Customer Reviews

A Terrible Thunder: The Story of the New Orleans Sniper

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I noticed that there is no editor review on this book so I'll help out a little. In 1972 the Howard Johnson's high rise hotel in New Orleans caught on fire. What no one knew was that someone(s)were inside the hotel starting the fires and murdering people along the way. When help arrived for the fire, the gunman starting killing them in a battle that lasted for the next 28 hours literally holding the city of New Orleans at bay and ending in a great loss of lives. This book is a page of history on many levels; racism, law enforcement and tragedy. It jumps around a bit in the beginning, but by the middle of the book you can't put it down. Peter Hernon does a good job of making you feel as if you are in the middle of this one man civil war. Good photos also.

Have you ever heard the expression "Been there, Done that"? Well, I have been there and I have done that. I was a Police Officer in the city of New Orleans, La. I've seen the places, bullet holes and people mentioned in the book. The book depicted the situation very well. This was a terrible time for the city and they lost a lot of good police officers in those days. It brings back a lot of memories and hurtful times. If you want to read a TRUE STORY then read this book, you won't regret it.

About a year ago, I became interested in true crime novels after reading "Righteous Carnage - the John List Murders". You can't help but to appreciate the painstaking research that is done to reconstruct these horrible acts of the past. "A terrible thunder" does a good job in getting the reader literally consumed in the action as it unfolds. There is rarely a dull moment in the book. The inset photos, however, are a blurred quality since the event occurred in the early 1970's and could use a little more detail, but overall the book gives you an exciting view into the magnitude of what ultimately materialized at that time in New Orlean's past.

I was 10 during this event and I remember it like it was yesterday. My father was a policeman in this event and put the first bullet in Essex - documented in this text (he is mentioned many times through the book). My uncle was a fireman in this and barely missed being killed. The book does a wonderful job of relating not only the final massive event but also the numerous events leading up to it. The book is highly readable and covers all related events throughly. This is an often shunned and/or forgotten event in American history which needs to be told. Ask 10 people at random what happened at the University of Texas tower and likely 9 will tell you that a sniper killed a number of people. Then ask the same people what happened in New Orleans in 1972 at the downtown Howard Johnson and none will have a clue, even though Essex killed and wounded many more people than the Texas shooter. This book is highly recommended for anyone interested in American history, especially the largely ignored violent side of the Black Panthers and the civil rights movement.

The New York Times wrote, "A Terrible Thunder is more than just another fashionable journalistic rehashing of a crime. In its depiction of Essex's abrupt transmogrification it raises questions about the accumulated effect of petty but persistent injustices and about the individual's capacity to endure aggrievement."

This very rare book has just been reprinted by Garrett County Press. You can visit their website.

Unless you are from that part of the country, most people don't know what happened in New Orleans during those dark days. I could not put the book down once I started reading it. I found it suspenseful and sad because of all the deaths. If you like true crime, this is a great buy.

I have not yet read A Terrible Thunder but plan to since I was right there in the thick of things that cold January day in 1973.
I was teaching at an all black high school near Desire Housing Project and rushed to the scene as soon as I heard the sniper story on the news that Sunday morning.It was a war zone.Fires and gunshots raging all around the hotel.You would see one fire break out on one side of the building and then five minutes later smoke would eminate from the opposite side of the Howard Johnsons.Police were returning fire and later used bazookas and machine guns to flush out the sniper/snipers on a rooftop bunker.
The incident came at a time of very high racial tensions in New Orleans.The black strike at Southern University,turmoil in the local high schools and police brutality incidents had the city on edge.Mark Essex was looked at as a hero by the young people at my school.Was that a good model to emulate?I think not but the police were so hated by many black residents that it was not that shocking to me.
I am going to order this book.It seems like it tells a chapter in New Orleans history that many would love to forget.

It used to be if you went to any used book store in New Orleans
you couldn't get this book. Owners willing to talk said that they were told to keep the books from the public and the New Orleans police would come by and pick them up. Others would
just say "No can't get that book" and refused to even talk about it. What were they afraid of? Was the sniper on his own or did the black panthers have a hand in it? It took a long time to get one guy and most swore there was more than 1 gun man. No grassy knoll. Just a rooftop. I think Peter Hernon did an outstanding job on this book and for anyone with a craze for black history, conspiracys and a little recent New Orleans history, this book is worth a read. The Rault Center was another tragedy and we will never know if the two are linked.