Tubby Meets Katrina

In Dunbar's odd seventh Tubby Dubonnet crime novel (after 2000's Lucky Man), the Katrina of the title is not the devastating storm but a psychopathic murderer, Bonner Rivette, who takes advantage of the chaos in New Orleans after the hurricane to escape from jail. Rivette abducts one of Dubbonet's daughters, declaring himself to be the personification of the hurricane. The Katrina debacle is fresh enough in the nation's consciousness that the vignettes of human suffering as well as the failures of government come across as pale shadows of news reports. The routine hunter and hunted plot fails to grip.