Shake the Devil Off: A True Story of the Murder that Rocked New Orleans

by Ethan Brown

A charismatic young soldier meets a tragic end in this moving and mesmerizing account of the war in Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, and no-safety-net America

Zackery Bowen was thrust into two of America’s largest recent debacles. He was one of the first soldiers to encounter the fledgling insurgency in Iraq. After years of military service he returned to New Orleans to tend bar and deliver groceries. In the weeks before Hurricane Katrina made landfall, he met Addie Hall, a pretty and high-spirited bartender. Their improvised, hard-partying endurance during and after the storm had news outlets around the world featuring the couple as the personification of what so many want to believe is the indomitable spirit of New Orleans.

But in October 2006, Bowen leaped from the rooftop bar of a French Quarter hotel. A note in his pocket directed the police to the body of Addie Hall. It was, according to NOPD veterans, one of the most gruesome crimes in the city’s history. How had this popular, handsome father of two done this horrible thing?

Journalist Ethan Brown moved from New York City to the French Quarter in order to investigate this question. Among the newsworthy elements in the book is Brown’s discovery that this tragedy—like so many others—could have been avoided if the military had simply not, in the words of Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, “absolutely and completely failed this soldier.” Shake the Devil Off is a mesmerizing tribute to these lives lost.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Crime, Audiobook, War, Southern, Adult

304 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2009

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a lot of thoughts about this book and I don't know how to even begin to put them into words.
This book is so much more than I thought it was going to be. I bought it because I spend a lot of time in New Orleans and was familiar with The murder/suicide of Addie and Zach. I had even met Addie once when she was bartending at the Spotted Cat. I thought it was going to be another grisly "true crime" recap of the horrific details of the murder. I was not expecting to read such a thought provoking and deep look at not only Zach and Addie but life in New Orleans post Katrina and the plight of the soldiers of the Iraq/Afghanistan war, and the devastating state of our mental health provisions in the US. I loved seeing the familiar names of NOLA musicians and my blogging "friends" who I have come to know from their words (and some in person)in the past 4 years: Amzie Adams, John Boutte, Freddy Omar, Karen Gadbois, Mark Folse, Andrei Codrescu, Joshua Clark, Louis Maistros, Poppy Z. Brite, and most importantly Ashley Morris, who upon re-reading a brief synopsis of his involvement in post-K NOLA, brought tears to my eyes.

I learned more than a few things about the War and about the situation in NOLA. Although I pride myself on keeping up with the news, politics and issues current to the city, I was surprised to read about some murders and circumstances surrounding some murders that I was not aware of before. Goes to show that people outside the city really don't have a full grasp on what's going on in the city.

I strongly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in US politics, New Orleans, mental health issues, PTSD, Katrina, the War in Iraq/Afghanistan, or true crime.

The only thing missing is a better picture of Addie, and how she came to be the person she was. We have such a complete picture of Zach that I feel like I want to know more about Addie. I don't know if that was intentional by the author or if Addie's family/friends were not as forthcoming or interested in this project.

[Humangirl · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just finished reading this book & agree with Doug that this is short stories; (1) the story of the 527 MP Co. in Iraq & Afghanistan (2) Mr. Brown's experiences living in post-Katrina New Orleans, which I have no interest in. Mr. Brown is also very obvious with his sympathies to Zack Bowen. He attempts to justify why Zack killed then dismembered Addie.

Quite honestly, I was appalled that while Mr. Brown was humanizing Zack Bowen he painted a picture that other murderers in post-Katrina New Orleans as monsters.

As a native of New Orleans (pre & post Katrina), I identified many inaccuracies in Mr. Brown's depiction of New Orleans, its laws, its culture & sub-cultures, and its immediate post Katrina life. Specifically, Mr. Brown neglects to inform his readers that the post-Katrina murders he mentions occurred in very specific neighborhoods.

Mr. Brown also neglects to explore Addie Hall's pre Zack Bowen background. His judgment of Addie are strictly limited to (1) a former friend (2) an ex boyfriend who befriends Zack and (3) Zack's estranged wife.

I remember when this happened. I worked only blocked away from Zack & Addie's Rampart St. apartment and across the street from the Omni Hotel. With that being said, I must admit that the Times Picayune did a better job of covering this murder than this book.

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was a great true crime book. I can't believe I'd never heard of this case before but I stumbled across it on and old episode of Murder In America the other night and I couldn't stop thinking about it so I decided to get the book.

I know one thing that bothers people is that his friends had nice things to say about him throughout this book but that's what makes the crime so shocking. No one thought he was capable of that. PTSD mixed with unstable living arrangements and a toxic relationship culminated in something terrible. I would be interested in hearing more about Addie if someone chooses to write a book about her too but this one was about him and the author put an incredible amount of work into this, finding his military friends and locals that knew him.

This isn't only about the crime. This takes a deep dive into his past and military service. That's a huge part of the book. What they went through there and the trouble adjusting to civilian life again and the failures of our government to help them after they've used them up.

