it to a couple of friends who love New Orleans.

[Lynette Barfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

Check review by Bookphile. Could have written exactly the same observations myself. Can't say I liked the book, but neither did I dislike it totally. Entirely too much New Orleans travelogue, too much history, too much about her sexual exploits, too much of everything except plot, and very little of that. Maybe I didn't like it after all. Wonder why I feel the need to finish every book I start.

[Julia Amante · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great description of New Orleans. Suspenseful plot with a dynamic characters. Excellent read!

[Hella Comat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nola is a reporter for a New Orleans paper, trying to move up from light stories to serious reporting. When a young tourist is kidnapped from a restaurant, Nola suggests that she write a feature on all the sex offenders who were ‘lost’ by the system after Katrina.

Nola’s upbringing as a young girl by a Cuban single mother, living in the projects, is a constant presence that she tries to put aside, unsuccessfully. Her reckless behavior and impulsive actions, along with Castro’s great writing, make for a good story.

[Alison McLennan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Castro is a brilliant writer. Her descriptions are vivid and unique. Some descriptions, while wonderful, may not be all that necessary. The food descriptions for example. I think I gained ten pounds just reading the book! I'm still craving bread pudding. But now that I think about it, the character's fixation on food probably stemmed from Bulimia. There was only one time where we actually saw it, but everyone kept commenting on how skinny she was while she went all around New Orleans devouring delicacies. The pacing was a bit slow to begin with and I kept wondering how all the seemingly disparate threads would weave together. I agree with some people about the journalistic sections, however, since the character was a journalist it didn't bother me as much as it would if she had been a butcher. While I agree with much of the criticism that's been stated, I'm giving this book four stars because I can't stop thinking about it. In terms of genre it's not really a mystery or thriller. Castro is a bold writer who endeavors to cross the literary/genre divide. Most thrillers don't delve much into the psyche unless they are dealing with the scary "psycho-path" everyone seems to love to read about. I didn't like the fact dumps about sexual abuse because I was a child abuse specialist (PREVENTION) and I heard the facts and clinical side so much it became like a script. There is an issue here, I'd like to bring up, but it is a spoiler so I won't. Statements about sexual abuse stealing and destroying souls disturbed me. If 1 out of 3 women have been sexually assaulted, does that mean they're now soulless? The soul is resilient. Unfortunately, psychical and sexual violence has always been a part of our society. Yet our souls have endured. Melodramatic verbal coinage trivializes and pathologizes the myriad of confusing responses evoked by the trauma. Although at first Nola's promiscuity was unsettling, I'm glad she wasn't portrayed as frigid. Her behavior was a classic case of repetition compulsion. The psychological and clinical descriptions of PTSD may evoke a response in some people that is stronger than a mere physical description of violence. We have been desensitized to graphic depictions of violence and sexual assault. But we rarely accompany a person on their psychological journey through it. That's what makes this book disturbing and unforgettable. I never felt the character's life was at stake. Somehow I knew she wouldn't die. Her soul was in jeopardy and that is perhaps more disturbing.

[Lacey Skorepa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was great! If you enjoy either James Patterson's women's murder club series or Gillian Flynn's books this is probably a novel that you would enjoy. Now, this book is not as dark as Flynn's novels nor is it as nuanced as Patterson's series (they've both had more publications in which to refine their craft), but "Hell or High Water" runs in similar veins to the authors and novels mentioned above. The pace is absolutely spot on. For me, it was a real quick read. Nola, a journalist of the mundane, is seeking to break out with a major story (a story on sex offenders who are no longer on the grid - because they didn't re-register with the state/county - after hurricane Katrina). Of course, this story leads her into center of a recent serial killer investigation. Now on a personal hunt for the killer, Nola is forced to confront the darkness in her own past while she tackles the situation in her present which is becoming more precarious by the moment. There is a twist at the end that (surprisingly) got me, which is always fun. Also, the author's knowledge, and research of New Orleans is top notch. I currently live in the area and, wow, she really made it come alive. Bravo. New Orleans, in the novel became a major character (if you've never been but have always been interested in the city and culture, then you're in for a treat with this novel). Castro gives a lot of historical information (which from my own knowledge appears to be correct). However, the information while interesting, isn't woven into the story line very well, there is certainly some disjunction there. Yet, the information was so interesting I didn't really care, but the fact that much of the historical sidelining has nothing to do with the main plot will bother some people. I also think she could have done a better job with her character development and central focus (as far as maintaining it throughout the novel's entirety and not digressing). Overall, however, the book was a delightful summertime read that I would highly recommend. I look forward to reading her next novel. Cheers.

