Customer Reviews

Gumbo Justice

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I really enjoyed Gumbo Justice. I get tired of perfect female protagonist, so I really enjoyed this lead character. She's not tall and elegant, not skinny, is hungover occasionally, thinks before she speaks, but is still smart. She also doesn't downplay her looks, and doesn't act like she doesn't realize she's cute like many novel heroines. She goes after what she wants without apology, even when it lands her in hot water.

I also enjoyed the New Orleans setting, but wouldn't have minded seeing even more of it, or at least more of parts of New Orleans non-locals don't know about it.

The story moves pretty fast, intertwining the character's visits to crime scenes at night in her role as an Assistant D.A., with her cases in court, her troubled personal life, her overprotective family, and finally, the killer who seems like he may have the hots for her.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes thrillers or mysteries, particularly character driven stories, and to those who don't mind reading about the sometimes disturbing crimes that occur in the underbelly of a violent city.

'Ryan couldn't keep her thoughts from drifting back to the homicides on the short drive home. L'Roid Smith had been killed in a way common among gangs members - beaten, shot in the head execution style and left naked. It was the ultimate humiliation, and the same way he had committed his own gang murders, including the one Ryan had tried to prosecute. And Jeremiah had been beaten, the same way he had beaten his wife on the case Ryan had handled.'

Ryan Murphy is a New Orleans Assistant District Attorney working to build a winning case history in the hopes of being promoted to the "Strike Force." But she has a problem. The die-hard criminals that she prosecutes are turning up dead in the same fashion of pain and death that they bestowed on their victims. Even though this may be getting the criminals off the streets, it's not helping Ryan with her promotion. Especially when news leaks to the media that there is a connection between Ryan and the deaths.

Gumbo Justice was a book that I actually sat up until 1:00 in the morning to finish. I had to know who was trying to ruin Ryan's career and why. This book is so well written that as I read along I actually started seeing Ryan and the other characters in action. It could easily be made into a movie and I know the perfect actress to play Ryan. Holly Hunter plays in a TV series called "Amazing Grace." In my opinion "Grace" is the perfect Ryan. She loves to party, get down right dirty but still get her job done.

I thoroughly enjoyed Gumbo Justice and recommend it to anyone who loves a good murder mystery. Holli Castillo's experience as a prosecutor and public defender in the New Orleans court system comes through with the full knowledge as to how the courts really work.

Move over James Patterson - Holli Castillo has arrived. Well, it makes sense doesn't it? Patterson was an advertising exec; Holli Castillo is a criminal appellate public defender and former prosecutor in New Orleans. Which one do you suppose has been up close and personal with the seamy side of life? Castillo's first thriller - Gumbo Justice - takes us on a wild ride into the drug scene in the Big Easy's projects where we're confronted with intertwined mysteries. Who is killing the defendants that assistant prosecutor Ryan Murphy failed to convict? And how is Murphy's mysterious family history related to the killings? The plot takes more twists and turns than the old Zephyr roller coaster at Pontchartrain Beach. The final curve will blow you away, so whatever you do, do not peek at the last page. Murphy is the best hard-boiled heroine since V. I. Warshawski, but she's smarter, tougher, and - in a piece of brilliant character development - paradoxically more vulnerable. Gumbo Justice is fast-paced and tightly woven, combining a psycho-thriller, a police procedural in a city where procedure takes a back seat to impulse, and a terrific love story - a stunning achievement.

Crime is a family business for the Murphy family in pre-Katrina New Orleans. Assistant District Attorney Ryan Murphy is plenty busy in the courtroom and the local bars without having to walk crime scenes in the middle of the night. Thanks to it being an election year for the District Attorney, she has no choice but to go out and walk them in the middle of the night since it is her week to do so. Alerted by her brother, Sean, a NOPD Homicide Detective that he has sent another detective to pick her up, the only question she has for herself is whether or not to wear a bra since she doesn't plan on dressing up and ruining another outfit or nice pair of shoes. She might worry a little about the fact that she can't remember much about earlier in the evening, but, she doesn't have time since the ride is supposed to be there in five minutes. Considering the fact that her over protective father, Kelly Murphy, Captain of the Sixth District in New Orleans will most likely be there she decides she better wear that bra and get going.

The latest murder victim in the housing project is a black male, approximately twenty years old, naked and was tied up and beaten before being shot in the head. He was L'Roid Smith, the Leader of the Soldiers, who was supposed to face trial later in the week for the murder of three rival gang members. Ryan had prosecuted him before on murder charges and had to dismiss the case after all of her witness disappeared. Now the streets have taken care of him.

For Ryan, it won't be the first killing that has links to her. Links that become obvious to others and raise question as to her involvement in the killings at about the same time she starts realizing the implications personally and career wise. Against a back drop of politics, coveted powerful positions in the District Attorney's office, and rampant crime, Ryan has to control her own personal demons long enough to deal with a psycho that has targeted her.

