Helpful Score: 3
Blanchard's gripping second thriller follows a smalltown police chief's pursuit of a serial killer who strikes only during tornadoes, but the "Debris Killer" is only one of the highlights of this fast-moving shocker, which also features the keen characterizations and fine atmospherics of the author's first thriller, Darkness Peering. Charlie Grover, Blanchard's sympathetic hero, lives in Promise, Okla., deep in "Tornado Alley." Recently widowed, Charlie is the physically and emotionally scarred survivor of a childhood fire that killed his mother and sister, and the father of a sweet 16-year-old daughter enchanted by a teenage storm-chaser ("the kind of troubled youth who gave troubled youths a bad name"). After Promise is hit by a severe tornado, Charlie discovers three bodies in a house with only minor damage. Their deaths are particularly gruesome-mother, father and daughter have all been impaled by flying debris; the father is "stuck like a pin cushion"-and Charlie quickly realizes that this is not the work of a storm. The bodies display defensive wounds and, worse, the killer's "signature": each has had a tooth extracted and replaced with another tooth. Charlie seeks the help of spunky scientist Willa Bellman, who introduces him to the art of storm-chasing ("heroin for the heartland") and slowly reawakens his heart. As tornado season comes on, more victims are discovered, and Charlie begins to suspect someone very close to him, before the murderer leads him on a final terrifying chase that will have readers gasping. Blanchard makes a bold move by linking her villain to tornadoes-each such powerful forces of destruction and chaos-and while it's a little far-fetched, it pays off in this dark depiction of environmental and human turmoil.
Helpful Score: 1
I good mystery involving tornados. Murder and mayhem in the midst of a killer storm, How does the culprit do it? Can the sheeriff solve this mystery?....
Helpful Score: 1
This suspense novel by Alice Blanchard is a very unique, gripping thriller. Kept my interest from beginning to end.
Helpful Score: 1
Here's a unique twist on the usual serial killer book: one who uses the storms in Tornado Alley to cover his crimes. Fast-paced, with credible characters and a well-drawn and suspenseful plot, this is an excellent page-turner and compelling mystery.
Helpful Score: 1
I loved this book! Very original story!
Helpful Score: 1
What a thrill ride! Storm chasers and serial killers. Wow.
Helpful Score: 1
Very good read. Still haunts me. This is one book I remember which is rare.
Very original and very good. I recommend it!
absorbing-- I really was sorry when the book was finished
It was a dark & stormy night--well actually they are tornado chasers, then there is a murder! A very interesting thrill ride of a story!
I listened to this book on audio. I enjoyed it a lot. There were some storm parts that were very scary to me and I also enjoyed the mystery. I recommend this one :)
I have to admit that the beginning was graphic. That is why it is getting 4 out of 5 stars. It is a face paced book. It is almost as fast as the twisters that they talk about. It is bad enough in the town of Promise there are tornadoes but a murder at possibly the same time....
A pretty good read, though I was a little disappointed. It seems like such a good premise, but some parts were a little "over the top" and made the story less believable. There are also some grisly details that just seemed to be added for shock value. Overall, good enough, but disappointing.
This is a very good book, and keeps the action moving all the time.
I really enjoyed the premise of this murder mystery... and even the killer was a bit of a surprise. It was pretty grotesque, but all in all, I liked this melding of _Twister_ and your standard serial killer story. I enjoyed it, but didn't love it... I have another book by her that I'll read, but unless I absolutely love it, she'll be a strictly premise-dependent author on whether or not I will keep reading her.
This is a total twist on what I expected. If you live any place where there are tornados you have got to read this book...Suspense and surprise on every page.
This book was very good, I read it in 2 days!
An unknown writer to me, but glad I picked this up.
This was one book I could not put down! It was so good I have read it twice and would recommend it to anyone who loves acts of mother nature with a twist of murder/mystery. Wish there were more books out there like this one!
Be prepared for the most terrifying ride of your life...
A mammoth twister tears through the sleepy town of Promise, Oklahoma, and leaves behind three mutilated bodies in a ravaged farmhouse. Police chief Charlie Grover believes the victims were impaled by flying debris...until gruesome evidence comes to light, proving that they were brutally murdered. How could the killer predict exactly when and where a tornado would strike and use it to cover his tracks?
With the aid of a tornado-chasing scientist, Charlie delves into a high-tech, high-risk search for a cunning criminal-one who may be stalking Charlie and his own daughter. For this is a predator unlike any other: one who conspires with the ferocious power of nature to commit and conceal unspeakable crimes.
With the aid of a tornado-chasing scientist, Charlie delves into a high-tech, high-risk search for a cunning criminal-one who may be stalking Charlie and his own daughter. For this is a predator unlike any other: one who conspires with the ferocious power of nature to commit and conceal unspeakable crimes.
The Breathtaker truly did make me hold my breath! This is an excellent thriller.
I really liked this.
A mammoth twister tears through the sleepy town of Promise, Oklahoma, and leaves behind three mutilated bodies in a ravaged farmhouse. Police Chief Charlie Grover believes the victims were impaled by flying debris. . . until gruesome evidence comes to light, proving that they were brutally murdered.
With the aid of a tornado-chasing scientist, Charlie delves into a high-tech, high-risk search for a cunning criminal.
With the aid of a tornado-chasing scientist, Charlie delves into a high-tech, high-risk search for a cunning criminal.