[Jaylia3 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nola Céspedes wants a real story to work on, not the society fluff that her editor at the New Orleans Times-Picayunens keeps giving her. Problem is she sometimes can’t rein her temper in. Even when handed a great story, a feature about sex offenders now off the grid because of all the dislocations after Hurricane Katrina, Nola initially back talks and tells her boss it’s not real news. She changes her mind and throughout the book she is putting her first serious piece of journalism together, interviewing offenders, victims, and professionals to create a wide-ranging article she hopes will be her ticket out.

In spite of her occasional temper Nola is a warm and very appealing first person narrator with a unique perspective on the city she both loves and hates. Nola’s mother escaped Cuba and followed a man from Miami to New Orleans only to have him leave when she got pregnant. New Orleans doesn’t have much of a Cuban American community and being poor Nola grew up in its projects. With her job at the paper Nola can now afford to live in a nicer part of the city, but she often can’t relate to the lives of her wealthy girlfriends and, ironically considering the story she is writing, she engages in some very risky sexual activity. Though she’s a straight talker, Nola still has secrets.

Lots of information about New Orleans and Sex Crimes is woven almost (but not quite) seamlessly into the narrative, and the lively colors, flavors and sounds of New Orleans are so vividly described the city practically vibrates to life on the page. The story is fascinating and suspenseful, with a twist at the end I didn’t see coming. A couldn't put it down book.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was of interest in anticipation of seeing the film. I don't typically like mysteries but I like this writer.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. The book is set in post-Katrina New Orleans and is full of authentic details about the city that made me love the book even more I otherwise would have. I loved hearing about the places that I remember that are still there (or not).

Nola Cespedes is a reporter at the Times-Picayune who is handed the first serious story of her career - a feature exploring sexual offenders, the reporting system, and the victims. She was raised in the Desire housing project of the Upper Ninth Ward by her Cuban immigrant mother with no other family. She escaped Desire by attending Tulane, but has so thoroughly cut herself off from that life that even her closest friends don't know where she grew up. Her emotional life is a mess of alcohol and sex with strangers and researching the story pushes her further than she expected, but she remains a sympathetic character.

The book jacket describes it as a thriller, but I would describe more as general fiction. There is a bit of a mystery (and certainly a lot of tension as she interviews sex offenders), but mostly it's an exploration of sexual abuse and the offender registry in the particular environment that is New Orleans. My only complaint is that the story wraps up almost too neatly in the end.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nola Cespedes may finally get her break when her boss at the Times-Picayune assigns her a feature story. When Nola hears the actual assignment, though, she's more than a little apprehensive. After Katrina, a number of sex offenders vanished off the map. The paper wants a piece covering locals thoughts and perspectives on the issue as well as that of convicted sex offenders as well. While Nola would rather do just about anything than interview possibly violent pervs, she knows it's her best shot and making a name for herself and leaving New Orleans behind. Almost simultaneously, news of a kidnapping is making its way through the Crescent City. Connections are made to two recent murders and Nola suspects that it could make a great parallel to her own story.

Castro's plot is really smart but much too complicated to easily sum up. Nola is a pretty intriguing character and Castro weaves a pretty fantastic and captivating story. Not only that, but she's done an amazing job of capturing the heart of New Orleans, accurately detailing the city in a way that many authors are unable to.

[Faye · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absorbing read that educates while it pulls you into the tangled story of a 27-year-old Latina reporter in New Orleans whose first hard news assignment is to update the community on the lives of convicted sex offenders who live on -- or off -- the grid. While she pursues her story, which also involves investigating the effects of sex crimes on the victims, the protagonist also hopes to find out how a young woman recently disappeared from a restaurant in the French Quarter in the middle of the day. This debut crime thriller from Joy Castro exhibits the author's exquisite descriptive writing and unflinching probing of social, socioeconomic, and gender issues. It explores the inner life of reporter Nola Céspedes as much as it explores the mysteries that lie in the dark alleys -- and relax in the upscale homes -- of New Orleans.

