The highlights of a hardscrabble town named Barataria on the Louisiana Gulf Coast and the lowlifes that live there. Creole descendants from the Acadians of Canada who moved south before the Louisiana Purchase make their living as watermen seining for shrimp mainly but also other seafood including the occasional alligator.
A cast of the usual colorful characters provide impetus to the plot in a wide variety of ways from a deranged metal detector enthusiast searching for gold, a pair of twins with a garden of Marijuana deep in the swamps and a set of low level criminals intent on finding the garden. The straight man is a teenager attempting to find his way in life and knowing that the best way is to follow the traditions, build a Louisiana Skiff and drag for shrimp as his family has done for generations. The BP oil spill plays a large part as well. I had hoped there would be a little leavening of humor ala Elmore Leonard but, alas such was not to be.
The interplay of the various denizens of Barataria is written well, the plot sufficiently convoluted to demand your attention and the outcomes satisfactory.
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