This was a terribly sad and gruesome story. If you're watching The Anarchists docuseries on HBO, this might interest you. It has elements of lawlessness and wanting to "live free" in the immediate aftermath of Katrina.

[Carla (There Might Be Cupcakes Podcast) · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author finally admits, when the book is almost complete, that he is sympathetic to the murderer. He stops shy of this admission, actually, writing that his wife felt he was, to the point of being angry with him. This book is an apology for the murderer, and the author forgot that the murder was not a quick act of passion, but rather a planned, gruesome saga that involved living with the corpse for over two weeks, and setting up a horrid tableau in order to scar those who followed the instructions in his suicide note. Brown works so hard to exonerate, somehow, the murderer from the full guilt of his crime that the book becomes a history of the war at some points.

[Katrina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found parts of this book interesting and I did finish it, so that says something but overall, this book was underwhelming.
However Brown tries to draw a parallel between our military's indifference to many of its veterans and the indifference that our government showed during Katrina. The parallel is easy to make because Addie Hall was murdered in New Orleans and Addie and Zack decided to ride out the hurricane and subsequent tragedy in the French Quarter rather than evacuating. But that is as far as the parallel goes. Perhaps the murder could have been avoided, but perpetrator and victim were both very unstable and seemed to be on a headed toward a tragic ending from the start.

Criticizing our government for the response after Katrina is certainly appropriate. Being against the Iraq War is certainly understandable. While both of those factors are relevant to the story, it is the human story of these two people that draws readers.
The last several chapters are devoted to the staggering murder rate in New Orleans, the military's unwillingness to help its vets, and Brown's own inexplicable love for New Orleans. While the evidence about the lack of mental health care for military personnel is compelling and the murder statistics for New Orleans are mind-boggling, the chapters on them feel like they belong in another book. Also, Brown's own story of moving to New Orleans and falling in love with the people of New Orleans is worthy of an epilogue, but did not belong in the body of the book.

Overall, this book feels incomplete. No one from Addie's family is even interviewed regarding her death and there is no explanation as to why. There is no way to answer all the questions about this story, but some of the most basic ones are not even asked.

[Halley Sutton · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of all, let me say that I have huge respect for Ethan Brown. His book on the Jeff Davis 8 was one of the more memorable books I read in 2017 and his reporting is thorough and engaging throughout this book. He took an unbelievably horrific crime--and I'm kind of a murder junkie, I feel like my tolerance is higher than the average--and humanized the murderer and makes a super strong case about the tolls of PTSD and the war in Iraq and Hurricane Katrina on Bowen's psyche. Also a beautiful and dark ode to New Orleans, which I appreciated.

However.

I couldn't shake the uncomfortable feeling that the account is...perhaps too sympathetic to Zack Bowen. From a sheer real estate standpoint, Bowen is much more the focus of the book than Addie, and Addie is characterized as abusive and drunken and toxic (all of which may have been true, and Brown does speak frequently of her as creative). Zack, on the other hand, is characterized as traumatized and in pain and misguided--all of which is probably true too, but how can you overlook the fact that he murdered his girlfriend, dismembered and raped and then lived with (AND COOKED) her corpse? I mean. I couldn't.

I appreciate that Brown is trying to paint a portrait of someone who was not evenly presented as a human being by the press, but the magnitude of the crime--to me, one of the more appalling parts being how long Zack lived with the corpse and recorded feeling "unmoved" about it-- sometimes feels downplayed and Addie certainly doesn't get the same full-color treatment. Ominous mentions of Zack's dark side, recorded by several friends and Addie herself, get somewhat glossed over as well. To his credit, Brown does mention that his wife thinks he finds Zack too sympathetic, somewhat acknowledging the issue.

I'd read more by Brown. But probably not for a while.

[Dachokie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Half Crime Story and Half Blame Game ...

This book intrigued me primarily because I distinctly remember the initial news story that first drew national attention to Zack Bowen and Addie Hall: Two young adults who weathered the wrath of Hurricane Katrina and found a way to find happiness together amid the devastation. While the story was meant to be a "feel-good" story, I distinctly recall the accompanying pictures telling a different story ... battered survivors finding a way to keep the N'awlins party spirit going. There was an ominous sense that the "happiness in the midst of disaster" scenario (and the relationship, for that matter) would be short-lived and the individuals would simply fade into obscurity. So, the subsequent murder-suicide of Zack and Addie a year later was somewhat of a shock ... even more-so once the grisly details were revealed. SHAKE THE DEVIL OFF presents the titillating opportunity to delve deeper into lives of at least one of these two tragic individuals and follow his path of destruction. While author Ethan Brown delivers a descent overview of the general story, he comes across as a little too sympathetic to Zack (the perpetrator) throughout and appears determined to blame all Zack's wrongdoings on prior military service ... even though he presents other logical rationale for Bowen's demise.

