STORM WARNING

3.5 stars out of 5

After reading and enjoying three other books by this author, I was of course looking forward to this one. But while it's an interesting plot, overall it left me a bit disappointed. Set in the midst of a hurricane on a small island off the Florida coast, it's got an abundance of wind, rain and (gasp!) murder. But it's long on second-guessing and short on substance - and an ending that's not only abrupt but that absolutely screams for a more in-depth explanation.

Jake Powell, it seems, has been living on the island for about six months, trying to find himself after leaving his wife and teenage daughter back home on the mainland. There are very few residents on the island, most living in apartment buildings that are almost falling down around them - and a developer wants to finish them off and build anew. But now, Jake wants to go home; in a hurry to get across the short causeway before a big storm rolls in, he tells his plan to his landlord and friend, Dallas, and sets off to make sure the top-floor tenant - an elderly lady - is safe. When he returns to say his final goodbye to Dallas, he gets quite a shock; in the short time he was gone, someone has killed Dallas. But who?

Jake jumps in the car and barely makes it to the mainland with the intention of telling the police and then heading on to his wife and daughter. But when the police, who are well trained in disaster protocols, say they're helpless until the storm - now a certified hurricane - passes, Jake inexplicably decides to put friendship with those he's known for half a year ahead of concern for his famiily and heads back to the almost-wiped-out causeway. He makes it, of course, but now he's stuck on an island with people he doesn't know all that well - one of them most likely a murderer.

Gathering his little group of apartment dwellers together thinking there's safety in numbers, from that point on, it's mostly a matter of speculation of how bad the hurricane might get mixed with more speculation as to who that killer may be rather than finding any real evidence or clues. There's a surprise that complicates the situation a bit, but for the most part, that only leads to more second-guessing. At the end, readers get a peek at what the future holds, but only a peek. All told, though, it's a very readable book - I could have polished it off in a single day, I'm sure, had life not intervened (think chaise lounge on a sunny beach). And I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review a pre-release copy.

Storm Warning by David Bell (Berkley, June 2024); 448 pp.

THE LIAR'S CHILD

4.5 stars out of 5



Five primary characters - three adults, two kids, some related to each other, some not - are at the center of this well-written, engrossing story that's full of twists. Just when I thought I had a handle on one character,  poof - that handle came unglued, shattering my perspective on what was happening (or had happened previously).

The exceptionally well-developed characters really drive this complex but easy to follow story; chapters shift from person to person, with each revealing a little more about their past and present lives and how they're all intertwined. The grown-ups include Whit, the father of young Boon and his older sister Cassie. There's Sara, a mysterious young woman with a past she's trying to escape (or is it return to?) by way of the Witness Protection Program; and Hank, a retired law enforcement chief who tries to follow the disappearance of children amid nearly debilitating emotional issues of his own. Even more interesting to me is that most of the action takes place on the North Carolina Outer Banks where my husband and I spent time just about every summer for 27 years (someone down there once told me that Ohio visitors there rank second only to North Carolinians in number, and even if that's not true, I know we've had plenty of Buckeye company).

Cassie is what I'd not so affectionately call a little snot, sassing her parents and, most times, bullying her timid little brother. Whit and his wife, Diane, are ostracized by their community because of something Diane did that put him in the hospital. They're living at The Paradise, the same motel in which Sara has been placed by the Feds to start her new life (and clearly isn't happy about it). Hank lives next door to the motel and pops in now and again.

Suddenly, all their lives are threatened by an oncoming hurricane - a regular occurrence in this neck of the woods to be sure, but this time it's rolling in amid dire predictions and a rush to evacuate. Whit heads for the mainland to help his aging parents, with the intent of returning in a few hours to pick up the kids. But the storm takes a nasty turn, putting the motel squarely in its sights. Feelling sorry for the kids, Sara - who's also eyeing a possible escape - puts them in her clunker of a car and heads for the bridge to the mainland - becoming the last car to be allowed to cross as the wind picks up steam and the water rises. Electricity and cell phone service are sketchy at best, so communication is virtually impossible (for Sara, a good thing; for the kids and their dad, not so much).

From this point on, I can't say more without spoiling things for others - so you'll just have to read it for yourself. The epilogue, I admit, left me with too many unanswered questions for my liking, but that didn't take away from the rest of the story. Highly recommended, and I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review an advance copy.

The Liar's Child by Carla Buckley (Ballantine Books, March 2019); 288 pp.