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Overview
Ken Wells’s highly acclaimed picaresque Catahoula Bayou novels introduced “one of the most compelling voices in fiction of the last decade” (Los Angeles Times). Now Wells is back, writing about his favorite subject–the exotic, beleaguered Louisiana wetlands–in a sharp, rollicking tale of corporate corruption and political shenanigans. The fight over one man’s tract of sacred marsh fronts a deeper story of our place in the environment and our obligations to it.Justin Pitre’s marsh island, a legacy of his trapper grandfather, is a scenic rival to anything in the Everglades, and he has promised to protect it from all harm. But he hasn’t counted on oil bigwig Tom Huff’s plans to wreck his bayou paradise by ramming a pipeline through it. When cajolery doesn’t sway Justin to sign the land over, Huff turns to darker methods. But Justin and his spirited wife, Grace, prove to be formidable adversaries–and the game is on.
Into the fray comes the charismatic Cajun governor Joe T. Evangeline, who seems more interested in chasing skirts than saving Louisiana’s eroding coast. The Guv, though, is a man on the edge, upended by a midlife crisis and torn between a secret political obligation to Big Oil and the persuasive powers of Julie Galjour, a feisty environmentalist. Julie is clearly out to reform more than the Guv’s ecopolitics, but will his tragicomic Big Oil deals wreck both his career and his chances with the brash and beautiful activist?
As Justin and Grace battle to stop this Big Oil assault, the plot thickens–and the Guv becomes snared in the web. Featuring a gumbo of eccentrics and lowlifes, a kidnapping, a sexy snitch, a toxic-waste-dumping scheme, a boat chase, and a fishing trip gone horribly awry, Crawfish Mountain, spiced with Ken Wells’s keen eye for locale, showcases his adventurous storytelling.
From the Hardcover edition.
Editorials
Michael Dirda
…just because such writers are funny, often very funny, doesn't preclude them from addressing serious issues. That's certainly the case for Ken Wells in his entertaining new novel set in Louisiana's Cajun country…The basic plot is classic: Tom Huff, of Standard of Texas Oil, wants to dredge a pipeline through wetlands owned by Justin Pitre. But Justin promised his grandfather never to sell the family's old fishing camp. He refuses the Texan's offer, so Huff naturally ups the pressure, indicating that dire consequences might ensue for those dear to the stubborn Cajun. From here matters grow darker and increasingly, as well as delightfully, convoluted. Before Wells brings his novel to an end, he treats us to industrial sabotage, corporate theft, undercover police work, seduction, kidnapping and a whole lot of Cajun culture. It's the last that makes this book special and gives it the real Tabasco tang. Where else, after all, would you find characters named Roulin Lasseine, Ti-Ray Lajaune, Juke Charpentier, B.J. Duplessis, Minna Cancienne and Sheriff "Go-Boy" Geaux? So if you enjoy crawfish and shrimp and Dixie beer, not to mention good fishing, good ol' boys and good-looking women, you're in the right novel.—The Washington Post
Library Journal
Wells (Logan's Storm), a native of the Louisiana bayous, is a writer with a purpose, and although his purpose may be transparent, his message is clear and his story is a gem. When Justin Pitre inherited Crawfish Mountain, a 500-acre tract of beautiful bayou wetland, he vowed to maintain it in its pristine condition. However, Tom Huff, regional vice president of Standard of Texas Oil Company, is determined to run a pipeline through the land, and uses threats, intimidation, and political clout to get his way. As Justin and his wife, Grace, plot a strategy to save their land, which takes an unplanned turn toward revenge, some of Huff's activities-illegal dumping of toxic waste, bribery of state officials, and plans for cutting a shipping channel through the bayous-come to light. What evolves is a battle of good and evil, with the governor, a cadre of state and local officials, environmentalists, and private citizens getting involved. A serious tale told in a rollicking style, with large doses of humor, irony, intrigue, and a wonderful sense of time and place, Well's latest novel is a sure winner. Highly recommended.
—Thomas L. Kilpatrick