Hell or High Water

Publishers Weekly

Post-Katrina New Orleans provides the vivid backdrop for this uneven first novel, the first in a new crime thriller series from Castro (The Truth Book: A Memoir). In 2008, Times-Picayune reporter Nola Céspedes, who’s eager to leave lifestyle fluff pieces behind, takes on the unenviable challenge of reporting on sex offenders still living off the grid after the devastating hurricane. Interviewing potentially dangerous rapists and child molesters isn’t how Nola, who was raised in poverty by her Cuban-born single mother, thought she’d start writing features, but a story is a story. The more involved Nola becomes, to the detriment of her personal life, the more convinced she is that the recent disappearance of 25-year-old tourist Amber Waybridge from the French Quarter is connected to the men she’s investigating. Nola’s obsession with the Waybridge case—and the possible perpetrators—deepens with ominous results. Nola’s gritty appeal compensates only in part for a plot with too many holes. Agent: Mitchell Waters, Curtis Brown. (July)

From the Publisher

"Castro’s first mystery is fierce and intense, with both harrowing depictions of New Orleans after Katrina and psychological mayhem for its troubled heroine, who crawls under your skin and lingers there long after you’ve finished reading." --Kirkus Reviews

“Exquisite New Orleans background, intriguing newsroom politics and atmosphere, a flawed but plucky heroine, and skillfully paced suspense makes this a ‘stay up way past your bedtime’ read.” –Booklist (starred)

"Readers who enjoy psychological thrillers will find this a fascinating look into an intriguing city. Nola is a feisty character..." --Library Journal

“A terrific mystery, but Hell or High Water is more than just a mystery; it’s a heartfelt examination of a second America—poor but undaunted—that was swept under the rug but refuses to stay there . . . I can’t wait to see what Joy Castro does next.” —Dennis Lehane, New York Times bestselling author of Mystic River

"Hell or High Water is a tightly written thriller. Nola's first-person perspective and her witty, often cutting dialogue will make the reader believe in the character and really care for her and what happens to her. . . . Like the city for which she was named, Nola is damaged yet unbeaten. . . . an exciting, incisive novel." --El Paso Times

"Hell or High Water is so thick and rich with authentic New Orleans details that you’ll be wiping sweat off your brow and smelling the crawfish étouffée. Joy Castro has crafted a complex, conflicted, and hauntingly real heroine with Nola Céspedes. Shackled to her past and to New Orleans, Castro’s Nola reminded me of Pat Conroy’s Tom Wingo and the Outer Banks in Prince of Tides." --Alex Kava, New York Times bestselling author of The Maggie O’Dell series, Whitewash and One False Move

“In the tradition of P.D. James, Ruth Rendell and Lucha Corpi, Joy Castro shows how mystery can be much more than the unraveling of crimes concealed. An irresistible and compelling novel.” —Lorraine M. López, author of Homicide Survivors Picnic and Other Stories

Library Journal

In Castro's first novel, the city of New Orleans plays a leading role along with the human characters. Set post-Katrina, the story recounts the devastation that still reigns as Nola Cespedes, a rookie reporter at the Times-Picayune, drives around pursuing her first big story. She is interviewing sex offenders who have served their time to see if they are "cured"—not the easiest topic for Nola to cut her teeth on. The search for a missing tourist catches her attention and causes Nola to pursue the truth as she meets some truly depraved men. VERDICT Readers who enjoy psychological thrillers will find this a fascinating look into an intriguing city. Nola is a feisty character chasing her own demons while ferreting out facts about child abuse, recidivism, and the mystery surrounding an innocent girl who goes missing while visiting the Big Easy.—Robin Nesbitt, Columbus Metropolitan Lib., OH

Kirkus Reviews

Salvaging lives in post-Katrina New Orleans is no picnic. Nola Céspedes is fed up with the puff pieces she's assigned at the Times-Picayune. So when she's given a shot at a major feature story--how well do rehabilitated sex offenders do when released back into the community?--she goes all-out, even nudging her friend Calinda over in the district attorney's office for unpublicized details concerning the recent rape and mutilation of a young tourist. Her choice of which serial rapists to interview is as dangerous as her choice of one-night stands. Nola is so driven, argumentative and protectively secretive about her upbringing in the tawdry Desire Projects that her gay housemate Uri suggests therapy. But she's too busy preparing for a wedding and meeting her mother's female lover for the first time. Her stress escalates when another young girl goes missing, and she becomes even more promiscuous, more argumentative, more out of control and more worried about one of her interviewees, a former vice principal who seems overly interested in the young girl she's mentoring and the female students playing in the school courtyard across from his apartment. Nola's final attempt to deal with the sordidness surrounding her brings death and a start at reclaiming her own past. Castro's first mystery is fierce and intense, with both harrowing depictions of New Orleans after Katrina and psychological mayhem for its troubled heroine, who crawls under your skin and lingers there long after you've finished reading. A sequel is in the works.