Storm Catchers [Hardcover]

Tim Bowler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2003

"Tell a soul and she's dead. We'll be in touch."

The kidnap shocks the whole family. Ella has been snatched away from the house in the middle of a storm. Her brother Fin will never forgive himself for leaving her on her own. And now Sam, their little brother, has gone wandering on the cliff to "catch the storm" as it blows out to sea.

As the kidnapper's plans unfold, all the members of the family are forced to confront their deepest, darkest secrets. Fin comes to realize that Ella is not the only victim and that the real villain may be closer to home than anyone thought.

A new storm is breaking on the horizon. And it's going to change everything....

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 7-10-A suspenseful psychological page-turner with a supernatural element. Set in a small coastal village in Cornwall, it opens with a girl being snatched from her home in the middle of a storm. Fin, her older brother, blames himself for leaving Ella and their little brother, Sam, alone while their parents were at the pub. The kidnapper, a boy about Fin's age, hides Ella in a cave beneath an abandoned lighthouse and demands ransom money. When Sam sees and hears a spectral girl who encourages him to catch the next storm from the cliff's edge, he repeatedly follows the voice along the dangerous coastal path. His sensitivity helps Fin use a form of dowsing with a pendulum to find Ella in the nick of time. But, just as the lighthouse collapses, so does the family, as Ella learns the dark secrets of her father's past, including an affair, the accidental death of a child, and blackmail. Can the family weather this next storm? Bowler's plot is tightly scripted, with good pacing and steadily building tension. The complex themes of guilt and betrayal enhance the suspense. The author's stylistic use of symbolism, such as the collapsing lighthouse and three offshore islands, the Three Furies, also enriches the story. A lot happens very quickly in the resolution. There is some strong language, appropriate to the intensity of the situation. This dark thriller will appeal to fans of Robert Cormier.
Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, ME
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 6-10. In the first chapter of this exciting thriller, 13-year-old Ella is kidnapped at gunpoint in her home by a huge teenage boy who keeps her captive in a cave near the raging ocean in Cornwall, England. Then the story switches to her distraught family (especially her older brother, guilt-ridden because he had left her alone), as they try to find her and wait for the kidnapper's terse phone calls: "Tell a soul and she's dead." Bowler won Britain's Carnegie Medal for River Boy (2000), but here the mystical edge to the story is sometimes contrived, in particular the pendulums used to find Ella and the intricate parallels with the fantasy world of her 3-year-old brother. It's the fast, realistic action and dialogue and the stormy coastal setting that drive this story, as well as the seething presence of horrifying family secrets. As in Mariah Fredericks' True Confessions of a Heartless Girl [BKL Ap 1 03], the adult characters are as complex as the kids. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books; 1st U.S. ed edition (May 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689845731
• ISBN-13: 978-0689845734
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,178,123 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Bleak thriller, September 18, 2006

By 

Reader "kpcetal" (Dublin, Ireland) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Storm Catchers (Hardcover)

Unfortunately, the 'kid reviewers' above don't give their ages. My daughter was assigned this book as required reading, but the teacher pulled it after parent complaints. It is very heavy going for 12 year olds, on many levels.

First, it is very scary, with an opening that will keep many tweens from being willing to babysit!

Second, the issues are very complex. It's fairly clear, even before it comes out in the story, that the seemingly perfect dad has had an affair, that resulted in the birth of a child (while his wife was pregnant with their 2nd child). But the sins of the father- first the affair, then his 'hit and run' approach to the death of the child- are then visited on the children.

Third, the book does not have a single moment of humor, kindness, grace or redemption. The ending is grim for everybody.

Although it is not clear what a reader would take from this book, it is a real page-turner, hence the 2 stars. For a reluctant reader who is hardened to scary thrillers and doesn't care too much about what happens to the characters, it would be just fine.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Storm Catchers, May 12, 2004

By 

Sarah .Y (Greenwich, CT USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Storm Catchers (Hardcover)

Dear Amazon.com,
I read StormCatchers by Tim Bowler, in less then one day! It was a great read, with an exciting beginning, a captivating middle, and a surprising ending. It's definitely a page-turner. Here's a review.

"She was simply crying. Crying as the rain drove into her face, crying as the gate opened before her. Crying as he took her away."

Tap.Tap.Tap. Fin has gone to check out Billy's new computer, and leaves his brother and sister, Sam and Ella, at home. Little does he know that something devastating is about to take place. In the middle of this coastal storm, Ella has been stolen away by a mysterious kidnapper at night. The Parnell family is shocked-and is being torn apart by Ella's kidnapping. The kidnapper is showing no sign of relenting, giving any information on Ella's state, and saying what he really wants. Until one day, he reveals his plans, and tells the Parnell family what he wants with Ella. On the other hand, Sam has been frequently running towards the old Pengrig lighthouse to catch the Storm. Sam has been talking to himself. When asked, he simply replies, "It's a secret." As time goes on, the Parnell family is forced to unravel their past, full of their deepest, darkest secrets. Maybe getting Ella back wasn't as easy as they thought.

Tim Bowler binds the reader with this science fiction book with surprising twists. As the suspense builds up, you find out who the real criminal is. Love mystery? Then this book is for you. A mystery with a long past-it can't get any better than that!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Bland thriller, saved by a few moments of drama, February 6, 2007

By 

Inspector Gadget "Go Go Gadget Reviews" (On the trail of Doctor Claw) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Storm Catchers (Hardcover)

Tim Bowler wrote one of my favorite books ever, Starseeker. I felt obliged to check-out his other work and soon made my way through Apocalypse, which felt like a two unfinished books melted into one. One of his earlier works, Storm Catchers seemed like a more accessible and down-to-earth premise, so I thought I'd give that a go. Trouble is, it's just kind of ordinary and doesn't go to either extreme.

A wealthy family in Cornwall lose their teenage daughter to an intruder in the middle of the night and older brother vows to get the maniac, blaming himself for not being there to protect her. It could have been a solid story of searching for clues and detucting who the culprit is, but Bowler hurries through it quite quickly and blandly. Characterisation is piss-poor, there are no stand-out scenes of mystery or intrique and no defining thrilling moments. The end, in which two apparently seperate plot threads are tied together, makes up for it. But it lingers on after that with melodrama instead of going out on a high.

If Bowler expanded the story (it lasts an anorexic 200 pages) and gave enough time to build character and suspense then it could have been a great book. I have no doubt he has it in his power to write a good book, but sacrificing much of Storm Catchers potential for the sake of a quick time-waster was a mistake.