Customer Reviews

Down in the Flood (Danny Chaisson)

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When a troubled engineer sends an anonymous letter to the authorities exposing graft in the construction company that employs him, a process is set in motion that will have predictable consequences: the FBI exerts pressure on the author of the letter, Louis Sams, forcing him to testify before a grand jury. Prosecutor Danny Chiasson does what he can to protect Sams from the inevitable reaction of the power brokers who will want him silenced; but Louis, a conscientious employee, puts himself in unnecessary danger, soon caught in the sights of two ex-policemen who work for a corrupt boss. Graft and corruption are nothing new in New Orleans, but Sams's industry is critical: the materials used to build the levees. Sams can provide evidence of back door deals, cost-cutting and profiteering, the shorting of materials that leads to the catastrophe of city versus hurricane.

Sams disappears from sight. The city is in turmoil, Katrina moving fast, soon to strike with unprecedented force. Suddenly business as usual isn't so important. But Louis' kidnappers are unaware of the impending disaster, intent in carrying out their mission to avoid the wrath of their boss, Jimmy Mancuso. To make this cast of characters even more interesting, prosecutor Chiasson is married to ATF agent Mickie Vega, who will remain in the field while her husband is evacuated. Of course, with Sams still in jeopardy, Chiasson cannot leave, collaborating with Jabril Saunders, a man who well knows the "other" New Orleans, the rank poverty and despair of the forgotten trapped in the city without the means - or heart- to leave their homes.

Abel skillfully ratchets up the impending confrontation between Danny and the two ex-cops, Sams a helpless hostage between factions. And along the way, all the horrors wrought by Katrina are revisited: the chaos of the Super Dome, frightened people clustered on rooftops as the water inexorably rises, the spreading rumors of violence and looting and the segregation of the population's most helpless from any assistance from the federal government. It's tough to read this story, the pain of Katrina still fresh, a lesson too easily forgotten as time and other disasters intrude. As Danny moves towards a final confrontation with the men holding Sams hostage, the message is clear: "It wasn't ever pretty. We just never noticed before now."

Katrina is the star of this tragedy, other small dramas playing out as the crooks evade detection, Danny barely escaping the violence of the last chapters. As armed guards protect the property of the wealthy and the media reports unsubstantiated rumors of looting, the world watches the sad denouement of an iconic city, its rich history drowned by the hubris of greedy men, a testimonial to the dearth of compassion of the modern world. Luan Gaines/2009.

As Katrina buries New Orleans and politicians point their fingers at everyone but themselves, former assistant district attorney Danny Chaisson works insurance claims. However, the Feds pressure one of his clients Louis Sams to turn state's evidence against his boss during a Grand Jury inquiry into corruption, who runs a company that manufactures cement.

Danny learns two former cops turned paid killers kidnap Louis. The lawyer blames himself for Louis' dangerous predicament as he provided inadequate counsel. He walks through streets filled with mud, debris and lakes in a quest to rescue Louis before the two flotsam and jetsam hit men make his client part of the floating rubble.

This is a gripping thriller that showcases how the government on all levels and both parties failed during Katrina in spite of the advanced warning from the National Hurricane Center. The story line focuses on one ethical man trying to rectify an error he made that could kill his client; contrast Danny's stand to the politicians who did the finger pointing let them eat cake and dance from a distance as the buck not only failed to stop it floated away. Danny treks across the dead sea called New Orleans while the hurricane of the century and its aftermath storm the Mississippi Delta. With a depth matched by few novels, Kenneth Abel provides a great tale of how greed drowned New Orleans and the surrounding area.

Harriet Klausner

I looked forward to reading "Down in the Flood" with much anticipation. All the pre-release reviews were quite good and the setting could not be better for a thriller. A New Orleans lawyer searching doggedly for his friend/client who has disappeared under suspicious circumstances only days before his damning testimony to a federal grand jury and hours before the horror and devastation of hurricane Katrina. What surprise twists and turns would be in store for the reader? Well I must say quite a few. The largest being how achingly bad this piece of trash is written. If you like "like" you will love Kenneth Abel's writing style. He uses the word "like" to describe situations and characters more than 500 times in a 346 page so-called novel. He spends a good part of this thing developing some interesting characters only to simply forget they were there for the rest of the story. It is "like" his little fingers got tired so he just quit. Some of the lost souls to Kenneth Abel's feeble writing are the kidnaped grand jury witness's son, whose arrest caused the whole chain of events in the first place. The gangster named "Jimmy" meets a similar fate; as do the lawyer Danny's children and sourpuss mother-in-law. Whoever edited "Down in the Flood" needs to find another line of work as well. I think if you are considering buying this book it would be a good idea to do like too few people did in New Orleans prior to Katrina and get away from this thing as fast as you can.