Despite her name, Nola Céspedes doesn't share the fondness for New Orleans that her friends and family have. Her goal is to land a job with the New York Times and never look back. So when her boss hands her a feature story about convicted sexual offenders, she sets aside her fears for her safety in hopes the story will move her in the direction of her goal.
Meanwhile, someone is snatching women off the streets of New Orleans in broad daylight--raping, murdering and leaving his victims in waterways. As Nola digs into the crimes, she becomes obsessed, and her fixation may put an end to all of her goals.
Hell or High Water, Joy Castro's first novel, is a captivating story that draws parallels between the rape of women and the destruction, despair and death endured by New Orleans itself. The imagery of water, with the conflicting powers to maintain life as well as to annihilate it, weaves its way throughout the tale. Nola's narration alternates between present and past tense as she exposes previous events little by little, helping to maintain a consistently suspenseful read. At times, Castro's focus on detail slows the plot, but readers may pardon this minor transgression as she vividly depicts New Orleans in all its splendor and horror.
Hell or High Water is a thought-provoking thriller. It is also an odyssey of recovery and a case study in resilience that will echo in the minds of readers well after the mystery has been unveiled. --Jen Forbus of Jen's Book Thoughts