Welcome to the World of Storm Surge
It’s a city that defies time. A city of more completely intertwined cultures than perhaps anywhere else in America—Spanish, French, Native American, English. All woven together over hundreds of years to create a modern-day artwork we call New Orleans.
I first visited years ago and immediately knew how special a place the Big Easy was. I also knew I had to set stories there, but I wouldn’t rush to do so. I needed to take my time to really get to understand this unique cocktail of history, culture, music, food, and laid-back natives.
Reed Montgomery made a few visits to the Crescent City over the course of his original series, and right from the outset of writing Point Blank I knew I wanted to take Mason deep down into the bayous, also.
The result? Storm Surge, a tale of natural disaster, a broken marriage, an abusive psychopath…and one man who will stop at absolutely nothing to save an innocent girl from being caught in the crossfire.
From the decorative streets of the French Quarter to the battered communities of the Lower Ninth Ward and the abandoned hulk of Big Charity Hospital—here are some of the real places that appear in the story, photographed by myself and Mrs. Ryles during a research trip.
I hope you enjoy!
(SPOILER ALERT: It’s difficult to describe the locations in the book without risking giving something away, so if you haven’t yet read Storm Surge you might want to hold off on the rest of this post).
One of the earliest scenes in the story takes place inside the historic Cathedral-Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in downtown Mobile, Alabama. Mason visits the cathedral and shares a conversation with a fictional priest there. Here are a few photographs of the cathedral’s stunning interior.
Ecce panis angelorum… Remember that?
From Mobile Mason heads southwest to New Orleans…and the action really begins. First up on our tour is the historic Lower Ninth Ward. This neighborhood sits almost entirely below sea level. Floodwalls encircle much of the Lower Ninth to hold back the Industrial Canal and the Mississippi River (one of these flood walls is visible in the first photo behind the historic marker sign).
In Storm Surge Mason first makes a visit to the Lower Ninth almost immediately after arriving in New Orleans. Frank’s home is much like the ones you see here, a modest single level structure painted a pastel color with a little front porch.
You’ll have to use your imagination to picture this neighborhood during a storm. Unfortunately for the locals, they don’t need any imaginative powers. The Lower Ninth Ward was devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
Next up on our tour is Charity Hospital, known to the locals as “Big Charity” and appearing in Storm Surge during Mason’s first rescue of Autumn.
The story of Big Charity is both devastatingly sad and relentlessly fascinating. I was only able to squeeze a very little of it into Storm Surge, but if you’d like to know more about how this massive hospital came to be completely abandoned in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, you can check out this awesome documentary on YouTube.
I wasn’t able to tour the interior of the hospital. For obvious reasons, it’s closed to the public, with fencing and a security guard on site. However, several videos taken during the aftermath of Katrina served as my reference point for what conditions might confront Mason during his search for Autumn.
Our next stop after Big Charity follows Mason’s frantic flight away from Randy’s gang to the intersection of South Robertson Street and Cleveland Avenue, where a gun battle between the gang and National Guardsmen takes place. The first picture shows Robertson Street with Big Charity in the background. The second photo is of the intersection, and the final photo is of the fire station where Mason shelters with Autumn.
I wrote this scene with a general knowledge of the vibe of New Orleans, filling in the gaps using Google Earth. It was pretty visceral to actually set foot on the intersection and picture the scene of the gun battle unfolding. You can just imagine all the power poles toppled, power lines tangled, and debris everywhere as the bullets fly.
After overnighting in a closed hotel, Mason journeys north out of downtown New Orleans with Autumn on his back. They cross through perhaps the most iconic and recognizable portion of the city—the historic French Quarter. With narrow streets, iconic architecture, and an absolute plethora of bars/restaurants/hotels/shops, the French Quarter is a tourist attraction for a reason. It’s beautiful (if smelly) and there’s no shortage of good food at hand.
After events unfold north of the French Quarter that result in Autumn’s recapture by Randy’s gang, Mason launches a second rescue operation that carries him (among other places) to the site of one of the worst floodwall breaches during Hurricane Katrina—the London Avenue Canal Floodwall.
At the intersections of Warrington and Wilton Drives in the neighborhood of Gentilly, there is a memorial constructed to honor the disaster of the London Avenue Canal Floodwall breach. The area is commemorated in Storm Surge by a reference to the historical marker planted there and pictured here.
This is the embankment in the story where Randy’s gang places a device designed to rupture the concrete wall you see running atop it. To the right of the photo is the neighborhood of Gentilly, which you can easily see is below the level of the canal. In the story I described this embankment as overgrown with weeds that concealed the device, but in reality New Orleans has cleaned the area up nicely.
Also present at the site of the London Avenue Canal floodwall breach is a flooded house museum, featuring a preserved home that depicts the original damage of the flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina. It’s a fascinating glimpse back into time, and should also give you an idea of what Frank’s house would have looked like when the repair work began.
From the London Avenue Canal Mason races back into downtown New Orleans to thwart the next stage of Randy’s plot—the robbery of a US Federal Reserve bank. I didn’t photograph the bank for obvious reasons…I didn’t want anybody to get the wrong idea. But I did photograph the Mississippi River where Randy flees with Autumn.
As you can see, the river is both wide and muddy and would be even more so after a massive hurricane. Mason had his work cut out for him running downstream in a battered boat with a failing motor.
Finally, Mason reaches the swampy wetlands beneath New Orleans along the banks of the Mississippi. Annie and I weren’t able to directly tour those, but we did take a tour of the Honey Island Swamp which lies just north of the city, where we met some of the same menacing creatures that Mason encounters. These pictures should give you a good idea of what sort of conditions he was dealing with.
Besides the research and the touring, Annie and I also indulged in multiple rounds of great cajun cooking—particularly that which involves shrimp.
I love shrimp. I love jazz. I love sleepy old streets and a lazy river winding its way through history.
As much fun as it was to write Storm Surge, I’ll tell you now that it will be far from the last adventure I set in the Big Easy. I’m already dreaming up another.
Until next time!
Logan