The story of Zack and Addie simply serves as another colorful tile that comprises the mosaic that is New Orleans, a city that can simultaneously embody the light and dark sides of mankind. A city that embraces the exuberant highs of Mardi Gras and accepts it's mysterious and seedy underworld as a trait that makes it unique. Brown's account of Zack and Addie's lives (and their demise) is almost symbolic of post-Katrina New Orleans ... damaged souls struggling to survive against the odds. While the book covers the murder-suicide story, the majority centers solely on Zack, a gangly and awkward Californian with a difficult childhood. Brown paints Zack Bowen as a tragic figure from the very beginning by detailing his troubled home life, his difficulty in school and a burgeoning drug habit. His eventual move to New Orleans seems almost romantically fitting ... a lost soul finding happiness in a place that gladly accepts all types; where the outcast finds a familial sense of security among all the other outcasts. Brown details the process of Bowen's maturation from bartender to husband/father to career-oriented soldier. Just when readers are getting use to this upward trend in the young man's life, the Iraq War changes everything and the young man's once-promising future hits a major roadblock as Zack suddenly bails on his military career and ends up with a "less-than-honorable" discharge that simultaneously destroys his marriage. Rebounding back to familiar territory in New Orleans, Zach meets Addie and tries to balance life with his new girlfriend and child when Hurricane Katrina arrives to deliver a final devastating blow to Zack's fragile mind.

An intriguing read throughout, Brown provides a great deal of detail on the issues he chooses to cover. The book is clearly centered on Zach, who somehow comes across as both protagonist and victim, but never quite a villain (even though he commits a grisly murder). Brown's thesis seems to focus on Zack's stint in the Army and more importantly, his time in Iraq as events that planted the seeds of evil in the young man's brain and heart only to come full bloom following a visit from Hurricane Katrina. The premise is that the horrors of Iraq and the insensitivity of the US Army initially destroyed the man's psyche and the violence of Katrina triggers a dormant PTSD-related homicidal rage within him. While this angle is certainly plausible, Brown appears to have chosen this angle and run with it, rather than explore other avenues enough to provide some balance to the story. Readers are only briefly introduced to Zack's drug use, as well as his unfortunate up-bringing and self-esteem issues ... serious problems that may have significant, detrimental long-term effects on any person (especially when they are all combined). We get relatively no background on a big piece of the puzzle ... Addie. When Brown introduces readers to Addie ... she's portrayed as being less than pleasant ... nasty, actually. Temperamental, loud, aggressive and petite ... she's the absolute opposite of Zack. Rather than a potential catalyst herself, she simply remains the unfortunate victim of a bigger victim, Zack. Even interviews with the mother and ex-wife paint a sympathetic picture of Zack ... the Army and Iraq bear the brunt of their blame for his demise. Most people already get the point, war is horrible and it can further destroy already fragile minds, but Brown's point-of-view is that Iraq is the sole cause for this tragedy, even though he leaves the door open to speculate other causes. One has to wonder why Abu Ghraib is designated an entire chapter in this story when it had nothing to do with Zack other than to speculate the event triggered Iraqi rage that resulted in a close member of his unit being killed ... speculation, not fact.

While I was engrossed by the story, the author pushes his war-theory a little too much for me. It would have been more appreciated had readers been given a broader, more balanced overview of the story that allowed us to draw our own conclusions. The more the author presses in finding excuses for Zack's behavior, the less empathy I felt toward Zack as being a victim (he is, after all, a murderer). The biggest hole in the story, though, was the lack of information about Addie. We never really get to know her like we do Zack ... no family recollections, only mutual friends ... we get nothing. Addie is the saddest aspect of the entire story in that her sacrifice seemingly meant nothing to anybody.

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wrote a long, quite possibly fabulous review of Shake the Devil Off and then accidentally deleted it. Basically what I wanted to say was that it was quite clear that Ethan Brown's sympathies were with Zachary Bowen, who strangled and dismembered girlfriend Addie Hall in 2006. We read of numerous interviews with Zack's family, friends, co-workers, and military colleagues but do not hear from anyone who knew Addie outside of the few years she spent in the French Quarter. Brown even travels out of the way to meet up with young men that Zack served with in Iraq. Yet we never hear from Addie's side of the story, other than a fleeting mention of some childhoold abuse. What we do hear of Addie is from her years in New Orleans - her quirky bike rides through the Quarter, moody arguments with friends, or how she and Zack refused to evacuate during Katrina and rode out the aftermath. Brown argues post traumatic stress disorder due to serving in Iraq and surviving Hurricane Katrina contributed to Zack's unstable state of mind when he murdered Addie. It seems Brown would like the reader to consider Zack a victim, but for me it was pretty obvious who the victim of this tradgedy was.

[Sam Jasper · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a New Orleanian who saw this story when it hit the news and was also acquainted with both people I read this with great trepidation. I was so glad that Mr. Brown told the story with the no sensationalism. Bowen was not a monster and Hall was not a saint. He told the story well and many of us here were glad he did.