Ryan is the classic clichéd law enforcement figure albeit this time in female form. Haunted by nightmares, she drinks far in excess to the point of blackouts; looks for love in all the wrong places while amazingly oblivious to the man in her life who has a romantic interest, and lets her mouth get the better of her in the courtroom and out. She works hard, lives even harder, and one can see the chip on her shoulder from a mile away. Clichéd flaws that could work if used for introspection.

What introspection is here is limited and repetitive. One never gets the feeling of the character coming totally alive for the reader and thus the character exists more as a stereotype than anything. That is unfortunate as while the basic character flaws are clichéd, they are so because other authors have used them quite well to create introspection and empathy for the character.

That lack of character development depth leads to the core of the tale regarding action and investigation as the driving force of the novel. On that level, when Ryan is either actively working the courtroom or various cases, the novel works well and moves forward. At other times, especially in the chapters devoted to the viewpoint of the troubled psychopath, the novel nearly stalls.

"Gumbo Justice" is the debut novel of a planned series that does show considerable promise despite its rough edges. Despite its flaws, the overall read is worthwhile and one hopes that the second novel will improve on the basic foundation of the series.



Book provided directly by the author in exchange for my objective review.


Kevin R. Tipple (copyright) 2009

Just finished Gumbo Justice. Once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. I loved the main character and after marrying into a large family, the byplay between the siblings is dead on. Recommended reading to anyone who loves a good mystery. You can't believe you missed the surprise ending that is totally believeable.
Great job on your first novel, Holli. Can't wait for the second.

W.S. Gager
A Case of Infatuation

One of the best novels I have read in years. The characters are more realistic and the plot more captivating than so many in this genre. New Orleans and the criminal justice system are portrayed with all of its flaws and less than perfect people in it. It was one of those books you think about even when you are not reading it. It was that good!

I bought this book because I saw it was about New Orleans and am glad I did. I enjoyed the setting and recognized most of the places in the book and thought they were very authentic. Even the food in this book was spot on. I also thought the characters in this book were distinctive and every bit New Orleans, especially the way they spoke. The main character, Ryan Murphy, was a tough cookie and kind of hard to warm up to at first, but as the story went on, I began to really like her. My favorite character was Monte Carlson. He seemed like someone I would see at the grocery or hang out with in a club.

I don't want to give away the story, so I'll just say the plot moves along pretty fast, more in the second half and especially at the end. I like thrillers and straight mysteries a lot more than police procedurals and court dramas, but this book had a little of all four mixed in. I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed those parts of the book as much as I did. I would put this book in the mystery category, but with thriller, police procedural and legal drama elements thrown in. The mystery is the most important thing in a book to me, and this one was well played with enough clues to lead you to the killer but also to throw you off track. There were also no loose ends that weren't tied up, a big pet peeve for me, and I was glad to see everything was explained by the end.

There is also an amazing twist in the last couple of pages that makes me annoyed that the next book isn't out yet. Whatever you do, don't read the ending first or you'll ruin the book for yourself.

My biggest complaint was that the book seemed short and the type was kind of small, even though it seemed to be a regular length book. I did catch one typo toward the end, another pet peeve of mine, but it was the only one I saw and didn't ruin the book for me.

Always on the lookout for novels about New Orleans, I found "Gumbo Justice" on Amazon. I ordered it, read it and fell in love! Of course, it helps that New Orleans is my favorite city and the author is tremendously talented. Only a native New Orleanian can write about the city as well as Holli Castillo has done. Anxiously awaiting "Jambalaya Justice", the next book in this series. Congratulations, Holli, on a job well done.

Not the best procedural I've read, but it was fair enough that I don't think I wasted my money. But I must say that although lead character Ryan Murphy -- a hot, unapologetic, hard-drinking ADA -- was well drawn, she had to function within a plot that I found somewhat sophomoric and plodding. The book didn't get exciting till the end. And -- amazingly -- there was precious little about New Orleans. The book could have been set in almost any American city. I mean, New Orleans is one of the few cities that is unique in local color and culture that it seems a crime not to draw on that. I think it would have helped the book immensely. Anyhow, it wasn't the best procedural I've read, nor was it the worst. I think the author has it in her to write superior fiction but I think she comes up a little short in this offering.

I'm not a thriller reader, so this was my first look at anything written in both police procedural and legal drama. I admit I had problems remembering who was who with so many characters, but soon a few bounce out and the tale was so engrossing that I read it in two days (only because I started it as a bedtime reading and had to stop to get some sleep). I liked the protagonist (she smoked a lot, but maybe she has quit?) and look forward to read more of her adventure as an attorney in a family of cops.