[Cathleen · Rating 1 out of 5]

First, a quibble with the series note ("Nola Cespedes Mysteries #1"): this is not a mystery -- not even close.

It's also not a suspense/thriller, despite the opening which plops us into a young woman's unexplained disappearance. [By the way, leading with that, and then doing nothing with it, is just poor narrative structure, and portraying it through the perspective of a younger child is transparently manipulative.] Thrillers and suspense novels are all about pacing, and this work has looooong dry passages in which the author just shovels her research to the reader -- and in settings no more imaginative than employing a journalist reflecting on her own data and/or interviewing subjects.

Recently I've experienced quite a few stories set in post-Katrina New Orleans, and this was by far the least engaging. What a tremendous disappointment.

[Cheryl · Rating 1 out of 5]

So the second time is not the charm with this book. In fact, I was more turned off by this book this time then I was the first time. The first time just like this time I was not intrigued by the characters or the storyline. Yet, this time I actually was comprehending what was happening in the story so I was able to focus on the words being said. All of the language with the "f" word I felt was un-needed. Which I am not a prude about language but only when it is required as part of the story. Ok, in a way it was as it showed how some of the inmates in prison felt about child molesters. However I still felt the story was going no where with just a lot of talking as a filler. After trying again with this book and only getting to chapter 8 I was not interested in figuring out who Nola Cespesdes is.

[Naomi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I felt like I was reading one of those 1970's tv crime dramas. You know the ones that are overly acted and filled with cliches! This book was so melodramatic in its' presentation there were times that I was laughing at serious scenes in the book. The book, to boot, really didn't follow any format and it felt as though it skipped around that it was pretty discombobulated in how it read. I must admit that if I wasn't reviewing it for Netgalley, it would have gone into the couldn't finish pile. There was a moment in the book that I felt it became pretty predictable and easy to predict the ending.

[Tiffany · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was chosen in my book club, otherwise I would not have taken the time to read it in its entirety. The first third of the book reads like a textbook with historical New Orleans references as well as statistical data of sex crimes. Then we are taken into the life of the main character, Nola, and the many aspects of her life. The books ends abruptly with a chapter or two neatly wrapping up every loose end to every story line that was introduced.

Overall, the story had too many cliches and unneeded details. If those were to be removed, you would only be left with a couple chapters of an emerging plot that would quickly be solved.

[Tim Mcgurrin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was, at best, a short story that got bloated into a full novel thanks to 200 superfluous pages of New Orleans history and factual data on sexual abuse. The protagonist is the most unlikeable lead in a book I've ever come across. Despite her genius IQ, she's unbelievably naive and takes no precautions whatsoever when meeting with former abusers. She's rude to her employer and her friends, and seems like an unwilling Big Sister. There's a mystery that is mentioned upfront, casually referred to every fifty or so pages, then wraps up in a few pages near the end. If you want to learn about sexual abuse or New Orleans, there are probably better books to do it.

[Dorsi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I changed my mind about this story several times throughout. I almost quit reading it at one point. I'm so glad I stuck with it. The main character, Nola, is a newspaper reporter. She has a terrible attitude and very promiscuous. She is a party girl. Through most of the story I just didn't like her. She was OBSESSED with race which almost drove me to distraction. In the end, I understand why she was the way she was, except for maybe the preoccupation with her race. The end had a good twist. The absolute best part about the story was the narration. It was read by Roxanne Hernandez. She did a superb job and kept me engaged in the story.

[Jaime · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 stars. This felt more like a travelogue of New Orleans and a diary written by a woman with a chip on her shoulder than a thriller or a mystery. There were few surprises and the pace was so slow I kept wondering if anything was actually going to happen. And opening the book with the abduction of a young woman through the eyes of a child was simply a misleading gimmick. It had very little to do with the following 300 pages.

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book may be a twee might too graphic for some, but considering the subject matter a 'lighter' treatment would have been insouciant. I really came to appreciate Nola and liked the characters who are in her circle. I loved, loved, loved the ending - so satisfying!!

[Betsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Utterly compelling and difficult to put down. And my lord, did it make me hungry -- all those descriptions of New Orleans food. Beautifully written.

[Jenno]

Couldn't get into this one. I read about 60 pages and got tired of the rabbit trails she goes down that seem irrelevant to the larger story.