[Khris Sellin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part true crime story, part exposé on how badly our military members are treated and their mental health issues ignored, and part love letter to New Orleans.

Zack Bowen saw death and devastation in Iraq and lost people close to him in horrific ways. His wife was also going through medical issues, yet he was not allowed time to go home to be with her and help with their young children. That seems to be the beginning of the end for him. He began having mental health issues and instead of helping him, the military disciplined him and gave him a general discharge, something less than honorable, thereby denying him any benefits after all he'd done for them while serving. His relationship with his wife fell apart. He came back to New Orleans, and then Katrina hit. He and his new girlfriend Addie seemed to be survivors, though, and actually relished being part of the small community of holdouts who stuck it out for the storm. It was after things went back to a sense of normal that Zack, and Addie, started having their own problems.

[Mariette T · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of Zach and Addie is a cautionary tale of mixing drugs with untreated PTSD. The author clearly comes across as being sympathetic towards Zach; which is rather unfortunate. I think if we knew more about Addie's past, we would have a better understanding of what lead her to be where she was while she was with Zach. Addie might seem less of an antagonist towards an already fragile Zach. The author also alludes to "dark things in Zach's past", but never goes on to explain what they were. Enquiring minds want to know! Maybe these things would help to explain why he chose to live with a dismembered corpse for two weeks.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I vaguely recall reading the headlines a few years ago about this young couple.

Fast forward a few years. I see an episode on ABC of a program called Final Witness. It features the commentary of the now infamous Margaret Sanchez, suspect in the recent murder of Jaren Lockhart. Google it.

I got around to checking this book out from the library, and I couldn't put it down.

Things I liked:

-It pulled me back into the nonfiction realm. I hadn't read a NF book in awhile. Now I'm adding all sorts of true stories to my to-read list, especially those based on and around New Orleans.

-It sparked my interest and made me think about important issues like the Iraq War, homicide rates/corruption in New Orleans and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Things I didn't like:

-The book focused mostly on Zack Bowen. Why market the book as a story about the couple when we only got the background of one of them?
I wanted to know more about Addie Hall's background.

-Zack Bowen was portrayed so sympathetically. I found myself just completely feeling sorry for him. I guess this falls under things I didn't like because I don't want to feel sorry for someone who strangled his girlfriend, dismembered her, and cooked her body parts.
Life is not black and white. Humans are complex, and I appreciate the fact that the author did not paint Zack as a monster because that would be too easy. However, I feel that the book overlooks how truly sad and awful Addie's story must have also been. Her remains sat in a morgue MONTHS after this happened. It would take some serious investigating to find out what kind of family she came from. I guess the author had willing friends and family to speak with on Zack's side.

-The focus of the book sort of went in different directions. While all of it was interesting, the second half the book dealt with murders of other people in New Orleans, Veterans Affairs and their treatment (or lack of) soldiers coming home from Iraq, Hurricane Gustav, etc. It almost felt like the second half was just sort of tacked on.

Notice.. I still give the book 4 out of 5 stars. It kept my attention and made me dig deeper into some other nonfiction books I want to read, including the author's other two books. Any book that can keep me from taking a nap on a lazy, rainy Louisiana afternoon is a winner, even if it IS about such a disturbing subject.

[Doug Beatty · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about Zachary Bown, who, on a morning in New Orleans, goes to an expensive hotel and spends the afternoon drinking. After a while he goes up to the roof of the hotel and throws himself off to his death. The police find in his pocket a suicide note that is also a confession to a murder. He has killed and dismembered his girlfriend Addie Hall, and the note leads the police to their shared apartment.

Although this is a true crime novel, it cannot focus on the police investigation or a trial, because the murderer is dead by the start of the story. Instead, the novel focuses on the couple and tries to examine how an atrocity like this can happen.

The story follows Zachary Bowen as he meanders through high school and eventually falls for a stripper named Lana and she becomes pregnant. They marry, and in order to support them, Zachary enters the army, just before 9-11. He ends up in Kosovo, and begins to see the tragedies of war, but that will not prepare him for the horrors he will see when he ends up in Iraq.

Eventually, he leaves Iraq but only recieves a general discharge with honors because of some failed physical exams when he returns. He returns to New Orleans, and his marriage falls apart.

At this time, hurrican Katrina comes through New Orleans and Zachary meets Addie and they refuse to leave the city.. They become a pair of refugees, staying in the French Quarter and helping where they can. But eventually, they have to face the real world when it returns.

Both Addie and Zachary are damaged, and the author makes a case for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, when gone untreated can spiral out of control. Unfortunately, we may never know.

It is a sad story, but interesting, and you learn quite a bit about the Iraq war and New Orleans during Katrina along the way.

