Killer Storm [Paperback]

Jen Wright (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2007

The orderly life of Jo Spence is seldom disturbed, except when she is dreaming. As a Juvenile Probation Supervisor in Duluth, Jo loves her work overseeing a staff of highly dedicated professionals. They guide the youth of the city out of trouble while protecting the safety of the community. When a murderer strikes, Jo's job suddenly becomes unpredictably threatening. She is forced to abandon her home in the country to take refuge with close friend Kathy and her partner Donna. Set against a backdrop of the idyllic life led by the women of the Valley, this suspenseful story reveals the inside world of the courthouse, jails, and the criminal justice system. Multiple murders, an attempt to break a gang leader out of a local detention facility, raids, and drug busts contribute to an action-oriented plot. In the middle of this turbulent time in Jo's life, her friends set her up with Zoey, a new faculty member at the local university. Their first date turns into a three-day encounter during a record-setting snowstorm. Jo tries unsuccessfully to resist the strong attraction she feels for Zoey, but she is drawn into the most intense affair of her life.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Who would think a probation officer's life would be so exciting? Jo Spence, head of Juvenile Probation in Killer Storm, would be quick to point out that it isn't, usually. But on those times that it is...Well, read this book, peopled with throughly likeable characters!" - --Joan M. Drury, author of Silent Words

About the Author

Jen Wright lives in Clover Valley, a small community located northeast of Duluth near the north shore of Lake Superior.

Jen has worked in probation and corrections for the past twenty years. She is currently a Court and Field Supervisor for a corrections agency, supervising probation officers and overseeing programs.

Product Details

• Paperback: 188 pages
• Publisher: Clover Valley Press, LLC; 1st edition (April 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0979488303
• ISBN-13: 978-0979488306
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #874,265 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Killer Storm, May 19, 2007

By 

J. Torrence - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Killer Storm (Paperback)

Killer Storm was a great read. Wright's lesbian characters come alive and her descriptions of the north shore of Lake Superior and its surrounds bring you right there to feel the rawness and also the peace and beauty. Jo Spence has a little of all of us in her and Wright does a great job of letting us see her complexities and simple humaness. The sex scenes in this book are super! Can't wait for another book by Wright.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Solid, but somewhat uninspiring, November 25, 2007

By 

B. Rabkeb (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Killer Storm (Paperback)

This book is actually probabaly around 2-1/2 stars, but I don't know that it belongs in the same category of my 2-star reviews. Perhaps an average 3 stars. There were a lot of things I liked about it, but it had a lot of weaknesses also.

I enjoyed the interesting insight into the jobs of parole officers and their important role in law enforcement. This book was also full of well-structured sentences, and vivid descriptions of the outdoors and the variety of entertaining activities to be had in said environment, particularly in the winter. The characters are realistic, and act like they could be actual people with lives of their own.

But the prose was curiously unemotional. At first I thought this was deliberate due to the struggles the main character admittedly had with detachment, and waited eagerly for the turn, thinking that was a clever literary trick. But even after Jo opened her life up and took positive steps to ask the hard questions and engage in deep conversations, there really was no more emotion expressed in the character's thinking. It was kind of like reading a very descriptive and well-written grocery list: this happened, then this, so I did this, then said this. For me there was too little description or musing of the emotional or sensory impacts of events. She tells us she's feeling emotion, but doesn't (or rarely) describes it.

This lack of emotional depth was somewhat at odds with the otherwise very sweet and touching descriptions of Jo's fledgling relationship with Zoe, and the realities of her other friendships and relationships both personally and professionally. There's something compelling, and even a sort of art to how the relationships in the book are described and handled with such clean lines.

The framework here is solid, and even inspired: there were bits I really liked and images that will probably stick with me for some time. But the book itself didn't really give this reader anything to latch onto for the creation of an emotional resonance, merely an intellectual one. Enough for a low to average 3 stars.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good read!, May 28, 2007

By 

msupnorth (Bemidji MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Killer Storm (Paperback)

Jen Wright made me want to move to Duluth, find some good pals and a great job and have a gentle torrid love affair. Hey -- that's what books are for, to carry you away, and Killer Storm did just that. Wright's descriptions of the country, Jo's beloved dogs, her friends, the courts and cops -- even the food -- are all pitch-perfect.