Bayou Nights — Nicola Trwst

Bayou Nights is a novel of vengeance, carried out in the terrifying environment of corrupt politics, social injustice, and the exotic eroticism of Voodoo. Set in the months prior to Hurricane Katrina, Claire Rivet, a Baton Rouge Assistant District Attorney, attempts to connect the rape and murder of a young woman to the similar attack on her when she was ten. Claire is certain the same person is responsible and she lives only to bring her attacker to justice. In the Louisiana bayou, her quest is dangerously compromised by Mamma Anna, a voodoo priestess who lures Claire into a dark Voodoo practice, magie noire, reserved for those willing to give up everything for revenge. When the lines between justice and revenge start to blur, Claire struggles to choose the right path, not knowing that Mamma Anna hasn't left her one.