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ethan Brown's unabashedly apologetic account of Zack's story doesn't sit right with me, nor do his less than subtle hints that Zack's PTSD somehow drove him to commit this heinous crime, especially since he can't come up with anything that would hint at traumatic events during his tours in Kosovo and Iraq. It's almost offensive to anyone suffering from PTSD how Mr. Brown, in a lengthy description of the condition, tries to find a connection. For Heaven's sake, the guy married a stripper when he was 18, was binge-drinking and doing drugs left and right, then killed and dismembered his girlfriend! And you want to blame his messed up life on PTSD and the "injustice" of being thrown out of the Army? Really?
Two stars instead of one, because he described life in New Orleans before and after Hurricane Katrina very vividly and passionately.

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh, Bowen falls victim to the Jon Krakauer tendency of inserting oneself into the narrative. While he does manage to bring some humanity to the players in this gruesome crime, he also does a lot of heavy lifting and extrapolating to try and turn it into a narrative of how one person's tragedy illustrates the failure of the federal government. While PTSD and lack of support for Iraq vets played a major role in this murder, you get the sense after all the background about Zack Bowen (and major criticism, it's too heavily slanted towards his story) that he was damaged way before entering the military.

[Carly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book about a couple that chose to stay in their apartment during (hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, 2005)
Zackery Bowen was a veteran in the American Army when they were in Iraq & Afghanistan & his friend Greg "Squirrel" Rogers was in the American Navy & they had a mutual unbreakable bond of brotherhood with each other.
Zack & his friend Squirrel are both a negative influence on each other & a enabler of their bad habits, since Zack's friend gives him a bag of drugs for free after Zack and his girlfriend Adrianne "Addie" Hall took care of him after he had a car accident.
Zack had already made up a lie about his girlfriend, supposedly ripping him off, taking his bag of drugs & leaving him to live with her family which wasn't true, what really happened was far worse.
They were both reliant on Zack's friend Greg to feed their drug habit.
Adrianne is already dead at this point, that's why Zack was acting suspiciously, he was very anxious while he was in the bar of the Omni Royal Hotel's rooftop bar and then decided to jump from the rooftop to his death.
Overtime the New Orleans police department unravelled what had transpired between Zackery Bowen & Adrianne & the people of New Orleans were shocked & disturbed by the grisly, gruesome details.
There's no explanation for how or why Zachary Bowen did what he did to his girlfriend, but demons can cause natural disasters so believe what you want to believe about that.
Only a man that is insane, mentally ill, suffering from combat related PTSD, (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder there are various reasons why people have PTSD) or was potentially possessed, influenced by a demon or entity or had a demonic attachment to him would kill their girlfriend, defiled her corpse, dismembered, mutilated their corpse, cooked their severed limbs with the intention to cannibalize their girlfriend's corpse for no apparent reason, then committed suicide.
He was already susceptible to the influence of drugs and alcohol and addicted to both, but nothing really explains what made him do what he did to his girlfriend other than being kicked out of the apartment, removed from the lease so he was pretty much made homeless.
Don't forget that this man was a father of two children-Jaxon & Lilly
He obviously felt anxious, guilty, ashamed of what he did, he was anxious about being caught so his way out of the situation was to end his life by jumping from the Omni Royal Rooftop bar roof to his death.
I think it's quite disgusting how Zackery Bowen & his girlfriend Adrianne were treated with nothing but disdain, hatred, intolerance & the way they were perceived by the Natives of New Orleans, spoken ill of by New Orleanians just because they weren't natives of New Orleans or didn't have any ancestry from there.
Not everyone that lives in New Orleans is born & raised there, or has ancestry from there, so I think it's disgusting how they were treated like unwanted outsiders, but I can also understand the unwanted bad publicity about Zackery murdering his girlfriend Adrianne when there were more important issues to focus on at the time.
People that suffer from PTSD depending on the context of their individual PTSD can affect them in various ways, it is psychological trauma due to experiencing very traumatic, distressing, or disturbing & non consensual events, incidents that have happened in their lives.
It can affect men and women, subtle things such as fireworks, loud sounds, flashing lights, a particular scent can trigger their traumatic memories, which makes the person feel very anxious, they are in a flight, fight, freeze, or fawn state of mind.
They can be unpredictable, very violent, angry, more aggressive than usual, for some people it might totally change their personality so they are a shell of the person they used to be due to trauma they have experienced.
Zackery Bowen at the time had undiagnosed (combat related PTSD) due to being in a very hostile, violent, volatile, combat environment while he was in the Army and stationed in Iraq & Afghanistan.
Not having been diagnosed with PTSD explains why his behaviour is weird, he was unaware that he was suffering from combat related PTSD it explains why people describe him as being a weird, unpredictable or a violent person.

