Corruption and injustice in pre-Katrina New Orleans

Desire Street: A True Story of Death and Deliverance in New Orleans

By Jed Horne

Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 343 pages, $25

A wrongful conviction is at the core of this book, which offers a sharp insight into the underside of pre-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans and its now-infamous 9th Ward, a nightmarish world of corruption and injustice informed by deep familial bonds.