Shake the Devil Off: A True Story of the Murder that Rocked New Orleans
A charismatic young soldier meets a tragic end in this moving and mesmerizing account of the war in Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, and no-safety-net America
Zackery Bowen was thrust into two of America's largest recent debacles. He was one of the first soldiers to encounter the fledgling insurgency in Iraq. After years of military service he returned to New Orleans to tend bar and deliver groceries. In the weeks before Hurricane Katrina made landfall, he met Addie Hall, a pretty and high-spirited bartender. Their improvised, hard-partying endurance during and after the storm had news outlets around the world featuring the couple as the personification of what so many want to believe is the indomitable spirit of New Orleans.
But in October 2006, Bowen leaped from the rooftop bar of a French Quarter hotel. A note in his pocket directed the police to the body of Addie Hall. It was, according to NOPD veterans, one of the most gruesome crimes in the city's history. How had this popular, handsome father of two done this horrible thing?
Journalist Ethan Brown moved from New York City to the French Quarter in order to investigate this question. Among the newsworthy elements in the book is Brown's discovery that this tragedy—like so many others—could have been avoided if the military had simply not, in the words of Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, "absolutely and completely failed this soldier." Shake the Devil Off is a mesmerizing tribute to these lives lost.
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Community Reviews
Zack Bowen saw death and devastation in Iraq and lost people close to him in horrific ways. His wife was also going through medical issues, yet he was not allowed time to go home to be with her and help with their young children. That seems to be the beginning of the end for him. He began having mental health issues and instead of helping him, the military disciplined him and gave him a general discharge, something less than honorable, thereby denying him any benefits after all he'd done for them while serving. His relationship with his wife fell apart. He came back to New Orleans, and then Katrina hit. He and his new girlfriend Addie seemed to be survivors, though, and actually relished being part of the small community of holdouts who stuck it out for the storm. It was after things went back to a sense of normal that Zack, and Addie, started having their own problems.
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