Shake the Devil Off

A True Story of the Murder That Rocked New Orleans

By: Ethan Brown

Narrated by: James Avery

They looked like a slightly mischievous version of the all-American couple: a handsome army veteran and his gorgeous artist girlfriend. Zackery Bowen, after completing his tour of Iraq, came home to New Orleans, and in two weeks before Hurricane Katrina, he met Addie Hall. Their improvised, hard-partying endurance during and after the storm inspired news outlets around the world to feature the couple as the personification of the indomitable spirit of New Orleans.

But Addie had a long history of abuse that colored her world and everyone who entered it. And Zackery fell for Addie completely, until his personal demons, unleashed in the desert of Iraq, combined with hers in a perfect storm of violence that shocked even rough-and-tumble New Orleans.

©2009 Ethan Brown (P)2009 Phoenix

Critic reviews

"Heartbreaking." (Publishers Weekly)

"Brown creates a riveting portrait of a gruesome crime while detailing the heart of a city in distress. A grim...story delivered with skill and verve." (Kirkus Reviews)

Very Good Book

Great book. Very detailed, and well written. I would highly recommend this book to anybody who is interested in the full story of Zack Bowen and Addie Hall.

Narrator Did Not Do His Homework

The story is fascinating. The organization is clunky and overridden with character development. The narrator could not have mispronounced more New Orleans street, city, and landmark names if he tried. Not even close! Brah, if you don't know the word do some homework!

Author goes off topic and down other rabbit holes

The author focuses more about PSD in soldiers and the failures of the city of New Orleans response to Hurricane Katrina then it does about the murder suicide of Zack and Addie. Well both of these topics are in important, I felt disappointed because that is not what I was interested in when I decided to listen to this book. If what you were interested in is this specific true crime story find a different author. I also didn't like how he victim blame Addie and her lifestyle and seem to glorify Zack.

Good book, terrible production quality

This is a really interesting book, though it focuses more on the multiple failings of the government with regards to post-discharge care for soldiers and the aftermath of Katrina, than on the case. I came in expecting the story of the murder, which ended up being more of a side-note to the author’s critique. More energy was given to the people Zach served with than to his victim. However, it’s a really in-depth look at how the system failed one person so horrifically that he was unable to cope with his own perceived failures, which led him to self-medicate with alcohol and drugs, which (though the author conspicuously misses that crucial step in the blame game) ultimately led to his incomprehensible act of violence. All in all, worth the read.

The production quality of this recording was awful. My only problem with the narration is that he’s repeatedly inconsistent in his pronunciation of many words (Jaegermeister is sometimes ‘my-ster’, sometimes ‘master’ (???); Geisa is both ‘Geesa’ and ‘Guysa’; as well as multiple pronunciations of Zach’s wife’s name, just for starters. (According to many other reviewers, the narrator mispronounces many of the location names as well). Also, the editing is awful and distracting, with very noticeable audio changes in the places where it was overdubbed or spliced in. (Especially during the coverage of Zach’s time in the military). It’s like listening to a ransom note.

Great Insight

Great story and narration, very respectful. I was hoping it would be darker, but it still held my attention all the way though.

Not really interesting

The whole story is told in the introduction, and the details of the book don't really add much of interest. The reader reads with too much expression, as though he's reading to children, or giving a sermon. At the end are three hours of the story of New Orleans, but I'm not going to listen to all of it. Enough already.

Narration awful at times

The story is good. This is the second book of Brown's I have listened to and am impressed with the amount of research he does. That said, it was painful to listen to Avery BUTCHER the pronunciation of so many of the streets and places in New Orleans. Why did the author not have the opportunity to ask for corrections to be made, or have a New Orleanian narrate? So. Many. Mispronunciations.

Good...but

I enjoyed the book as I became deeply interested in this couple's story after hearing it told by a tour guide when vacationing in New Orleans. I listened to numerous podcasts on the subject which referenced this book so I thought I'd give it a try. As others have stated, I wish the author had dug a bit more into Addie. So much time and detail was put into Zack's story to paint an image of why he turned out the way he did, but Addie wasn't painted complete other than a tragedy here and there (no spoilers). Devastating story.

More Than the Murder

Shake the Devil Off, based on the cover and the description, is about the murder of Addie and the death of Zack. I expected the book to be about this specific event, for the most part, but the book is more of a biography of Zack, observation of PTSD and the Iraq War, and life in New Orleans after Katrina. All of these things are hyper relevant to the murder that took place, but I do feel like it makes the book's title a little misleading. If you like social issues, observations of the impact of abuse and war, and true crime, you will likely learn a lot from this book. The story itself is haunting and captivating, but the book spoke more about the environment around Zack and Addie than it actually did about Zack and Addie.

pronunciation

Burgundy is pronounced, Bur-GUN-dy, Buffa's is ptonounced, Boo-fahs. New Orleeens is, New Oar-lins. St Louis St is St Lewis.