Acts of Nature (Max Freeman Series) [Abridged, Audiobook, CD] [Audio CD]

Jonathon King (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 28, 2008 | Series: Max Freeman Series (Book 5)

Craving some quiet time together, Max Freeman and Detective Sherry Richards retreat to Max’s secluded shack deep in the Florida Everglades. No television. No cell phones. No neighbors. It’s a perfect and much-needed escape from the daily grind. But when a violent hurricane rips through South Florida obliterating everything in its path, Max and Sherry’s peaceful getaway turns into a desperate fight for survival. And the hurricane is only the beginning of the nightmare. With Sherry severely injured and no way to call for help, the couple begins a treacherous trek back to civilization, only to find that the hurricane’s devastation is the least of their worries. In the wake of the storm, the isolation they originally sought soon becomes deadly as undesirables invade the Glades. Some have come to profit from the destruction and loot what remains, while others will stop at nothing to protect secrets. All are willing to kill to get what they came for, and Max and Sherry are smack in the line of fire. “Jonathon King writes with the eye of a reporter, the instincts of a cop, and the heart of a champion.” - T. Jefferson Parker, bestselling author of Storm Runners

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

King delivers suspense in spades in this gritty entry to the Max Freeman series. Max, King's ex-cop now private eye, and his girlfriend, Det. Sherry Richards, are taking some time off to relax at a friend's fishing cabin, located deep in the Florida Everglades. Plans for a romantic getaway are interrupted by the vicious onslaught of a hurricane that devastates the cabin and everything around it. As Max and a severely injured Sherry fight for survival while they try to return to civilization, two ruthless groups of men are converging on their location. Foster's reading keeps the tension taunt as he expertly follows King's shifting points of view; whether it's Max's earnest first-person narrative, a pragmatic corporate mercenary or an opportunistic old swamp rat and his slacker followers, Foster manages to give each individual an authentic natural delivery. He does falter a bit with his interpretation of the slackers that, though rendered with exuberance, is often over the top. Still, a small quibble with an overall fine performance.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* The latest entry in the Max Freeman series (King won an Edgar with the debut of cop-turned-recluse Freeman in 2002's Blue Eye of Midnight) is every bit as polished and absorbing as its four predecessors, and it trumps King's own standards for description with a stunning depiction of a hurricane and its aftermath. A longtime Philadelphia crime reporter, King knows cops well, and it shows in the hero he has crafted. Ex-cop Freeman has been holed up in a former research shack deep in the Florida Everglades, accepting some detective work from an old lawyer friend but mostly hiding himself away from his horror at having killed a 12-year-old boy in a robbery attempt. Each novel inches Freeman away from his grief and into life; King is both a master plotter and an able psychologist. In his latest, Freeman and his new love, a South Florida detective, are enjoying a break at Max's retreat when a hurricane rips apart the shack, nearly killing Freeman's girlfriend. This novel is more adventure-suspense tale than mystery, as the couple struggles to survive, first against the hurricane and then against the villains who flood into the Everglades. King juxtaposes Max's first-person narration with third-person accounts of criminals in a breathtaking series of survival moves. Gripping. Fletcher, Connie --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio on CD Value Priced (July 28, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 142333003X
• ISBN-13: 978-1423330035
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 5 x 1.4 inches
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Born into a blue-collar family in Lansing, Michigan in the mid 50s with the generational expectation of becoming an autoworker. Discovered John D. MacDonald as a teenage reader and unknowingly began a circuitous path that would eventually lead to Fort Lauderdale (home of Travis McGee) where I began my own mystery writing career.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Max Freeman returns in another thrilling mystery from Jonathon King, August 15, 2007

By 

David Montgomery "Book Critic" (davidjmontgomery.com) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Acts of Nature (Hardcover)

"Acts of Nature" is another fine, atmospheric novel from Jonathon King featuring PI Max Freeman. This time out Freeman isn't working a case; he's just trying to take a vacation with his girlfriend. But a peaceful trip into the Everglades turns nightmarish when the couple find themselves trapped in the middle of a hurricane. At the same time, King weaves in two other plot lines, one involving a pair of oil company bad guys, the other a trio of criminals looting their way through the hurricane's wake. The way King brings the three divergent plot lines together into one suspenseful whole is as clever as it is thrilling.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Max Freeman Meets The "Perfect Storm", December 27, 2007

By 

TMStyles (California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Acts of Nature (Hardcover)

Jonathon King continues his fine work with his Max Freeman character in "Acts of Nature". Max Freeman, ex-cop and current PI, has developed into an exciting, must read addition to the South Florida subgenre. King is a master at using the written word to paint visual images of the everglades and the people who live in them but in "Acts of Nature" his extraordinary description of a massive hurricane and its aftermath is so breathtakingly vivid that you begin to hear the wind and feel the water.

Max has convinced his girlfriend, Sherry Richards, to accompany him deep into the Everglades to a remote fishing cabin for a little well deserved R & R time together. Unbeknownst to them, a perfect storm (pun intended) is brewing that will alter their lives. A huge hurricane has shifted direction and is bearing down on their location as are two deadly security guards working for a large oil company hiding a secret in the swamps. Throw in three low life looters who take the opportunity to scavenge after the hurricane and you have the ingredients for the perfect storm.

There is not a lot of mystery to be solved aside from who is behind the electronic fortress hidden in the middle of the swamp and for what it is intended. The story is more a thriller rooted in suspense as the hurricane strikes creating physical devastation both to property and to people necessitating the urgent need for Max to find a way to get Sherry to badly needed medical care. But now as the other elements of the perfect storm begin converging on the spot where Max and Sherry are sheltered, the suspense and the body count begin to rise ever higher.

"Acts of Nature" delves deeper into Max's character and demonstrates the growth from his first appearance in "The Blue Edge of Midnight". He is far from the psychically wounded city boy trying to make it in the Florida wilderness that he was in that novel and the growth has energized each of the four books since his debut. If you are a devotee of hard boiled action heroes, tautly written plots that generate suspense and believability, you owe it to yourself to give Jonathon King a try.

3.0 out of 5 stars 3.5 stars if it were possible..., November 14, 2011

By 

MED "constantly reading" (Illinois) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Acts of Nature: A Max Freeman Mystery (Book Five) (Kindle Edition)

I have enjoyed the Max Freeman series by Jonathon King. In this installment Freeman and his girlfriend, detective Sherry Richards take some time away after another case brings them together. They are hiding out at Freeman's cabin when they decide to go further into the Everglades at a friend's fishing cabin. While there they find themselves in the middle of a hurricane. The storm all but destroys the cabin and seriously injures Sherry.

The attempt by Max to get Sherry out of the Glades and to safety finds them on a collision course with some local Gladesmen who are trying to profit by looting after the storm and a pair of oil worker fixers who are trying to determine if a clandestine research shack has been damaged in the storm.

King's prose is very good, but I found this storyline one dimensional - an oddity from this author. If you are reading the series, do not miss this installment. In my opinion, though, not the best of the lot