The Marauders by Tom Cooper

Oil spills, stunted shrimp, stolen weed, and buried treasure in Louisiana's Gulf Coast

Genre: Contemporary adventure

The author got a rave review from Stephen King, so he probably doesn't need my praise heaped on top, but he's getting it anyway. This is a really fantastic story. The tribulations of the Louisiana shrimpers during an industry tailspin after the BP oil spill in the Gulf, the theft of high quality weed from a couple of crazy brothers, one man's drug-addled search for a treasure no one else believes in, and many other shenanigans are taking place in Louisiana's Gulf Coast. There is a lot going on here, but the characters are so well wrought that it is not difficult to keep up. I love books, like this one, in which the setting is detailed and described with such passion it become a character in the story. I have a soft spot for well-written flawed characters and realistic, not-idealistic storylines and this book is full of them. Tom Cooper does for the Louisiana gulf coast what Jim Harrison does for northern Michigan. The setting is described in a way that makes you feel like you are there.

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