Hurricane Season

After hurricanes Katrina and Rita ravaged New Orleans in 2005, high school football jumpstarted a community weary of destruction, displacement, and incompetent bureaucracy. At least that's Neal Thompson's thesis in Hurricane Season, as he chronicles one unforgettable season at the city's John Curtis Christian High School. Lest you forget, Thompson drops a reminder on practically every page (''Laying down the lines and lining up the equipment is a deeply therapeutic exercise, almost like a religious experience''). He shadows the team's coaching staff, led by members of the close-knit Curtis family that founded the school, but he never fully cracks their inner sanctum — it feels as if he's writing from somebody else's notes. Though he aspires to rival Buzz Bissenger (Friday Night Lights), Hurricane reads more like a Matt Christopher novel. C-