A review by beckylej
Hell or High Water by Joy Castro

4.0

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.