This book is very slow-paced and some aspects of book are a little bit boring to read about.
I understand the author is explaining the background history of Zackery Bowen's life so you as a reader understand him better as a person and how he became a traumatized, soldier/civilian but it's long winded, it takes forever to get to the point of the book being created in the first place.
There is some information about Zack living in New Orleans as a teenager which describes his personality, his awkward, socially anxious, somewhat needy type of personality.
It's not until Chapter 8 that Zack's life in New Orleans and how he met his girlfriend Adrianne "Addie" Hall that he eventually horrifically murders, defiles her corpse, mutilates, dismembers and partially cooks her corpse with the intention to cannibalise her corpse, it's insane.

Chapters 4-7 were somewhat interesting, but also boring and depressing to read.
I never understood why any military organization, Corp doesn't have mental health, or counselling facilities for the traumatized, combat soldiers to prevent any unexpected incidents when they leave the army, after serving for several years.
PTSD induced paranoia, gun related violence, unaliving of themselves because they can't adjust back into civilian life, it's too difficult for some people, they saw their comrades, their friends die in front of them while they were helpless, overpowered by the terrorist, or foreign enemy that's in control and have power or weapons of mass destruction in the country they are deployed in.
A lot of male & female combat soldiers are traumatized and suffer from PTSD, depression, anxiety etc.. There should be more done to help them, especially if they were also injured in combat war zones.
How Zachary Bowen met his girlfriend Adrianne "Addie" Hall and the events leading up to the horrific, creepy and disturbing crime Zachery committed and his own suicide afterwards is explained.
I can understand for this particular incident that this is why Zahery Bowen was hated, but I don't understand the hatred towards his girlfriend.
Both were prone to consuming copious amounts of drugs and alcohol, their relationship was a love/hate, very volatile and abusive, toxic relationship, it's a very codependent type of relationship that they had.
To be honest i'm not surprised that Zackery Bowen murdered his girlfriend-what is disturbing, creepy and absolutely disgusting is how easily and calmly Zachery strangled Addie, but then defiled her corpse several times, disarticulated her corpse-(dismembered her corpse) then partially cooked and consumed some of her corpse. What the actual fuck? Why?
No one deserves this to happen to them, not even an abusive ex, it's totally fucked up, unnecessary, it wasn't justified or deserved.
He wrote a suicide note/confession of the murder of his girlfriend Adrianne "Addie" Hall then committed suicide.
People don't just randomly kill their girlfriend, violate & defile their corpse, dismember them,then partially cook and consume them for no apparent reason, so this has always seemed to me at least that there was a demon or entity attached to him and it influenced, coerced or potentially possessed him and that's was one of the contributing factors for why he did what he did, but it's just a theory.
There have been cases of people that were possessed and they committed murder, very strange, bizarre or unexplained behaviour, which included murder & cannibalism so form your own opinion about that.
The type of murder/suicide & what Zachery did to Adrianne is overkill, intense, bitter hatred of Adrianne in my opinion.
It's really sad and disturbing that men or women that are veterans that have PTSD don't receive the help they clearly need, they are traumatized, emotionally, mentally, psychologically damaged by what they have experienced during combat, warfare in war torn countries they are fighting against.
There is a documentary about the relationship Zachery Bowen & Adrianne Hall had and her murder/his suicide.

[Cindy West · Rating 3 out of 5]

Downloaded this book after a ghost tour through the French Quarter in NOLA which included the story of the murder upon which this book was based. The book is well written, but is much more about NOLA politics following Hurricane Katrina and the difficult transition of veterans returning home after the Middle East conflict than about the murder itself.

[Maddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four stars.

+1 star for the writing. It was really good.

+1 for the story. It is a tragic and horrifying story of love, lost hope, beauty, and violence swirling around two troubled souls, but the author avoids tabloid true crime-y exaggerations and tropes.

+1 star for exploring the psychological tolls that both Hurricane Katrina and the Iraq and Afghanistan wars took on locals and soldiers, respectively.

+1 star for the research. Sometimes topics felt overly described or looked into too deeply but at the end of the book I was satisfied that the author had attempted to really tell the full story.

-1 star because as is the case with most true crime, the (sadly commonly) female victim is more of an afterthought in the story. I understand and share the interest in why Zackery did what he did. But it’s just so sad that in taking Addie’s life, he permanently silenced her and relegated her to (chopped up, cooked… as if it’s not degrading enough to be murdered) dead girlfriend status. Im wondering now, why didn’t the author explore the “dark side” of Zack that Lana and Addie mentioned? Could he have looked more into how Addie mentioned Zack wasn’t the guy he seemed to be to everyone? How Lana found violent images on his computer? I can’t help but feel that, told from the perspective of one of the women in his life, this story might sound different.

Ultimately, it’s really sad and worth reading if at least to remember the pain that has plagued veterans, natural disaster survivors, poor people, and survivors of abuse. The post-9/11 and Katrina world of the early 2000s feels like lifetimes away, but this book reminds you that most of the wounds from those events never healed.

[Karine Lelièvre · Rating 4 out of 5]

This makes you think of bigger problems still plaguing our society.

