Introduction

During the record-smashing hurricane season of 2005, Shay Hoovestahl, a puff piece reporter, stumbles on the story of con artist using chaos as cover for murder. She enlists the help of New Orleans meteorologist, Dr. Corbin Thibodeaux, a firebrand environmentalist. With floodwaters rising, Shay fights to survive, and Corbin finds himself at the center of a media circus.

Polarized politics, high-strung Southern families and the worst disaster management goat screw in US history backdrop the deadly game of cat and mouse that continues to unfold as Hurricane Ophelia taunts the East Coast and Hurricane Rita wreaks havoc on the Houston metroplex.

Rodgers, a bestselling author and ghostwriter living on the Gulf Coast, volunteered during relief efforts in the aftermath of Katrina and experienced Hurricanes Rita and Ike firsthand. She knowingly writes about the dramatic megastorms, weaving in the elegant forecasting of meteorologists around the world and actual emails to and from FEMA director Michael Brown (later released through the Freedom of Information Act) as she spins this fast-paced, emotionally charged, surprisingly funny tale of two cities, two families, and two desperate people caught up in the storm.

Praise for books by Joni Rodgers:
"Rodgers is a pure storyteller. She writes with a wit, lyricism, humanity and joy that make her books impossible to put down." ~ Oscar-winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin

"Alternately wrenching and humorous...Rodgers' strength is a knack for realistic characters who show their faults unselfsonsciously and a womanly wise, laugh-through-tears appreciation of life." Publisher's Weekly

"Every character resonates with life." ~ Southern Living Magazine

"Unconventional love scenes scorch the pages." ~ Orlando Sentinel

"Wise [storytelling] choices and the right amount of grit." Texas Monthly



During the record-smashing hurricane season of 2005, Shay Hoovestahl, a puff piece reporter, stumbles on the story of con artist using chaos as cover for murder. She enlists the help of New Orleans meteorologist, Dr. Corbin Thibodeaux, a firebrand environmentalist. With floodwaters rising, Shay fights to survive, and Corbin finds himself at the center of a media circus.

Polarized politics, high-strung Southern families and the worst disaster management goat screw in US history backdrop the deadly game of cat and mouse that continues to unfold as Hurricane Ophelia taunts the East Coast and Hurricane Rita wreaks havoc on the Houston metroplex.

Rodgers, a bestselling author and ghostwriter living on the Gulf Coast, volunteered during relief efforts in the aftermath of Katrina and experienced Hurricanes Rita and Ike firsthand. She knowingly writes about the dramatic megastorms, weaving in the elegant forecasting of meteorologists around the world and actual emails to and from FEMA director Michael Brown (later released through the Freedom of Information Act) as she spins this fast-paced, emotionally charged, surprisingly funny tale of two cities, two families, and two desperate people caught up in the storm.

Praise for books by Joni Rodgers:
"Rodgers is a pure storyteller. She writes with a wit, lyricism, humanity and joy that make her books impossible to put down." ~ Oscar-winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin

"Alternately wrenching and humorous...Rodgers' strength is a knack for realistic characters who show their faults unselfsonsciously and a womanly wise, laugh-through-tears appreciation of life." Publisher's Weekly

"Every character resonates with life." ~ Southern Living Magazine

"Unconventional love scenes scorch the pages." ~ Orlando Sentinel

"Wise [storytelling] choices and the right amount of grit." Texas Monthly

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Discussion Questions

1) As Hurricane Katrina approaches in the beginning of the book, aspiring journalist Shay and meteorologist Corbin have very different feelings about it. Which, if either, character did you relate to? Was Shay justified in thinking Corbin was an alarmist? Was Corbin justified thinking Shay was partly responsible for the fact that people were not evacuating? Why did government officials wait until the last minute to call for a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans? Why do you think so many people failed to leave the doomed city?

