A Brewing Storm

For Derrick Storm leaving the CIA involved faking his own death, so when his former boss calls in an old favor, he knows there must be more going on then the kidnapping of the son of a U.S. Senator. Working alongside FBI Agent April Showers, Storm must sift his way through a web of lies and ransom notes to find the truth.

The author Richard Castle (or whoever really wrote the book) did a good job of combining humorous dialogue with suspenseful themes. I found the characters to be well written although I found some of their names to me rather cliché.

Overall, I would say that it was an excellent read and I look forward to seeing what will happen next.

Short, fast read. Pretty typical potboiler stuff with not a lot of time for character development. Honestly, I have trouble believing, based on the premise that this is the return of a popular character, that Storm is remotely likeable. Still, I'm curious as to where the story goes, so I'll read the next one anyway.

I can't resist a media tie in like this. I've read (and will keep reading) all the Nikki Heat tie in novels, and so, once I figured out how (since as of the time of reading A Brewing Storm I have no ebook reader/tablet... and am very glad that Overdrive now has Overdrive Read so I could read it in my browser instead of in ADE) this got onto my to read list pretty fast.

It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great either. It was the first of three short stories in this series. Stories about the (according to the TV series) dead Derrick Storm. I guess that maybe he's not as dead as he was.

He gets pressed back into service by a former CIA 'friend' because of the kidnapping of a Senator's step-son. Already on the case is FBI Special Agent April show more Showers and she doesn't much like that Derrick (under a cover name) is nosing around in her trying to save this step son's life.

After that it's your typical thriller/mystery story. There's twists that aren't too surprising and a turn that was sorta interesting, but, on the whole it wasn't exactly a jaw dropping plot. Still, I liked the plot, and I even liked a lot of the scenes between April and Derrick. I also liked that unlike Jackson Rook, the character of Derrick Storm didn't seem like a total Mary Sue of the Richard Castle character, which was a nice change from the Nikki Heat novels.

What I didn't like as much was the writing. Some of it seemed sloppily written, or maybe even 'lightly' edited, and other parts were stilted and just sounded wrong. 'Portable computer'... really? Couldn't have sprung for laptop, or phone, or even smartphone, or tablet (I'll stop now). Anyway. I just found myself getting caught up in the bad stuff in regards to the writing, and that took away some of the pleasure of the rest of the book. But, overall, it was a solid three star read (despite the 'portable computer').

Oh, and be warned, there are two more parts to this little novella, so, don't expect all the storylines to be tied up with a nice bow quite yet. show less

I've always enjoyed the castle Series. I decided to read the Derrek Storm series. The book is about a "Retired" Clandestine services CIA agent Derek storm who is pulled in to solve a kidnapping stepson of a high profile senator who happens to head the intelligence committee. Turns out that the senior has got himself involved into with a fugitive Russian who had bribed the senator for something in return. The Step son's fiance has a story of her own and tries to steal the bribe money using the kidnapping as a disguise.
Everything in the book was good. The plot was beautifully woven. My only complaint - No proper credit to the real writer. Ghost writers are not my thing.

I've always enjoyed the castle Series. I decided to read the Derrek Storm series. The book is about a "Retired" Clandestine services CIA agent Derek storm who is pulled in to solve a kidnapping stepson of a high profile senator who happens to head the intelligence committee. Turns out that the senior has got himself involved into with a fugitive Russian who had bribed the senator for something in return. The Step son's fiance has a story of her own and tries to steal the bribe money using the kidnapping as a disguise.
Everything in the book was good. The plot was beautifully woven. My only complaint - No proper credit to the real writer. Ghost writers are not my thing.

This is a Castle tie-in novel. Short, sweet, and a tad poorly written, but given that it's supposed to be dubious pulp fiction I'm not sure that isn't an intentional part of the charm. I'm willing to forgive and just enjoy it, anyhow, even if Derrick's inner monologuing *is* a bit much at times.

Short, fast read. Pretty typical potboiler stuff with not a lot of time for character development. Honestly, I have trouble believing, based on the premise that this is the return of a popular character, that Storm is remotely likeable. Still, I'm curious as to where the story goes, so I'll read the next one anyway.