[kristyn ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ · Rating 2 out of 5]

i do not like this author at all. this is the second book i’ve read from him, and he sympathizes with the perpetrators too much for comfort. the fact that his own wife told him that he was too sympathetic towards zack says it all. there was little to no background information on addie, and we had chapters upon chapters just on zack’s deployment. it created an unfair bias that i do not care for. i was deeply disappointed when i found out this book was written by brown, because it’s the only book i’ve found about this case. addie almost seemed demonized, while zack was hailed a hero.

i completely understand and feel for the soldiers who fought after 9/11 because they were completely thrown to the curb by our government, but giving zack sympathy because of that?? he literally COOKED addie, yet she sounded like the bad guy. my heart goes out to not only addie, but her family as well. i hope they did not subject themselves to this trash fire of a book.

also, the rambling became too much after just a few paragraphs. 80% (or more, honestly) of this book talked about the author moving to nola, stories about other murder cases, and, for some reason, dreams from zack’s fellow soldiers. this book embodies “this could have been an email” (or an article, in this case). the article i read from ghostcitytours.com describes this case with much more grace and empathy towards the victim (as it should).

i heard about this case initially from a tiktok of a woman who helped zack and addie in the wake of katrina. i am going to continue to google and listen to stories from people who ACTUALLY experienced not only katrina as a whole, but zach and addie personally. this book was a jumbled mess, just like murder in the bayou was. please, ethan, do us all a favor, and just stop.

rest in peace, addie. i hope you have found solace and light, wherever you may be.

[Katherine Coble · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars.

Parts of this book are brilliant and Brown is a master storyteller who knows how to withhold information until it’s going to have maximum impact on the story he’s telling.
If this were fiction I’d probably have given it four stars.

But it’s not fiction. It’s the story of a man’s abusive relationships with multiple women, a man who has two children for whom he regularly fails to pay child support. Zack Bowen may indeed have been a good-looking guy who was fun to party with if you were also a guy. He loved to sing rock songs while manning the guns of his armored vehicle. Fine.

That doesn’t excuse this book’s attempts to portray Bowen as a nice guy ruined by an unsupportive veterans administration.

If anything the Army should have been better at screening for applicants. Bowen was an aimless drifter with a history of drug and alcohol abuse before he turned 18. That’s a clear sign of someone with untreated mental illness. It’s completely unsurprising that he’d purposefully flunk his physicals to get kicked out of the army. It’s completely unsurprising that he’d have worsening mental health after discharge, that he’d fall into abusive relationships and not at all surprising that he’d end up dead by violence.

What IS surprising is how the book asks us to have pity on Zack while painting a portrait of THE WOMAN HE MURDERED as a shrewish witch who had it coming.

I didn’t come to this book looking for any sort of supernatural ghost story—which is how so many accounts of this crime are written. But I also didn’t expect to get a boys’ club excuse for victim-blaming.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is hard to give a star review, but if I had to, it’s a 2-star read. It wasn’t so egregious that I hated it, but it’s rife with some major issues.

Okay. Nobody wakes up and just commits a murder. There are reasons for it, things that happened that led them to that place. I appreciate that Brown spends so much time exploring Zack Bowen’s upbringing, marriage, and military career, establishing his PTSD and low sense of achievement and self-worth. But I feel that his mission of rationalization crosses the line into justification, and his obvious sympathy for Bowen leaves a poor taste in my mouth. Various systems failed Bowen, but he still murdered and dismembered his girlfriend. Dispassionately. And then he blew his savings on coke and strippers instead of leaving it for his children. I absolutely agree he was a deeply troubled young man, but he was also selfish and a murderer.

The author also does not spend nearly as much time exploring Addie Hall outside the context of being Bowen’s girlfriend. I don’t know if this lack of time is related to a lack of effort or if it didn’t fit the narrative he wanted to construct or if he simply couldn’t get anyone in her family to talk to him. He presents her as a harpy who drove Bowen to kill her. I have no doubt that Addie was abusive, but she, too, was a victim. She existed outside of the contextualization of Bowen’s life, but in this book, she is an object.

[MaryPat · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of all, I am not sure how to rate this book. I liked it and read it very quickly but I am not sure I really liked it. Wish I could give 3.5 stars. I knew nothing about this book, never heard of it. Just happened to walk past it in the library and it caught my eye. I was hooked by the book jacket alone. I think the book is really 3 books in one. There is the Zach Bowen story-his life and military experience. 2) Zach's story in New Orleans as an Army vet trying to survive before and after Hurricane Katrina and 3) the plight of New Orleans after the hurricane and the failure of Veterans Affairs. At first, I thought the author, journalist Ethan Brown, was really trying to paint Zach as the victim. I cannot stop thinking about this story and how different things might have been if the military had not "absolutely and completely failed this soldier." Even though Zach & Addie's relationship was plagued by violence and personal demons, theirs is one that even shocked the city of New Orleans as one of the most gruesome crimes in the city's history. The last 60 pages or so were really bogged down with stories from other vets, friends of Zach and Addie, and other personal stories of NO violence post Katrina. It no longer read like a novel but rather a journalist doing a special report on the state of VA and life in NO.