[Mothman Codes · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hm. Where to start on this one. I dove into this expecting a murder thriller, a genre I often enjoy. Despite what it says on the tin, this was...not that. It was a story about journalism (also a genre I often enjoy), but not a terribly interesting one, and one that definitely should have had a heads up somewhere in the marketing materials about sexual assault. Here's my review, marked spoiler for trigger warning:


About the main plot: a reporter is tasked with writing a piece about the sex offender registry. First off, 1000 words? This is so much research for 1,000 words, and I don't think this newspaper functions. But logistics aside, Nola keeps narrating the piece as if it's a balanced appraisal of the varied experiences of sex offenders on the registry. Except all the people she interviews are monsters, and half of the interview is just her repeating the same question about whether the person knows anything about an unrelated murder. Despite some feints in that direction, the book never reckons with what rehabilitation could actually mean, or what signifies it. Instead, the book lurches between the cheap tension of the reporter going into the homes of men she's afraid of and token nods to the process of rehabilitation, without any suggestion that any of the men have meaningfully engaged with the process.

And about that conclusion - it's a real stroke of luck that Nola was right. Despite the grisly facts of Nola's backstory, having one experience with a particular rapist doesn't mean that rapist did every crime in New Orleans. Nola's experience with sexual assault is treated as a cheap, but extremely predictable, twist. (I didn't know who, but it was clear from page four when she's getting the assignment that she has relevant - and devastating - personal experience she's carrying with her.)

Good lord, no matter what time of day or what the context is, Nola is having one (or a few) drinks. Her roommate realizes this is a problem, and eventually Nola seems to as well, but that plotline is never fully resolved. For naming what drink she got at what restaurant in every setting, the celebratory drinks at "solving" this case cut short any consideration of Nola's drinking problem, beyond like two nights of refusing to blackout drink.

Okay, onto the subject of New Orleans. A lot of other reviewers held complaints that this read more like travel writing. I got a feel for the cultural context of New Orleans, and learned a lot of random fun facts, which I enjoyed. Those fun facts were entirely disconnected from the rest of the book. The content of the story could have taken place anywhere, and the author can't quite make the jump she's trying to between Katrina haunting New Orleans and Nola's sexual assault haunting her. Ditto for the connections about the artificial veneration of decay as part of the New Orleans aesthetic and Nola trying to cover up the projects she came from. I can guess what the author was getting at, but it just didn't hit.

A final note: why on earth does Nola continually agree to, neigh insist on, going to the homes of men she's scared of?

[Rusty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Raw! Emotional! Smooth!

Raw! Nola Cespides is a bright young journalist with the New Orleans Times-Picayune and the key character of this story. After college, she was able to move herself and her motherfrom a poor area called Desire which was all they could afford. It had been a struggle to pay rent and buy food in that neighborhood. A reporter who wants to work on the city desk, her chance comes when the editor assigns a story about sexual predators who live across the city. It can make her career.

Emotional! Get to know Nola’s emotional ups and downs. She works hard, lives hard and loves hard but avoids serious attachments. She mostly enjoys the encounters until one man pulls a knife and she must use her gun to escape. Caustic situations with other news people and sometimes her friends are followed by nightmares that wake her roommate and leave Nola sobbing.

Smooth! Nola spends Sundays with her mother, going to church and having dinner with her. She is calm and professional conducting informative sessions with those she must interview. Knowing some of these can be dangerous she slides carefully in and out of conversations.

The author’s style and writing is moves the story flawlessly from descriptions of Katrina and how it affected the city and its inhabitants to encounters with her gay male roommate, girlfriends and her mother. Descriptions of the city add much to the tale. She visits famous dining and tourist spots with friends and the twelve-year-old to whom she is big sister for two hours each week. There is so much here that connects with the reader. It’s scary, fascinating, and filled with surprises. Brilliantly done!

[Bookphile · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this would have been a good book if not for some serious flaws. I really did not sympathize with the protagonist until much too late in the book, and there were so many tedious episodes of digression where the narrative would veer away from the plot and launch into several pages worth of historical information about New Orleans. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it just felt too heavy-handed here. More complete review to come.

Full review:

The description of Hell or High Water really intrigued me, but I think that, ultimately, it may be a little misleading. When this is coupled with the prologue, which has a very powerful hook, I think it's only natural to assume that this is going to be an edge-of-your-seat thriller--but it's not. Yes, there is a mystery in this book, and yes there is definitely tension, but the pace moved along much more slowly than I was expecting. Some minor spoilers, but I won't give away the ending.

