The story is worthy of Mission: Impossible. A criminal mastermind is feeding a small Gulf Coast town fake weather information to trick them into evacuating before a deadly hurricane hits. There isn't really going to be any such hurricane, of course, just an empty town ready for plundering.

This is a fairly ludicrous idea. But don't worry, Effinger's got it covered.

First he makes the book about a handful of characters all fighting personal demons. Then he builds the story so gradually and so realistically that its implausibility gently fades.

Best of all, though, is the twist that comes near the end.

It's an excellent crime novel and also more than that. The first line is "The Lousiana town was named Arbier, after a French priest who had ministered to the spiritual needs of the area's Indian population, back when the area's population had been only Indian".