She was unprepared to see the coast, plot after plot either empty or a pile of rubbish that used to be a house she envied. Miles and miles of destruction. She tried to find some pleasure in the fact that for once the wealthy had fared worse that the poorer people who couldn't afford to live on the water, but the effort failed. It was all carnage.

This novel is set in New Orleans in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. People are slowly returning and there's also an influx of new residents, eager for a fresh start. As Katrina bore down on the city, a man was murdered in a French Quarter hotel room but with the devastation, the police aren't doing much to solve the crime. But others are interested in what happened, especially since the man had in his possession three painting, only two of which are recovered from the hotel room. To find that third painting, Elizam, fresh out of prison, is sent in from the west coast. One of his first contacts is a woman named Johanna, a beautiful blonde who makes her living restoring artwork. She has plenty of work, repairing the damage the hurricane and the subsequent mold and humidity caused. Then there's Clay, the son of one of the oldest and wealthiest families in New Orleans. He's waiting for his share of the family wealth, occupying his time with various internet pursuits and in his own particular sexual practices. And, finally, there's Marion, who is scrambling to make ends meet through a variety of jobs, from sex work to bartending. She's really an artist, though, if she can find the time and money to keep painting.

Johanna was familiar with this move: a man seeking sympathy for being married to someone he had chosen to marry. It occurred to her that he might think she'd worn the blue dress--which was modest in its neckline but short enough to show her knees when she sat and mad of a snug-fitting knit--because of him. She wasn't above pursuing such men. Married men were usually easier to get rid of quickly. But not always, and then they were the biggest problem of all because they felt entitled to whatever it was they thought they were exploding their lives to obtain.

This novel is only superficially a crime novel and there are elements of noir in it, from the tough and haunted PI to the blonde bombshell with the mysterious past at the center of the novel. At heart, this is a novel about a specific city at a specific time in its history and a character study of four people. While it was well-written, that tension between what it appears to be and what it is makes the book less effective than it could be. Still, who doesn't like a bit of art theft and vivid rendering of a beautiful city as it remakes itself? ( )

Contrary to another reviewer’s opinion, I thought each character had enough depth for me to feel I knew them, their backgrounds and motivations. It’s a slow burn though, that’s for sure. Nothing really drastic happens, but the atmosphere is tense and at first you don’t know how the four are connected. New Orleans after Katrina was the perfect setting for the events to unfold. Things by their very nature are unsure; buildings are collapsed, services are off line, people have vanished and everyone left struggles to keep body and soul together. Blackwell’s depiction of the Lower Quarter neighborhood around Decatur was really effective. I felt like I would recognize it if I went there.

Told in three major sections, each tackles a particular aspect of the plot and the relationships between the characters. Part one is Inherent Vice where we will get our introductions to each damaged participant. Part two is Water Damage where we will understand how that past created the present and what are each person’s remaining options. Part three (final) is Approaches to Cleaning and Restoration where we learn their fates and whether any (or all) find redemption. Each section’s chapters are devoted to a single character at a time and are labeled as such; Johanna, Eli, Clay and Marion. Their stories are revealed by inches and so are their personalities. I really enjoyed the artful vocabulary and oblique ways of illuminating a point. Just enough to give you a flavor, but gives your imagination something to chew on as well.

In the end it’s about redemption, reclamation and release. Clay and Eli are looking to be redeemed of past sins and reclaimed to the straight path. Johanna is looking for release from her demons. Marion just wants to ease into a life that isn’t about the utilitarian. She wants to soar.

Spoilers -
The painting in the vortex of the storm is really a McGuffin. It only serves for things to happen and when J loses it from her own foolishness, I didn’t have any sympathy for her. She should have taken better precautions. That she and Eli have crashed into each other brings an important element of the positive into a novel that could have been a total downer. Clay and Marion have a more transactional relationship and I found her role as go-between with him and Johanna was unexpected. And in a way he serves as go-between with her and Eli. He was one of her original abusers when she was forced into prostitution by the Czech Ladislav. (who is dead and who's missing painting spins the whole plot). Only after he came away from his sadistic encounter with her did he realize she was a slave, not a willing participant. Getting her away from LAs was Clay’s ultimate redemption. Creepy doesn’t begin to describe it. Just what was his father ordering anyway? Did he only send the book to Johanna or did dad get something bound in his skin? There’s just enough information and inference to make it a really unsettling ending. ( )

This is a rather unusual book. It is rather slow to develop, and yet the reader never really gets to know any of the 4 main characters, each of whom have alternating chapters throughout the book. Many details of their past are hinted at but never fully developed.
The story takes place in New Orleans right after Katrina, and is about a missing painting, a dead man found in a hotel room just days before Katrina hits, a woman who restores damaged paintings, an art investigator hired to find the missing painting, the son of a well to do New Orleans family, wth very dark tastes and desires, and a woman who helps him achieve those desires. The 4 characters are
1. Johanna, who has a dark past in Belgium but now restores paintings in New Orleans.
2. Clay, a man from both Johanna's past and currently also in New Orleans. Clay is a sadist you enjoys torturing people online, whom he feels has done him wrong, but also a sadist in his sexual relationships.
3. Eli, the art investigator hired to find the missing paining, who has the job as a result of his colorful past, and who set his sights and desires on Johanna.
4. Marion who is a bartender, artist, and massage therapist who also helps Clay with his sadistic needs sexually, though these scenes are again mostly hinted at. The bar she works at is across the street from where Johanna, lives and works.
This is not a bad book at all, it is just very slow to reveal, what is really going on, uses far too many hints rather than coming right out and saying something, and again oddly doesn't develop most of the characters in a way that allows the reader to bond to any of them. ( )