2) Stories of gang violence, child rapes, murders and lawlessness at the Superdome in New Orleans were widely reported on 24-hour news channels like Fox and CNN as well as all the major networks. Were you surprised to learn that these reports were completely false? How did this affect your view of American news media? Did the media play a role in the panicked evacuation of Houston that caused over a hundred deaths before Hurricane Rita?

3) The author wove actual National Hurricane Center teletype feeds into the book. She says, “They talk about more than the weather. As I went through thousands of pages of research, sometimes it seemed like these elegant forecasts were speaking like a Greek chorus, commenting on the cultural atmosphere and the climate of personal relationships.” Did you find the weather forecasts evocative or were they simply a good source of weather information? Did you wonder why the author included glimpses of storms happening all over the world as the Gulf Coast was being devastated by Katrina and Rita? What, if anything, were you surprised to learn about the science of megastorms?

4) When Shay tells Corbin, “Embattlement is part of our sexual chemistry,” Corbin responds, “That works as well as a pet crocodile.” Do you think a certain amount of tension is healthy in a relationship? At what point does zingy Beatrice and Benedick chemistry cross the line and become two people bickering? Is it possible for two people with such different political and religious views to have a long-lasting love? Is there someone you love whose political or religious views just plain crisp your biscuits? How do you navigate that relationship?

5) After an explosive confrontation between Corbin and Shay’s oil baron father, Shay’s mother Char says the real difference between the two men is that “liberals care about humanity, and conservatives care about people.” Char adds, “It seems like it shouldn’t be so hard to build a bridge between the two.” Do you agree with her? Was your opinion changed by anything you learned about Houston relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina? How do the relationships between Shay and Corbin and between members of these two families—the wealthy, conservative Hoovestahls and the working class, liberal Thibodeaux—reflect the polarized politics of post-9/11 America? Do you think it’s changed since 2005?

6) Woven through the book are actual emails to and from FEMA director Michael Brown, which were made public through the Freedom of Information Act. He seems overwhelmed at times, at other times indifferent and clueless, but ultimately he seems to be drowning. Corbin, surprisingly, feels sorry for him. Did you? Were you shocked and angered by what you learned about disaster management during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, or do you think government officials did the best they could under the circumstances? Do you think, as Corbin says, that things would have been different if FEMA had not been placed under the control of Homeland Security?

7) Mab masterfully uses the chaos of collapsed infrastructure to carry out and cover identity theft and murder. Shay has a theory about why and how Mab targets certain men, but she never learns the whole truth. As the reader, seeing some of these encounters through the eyes of the victims, did you agree with Shay’s theory? Did you have sympathy for any of these men, or were they asking for it by making the choices that put them in Mab’s way? Did you immediately detect Mab’s true identity each of the fifteen times she appears in the book, or did she slip by you?

8) Shay also has a theory about why people would invest money and risk their lives to meet up with someone they met on the internet and have sex in the middle of a hurricane: “Sex has become so casual, so rote in our culture, the only way they can invest it with ecstasy is to make it part of this death-defying, force-of-nature event.” Do you agree? Were you surprised to find that people actually do this? Do you find it sleazy, stupid, kinky, fascinating or all of the above? What if the encounter is with a spouse or lover instead of a stranger?

9) Shay comments that events in New Orleans and Houston during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita tell a tale of two cities; one embraced denial, the other embraced fear, both with tragic results. What, if anything, was the role of news media in the way these two devastating events played out? What was the role of state and federal government? How much accountability lies with individual citizens of Houston and New Orleans?

10) The author says she was inspired to write THE HURRICANE LOVER while working with relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina and says she went out and walked a mile during Hurricane Ike so she’d be able to write knowingly about the sounds, smells, and experience of a hurricane. Did this novel leave you wanting to learn more about these awe-inspiring storms? What’s the most powerful act of nature you’ve witnessed? How do you feel as a serious storm approaches? Have you ever been in a situation where local service infrastructure collapsed for some period? Have you ever been curious about what a hurricane or tornado feels like up close?

Weblinks

»	Author Joni Rogers' web site

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