[Colleen Mooney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good journalistic rendition of what all transpired leading up to this horrific event in a battered city that those who weathered it can truly appreciate. The author did a lot of background into the characters and while I was expecting more of their story, the last third of the book morphed into government bashing and how awful we treat our troops. While I am in total agreement that health care, especially mental health care for people returning from wars is woefully inadequate I think it was belabored and took up too much of the story.

[Davina · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't think I have ever read a true crime book that was more disrespectful to the victim than this. Not only did Addie Hall not get a shred of the consideration Zack Bowen received, but it seemed that Ethan Brown was *actively* choosing to depict her as unsympathetic, chronicalling her drunken outbursts in detail. Even if Brown's real thesis was about the tragedy of untreated PTSD, what about Hall's PTSD as a victim of sexual assault? It's very plain that this book was written for Bowen's army buddies and not at all with Addie's friends and loved ones in mind.

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

"I don't want realism, I want magic."---Blanche DuBois
A Streetcar Named Desire
Thomas Lanier Williams III of Columbus, Mississippi
Tennessee Williams

Eris, Goddess of Discord and Strife

"nothing is funnier than unhappiness"---Samuel Beckett

"narcissistic wound" - transitioning from the military to a low-level civilian job

US Marines: FIDO "F it and drive on"

[Florence Buchholz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a description of New Orleans before and after Katrina and life in the military in Iraq as much as it was about the infamous murder where Zack strangled and dismembered his girlfriend, Addie. The author evokes sympathy for both the victim and her killer.

[E.J. Cullen · Rating 2 out of 5]

A myriad cast of derelicts, all of whose self-created woes and tribulations are by the author blamed on Iraq and hurricanes. Sorry.

[SouthWestZippy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah and blah! To many details and politics.

[Nathan Albright · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are a few essential problems with this book, and it is worthwhile to consider such problems as they materially affect the seriousness of this book and its importance to the reader. The author seems to assume that his subject matter is more important than it really is, as I had never heard of the admittedly brutal murder case discussed here before reading the book nor did I know or care that the murderer and victim were famous for being among the die-hards who refused to evacuate the post-Katrina French Quarter. In addition to that this book falls somewhat flat in the fact that the author works hard to try to reduce the responsibility for the strangling and dismemberment of the victim on the part of her on-again, off-again partner, himself a veteran of the military in Kosovo and the second Gulf War, and apparently a sufferer of untreated PTSD, blaming everything from mental health problems to the failures of the military to support veterans to early childhood issues springing from his parents' divorces (and the victim's history of abusive relationships springing from childhood sexual abuse) to New Orleans and its corrupt authorities. In addition to these failures, the author inserts himself into the story to such an extent that it distorts what the author is reporting on, and that is a crime spree that demonstrates the darkness and evil present in New Orleans society that (not without reason) reduces the sympathy and concern that other people have for a city that has an over-inflated sense of its limited cultural and moral worth.

Instead of beginning in media res, this book begins with the suicide of one Zackery Bown after a last group of partying and carousing in the aftermath of his murder of his partner, the abusive and unscrupulous Addie Hall. The rest of the nearly 300 pages then deals with mainly two elements. The first of these is a detailed biographical exploration of the life of Zackery Bowen that focuses first on his childhood, then on his early fatherhood and the struggles that resulted from his lack of a firm education. This leads to a focus on Zackery's military service, which involved the viewing of atrocities in both Kosovo and Iraq, and to some failed pt's that led to a general discharge that hindered Zackery's ability to find good work and education and other benefits after the military, leading him to again work as a bartender in a scene where drugs and alcohol flowed easily and where frustration at failure in marriage and life led him (and others) down a very dark path. After discussing the murder-suicide the author then pads the book at the end with a discussion of the post-Katrina murder rampage and its effect on the author and other residents of the city.

At the end of the day, this book does not deliver the goods as to it being a true story. For one, the author's discussion of the large amount of murders that New Orleans dealt within the post-Katrina period, including a great many murders of people who sought to bless and serve their communities, lowers the stake of the crime story at the center of the book. For another, the author's focus on himself and on reports that he and others had written about New Orleans for the New York Times reduces the credibility of those who do not consider journalists to be suitable heroes of true crime books. And for another, the author's desire to push the blame for crime on everyone but the criminal demonstrates the wickedness and moral vacuum in the heart of the contemporary left, which cannot bear that people take responsibility for their own actions. Someone else must be to blame--drugs and alcohol, mental health problems, flawed parents, childhood bullies, corrupt politicians, a cruel and uncaring military hierarchy, and on and on. All of these factors serve to make this book a thankless chore to read, and a book which deals with horror but which cannot provide insight because of the limitations of the author's own perspective.