Shake the Devil Off—A New Orleans Tale

Shake the Devil Off: A True Story of the Murder that Rocked New Orleans by Ethan Brown is a true crime story, which grabs your attention and possesses it. This book is unforgettable, not only because it is a detailed account of a heinous murder and its aftermath, but also because it is an objective analysis into the life of the murderer, his victim and his resulting suicide.

The story revolves around the amiable, young, tall, handsome bartender and occasional poet, Zack Bowen. Zack’s failed first marriage, his war experiences in Kosovo and Iraq, his life in New Orleans with Addy, including their Hurricane Katrina experiences, which made them temporarily famous, are all recounted in detail. The author’s meticulous and fearless exploration of the couple’s unfortunate history, revealed through many extensive interviews with friends, associates and relatives, brings the reader to the window of their seedy French Quarter apartment. The story’s glimpse into the couple’s individual and collective psychological states, which included severe post-traumatic stress disorder, nastily combined with drug and alcohol abuse, provides the only means to comprehend the unraveling of their domestic bliss that culminated in hateful, malicious acts, and destroyed the charismatic couple.

Despite the fact that Zack planned and executed a brutal, twisted murder, the reader might ironically feel empathy for him. As I read Shake the Devil Off, my thoughts about the murderer vacillated between feelings of outrage to sympathy and back again, similar to the emotions I felt when I read of the murderers portrayed in Truman Capote’s haunting non-fiction novel, In Cold Blood. This book answers questions that were never addressed by the media, whose investigations were minimal. Instead, the media exploited the sensational crime, leaving everyone horrified, confused and puzzled about the horrific murder, sexual assault and dismemberment of Zack’s lover, Addy, and finally his own dramatic suicide. With the publication of this book, the mysteries of the hellish murder and suicide are exposed, leaving the reader anguishing over the senseless loss.

This book is available from St. Tammany Parish Library and at area bookstores.