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.