As my opening suggests, my big issue with this book was pacing. I read a lot of mystery/thriller novels, and I like everything from the more meandering literary styles of a writer like Elizabeth George to the taut, fast pace of someone like Steig Larsson. Because my tastes do run the gamut, I don't think my issues with this book were tied specifically to that. What I found throughout the novel was that the narrative was frequently thrown off by long, detailed passages that had little to nothing to do with the central plot of the book--or even the main character. The book provides a lot of history about New Orleans, which I did appreciate because I don't know much about the city, but I felt these interludes were very misplaced in this book. I really wanted to know what was going to happen next with regard to the mystery, not plow through a long passage about casket girls, no matter how interesting that passage was. It got to the point where I could sense that one of this long digressions was coming, and I would hurry through them until I could get back to the central plot.

I also have to admit that I really didn't like Nola all that much for probably the first third of the book. When I finally realized where her character arc was taking her, it did change my view of her. I think this was actually a pretty masterful bit of writing, because my opinion of the character did go through such an evolution. However, the downside is that I actively disliked Nola for a good chunk of the book, which made it really hard for me to get into it. I'm not sure exactly how this could have been avoided. It seems to me the author took a risk here, and I just happen to be one of those readers who wasn't very fond of the risk. I think I needed to know Nola better and to sympathize more with her before she started self-destructing, because I ended up getting angry with her and wishing she'd snap out of it. I also felt like her friends and roommate didn't react quite enough. Yes, there were some carefully inquiries, but it seems to me that they just spent too much time tiptoeing around her. Nola's behavior is so obnoxious at times that I found it difficult to believe her friends and roommate would just put up with it--to say nothing at all of the way she behaves at work, which I found far-fetched at best.

Still, there is a lot of strength in this novel. I was very interested in Nola's struggles with fitting in, particularly when it came to her attempts to shed her past once she got to Tulane and beyond. Once I had a better grasp of what was going on with Nola, I felt a lot more sympathetic and thought her characterization was an excellent example of how someone might try to deal with a past trauma. The foreshadowing of this might have been a little heavy handed, because I figured out what was wrong with Nola long, long before the book's big reveal, but that didn't ultimately undo what I thought was a very well-drawn portrait of a character.

The mystery was secondary almost to the point of being a plot device. This wouldn't have been a problem in and of itself had it been clear that the mystery was going to take something of a backseat to Nola's character development. However, due to the way the book begins, I expected the mystery to take a much more central role in the story. Though this book does have elements of a thriller, it is, in essence, a book about a character's evolution. Had I known this from the start, I don't think it would have taken me so long to get into the book, because there are so many interesting dynamics to it.

One of the other aspects of the novel that struck me as particularly strong was Nola's relationship with Marisol. Marisol served as both an interesting lens for examining Nola's character, and as a foil for Nola. There was a lot of tension to the relationship--not necessarily between the two characters, but in the way there is an undercurrent of desperation. Though Nola doesn't explicitly state it, I really got the sense that spending time with Marisol was a way for Nola to both try to rewrite her own past, and also to try to save another girl from the fate Nola herself suffered. I thought this dynamic was extremely well done.

In the end, this book was just such a mixed bag. Nola is wonderfully nuanced, flawed, strong, and fascinating as a character, but I thought the handling of some of her back story was just far too heavy-handed. When this book was good, I was really lost in it, but there were too many instances where I could feel the hand of the author at work for me to really enjoy it as much as I would have liked. I think Nola has a lot of potential to be a good character in a series, but she would be much better served if her back story was more subtly woven within the strands of the overall plot.

[Jovdb · Rating 2 out of 5]

Couldn't really get into this book. I didn't particularly like Nola, the main character; her promiscuity, risky sexual exploits, and envy of her girlfriends, made her an unlikeable person.

The story itself, was all over the place. The author did much research, or maybe just knew the history of the area and the subject matter, and she was determined the readers experienced it all. Too much detail that never seemed to add to the story.

As a mystery, it fell flat. There really wasn't any mystery, or maybe as a small sub plot in the main theme, how sorry Nola was for herself and her upbringing.

I wouldn't recommend this to anyone and I won't be reading another in the series.