The Breathtaker

I'm not sure what I expected with this book, but it truly surprised me. It is very well-written, and the character development is well crafted. I usually don't expect these two components in a thriller, so this book was a pleasant surprise. The book is extremely well-plotted too and the tension builds up and builds up throughout the book. It literally left me on the edge of my seat throughout. Not only that, but I got a lot of information about storms and particularly tornados. The book is terrfiying, both with the tremendous storms and the damage they cause and also because of the totally fascinating and chilling killer that stalks the country during tornado season. This depraved individual wreaks havoc on families who have already had show more to deal with enormous loss inflicted by a catastrophic tornado. Charlie Grover is the police chief in small little Promise, Alabama. Charlie can't believe what he discovers in the wake of this murderer. This is a killer unlike any other he has ever dealt with, and he finds his family and himself personally in imminent danger as he tracks him all across Tornado Alley. A different premise for a thriller, but this is one exciting book. show less

This one was kind of twisty and had good characters that the author did try to flesh out and make more realistic. Yes, Charlie was a widower raising a teenaged daughter, but it wasn’t all mawkish and smarmy and full of clichés. These two did get along most of the time and what waves there were didn’t seem artificial. Ditto for the burgeoning relationship with Willa. It seemed natural. The suspense and brutality built nicely, but were not overdone. I should have seen the culprit before Blanchard showed me, but when the revelation came, I literally gasped and held my breath a second while I contemplated the potential fate of the person in the most danger.

All that is good, but I found the dénouement a bit lacking. For all the show more psychological reasons for the killer to have turned out that way, we’re left with very little of the detail between childhood and now. Apparently there have been scores of killings leading up to this present set. As Charlie investigated these, I think they could have been more detailed and therefore a more effective catalyst for dread. I did like the way the killer disguised his method though – killing during storms so deadly that his weapons are mistaken for debris. Nice. The tooth thing was a nice touch, too although the follow through of victim two containing the tooth from victim one was not provided, but that blank is easily filled in. show less

Fast paced and suspenseful with the past and current life problems of the main detective mixed in with the solution of the crimes in a believable fashion. I did not suspect the killer at all, so good diversion to other suspects. However, I feel that the premise of a person able to predict tornado damage with such precision is a bit of a stretch.

This was an awesome read - I really enjoyed reading this book - the author really drew you in to the story and made you feel as though you were in the middle of tornadoes. As far as the murder mystery goes, everyone was a suspect in this book and the ending was very surprising. I stayed up late at night reading this one. I'm giving it five stars.

Interesting setting, but I certainly could have done without all the information about wind tunnels and tornados. I think that this made the book very tedious. Figured out who did it about halfway - just finished to confirm.
There seemed to be some loose threads, as I also found in the previous book i read by her.

Interesting crime novel. The way the crimes are committed is so very different.

somewhat predictable but thoroughly enjoyed