Customer Reviews

Storm Surge (The Storm Series #3)

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I loved this book, and I loved Mick. The characters and setting were so realistically drawn that I almost expected to turn on the television and find reports of a category five hurricane or a murder investigation going on. I recommend reading the three books in order because they are closely tied in together. I LOVE this series, and Rene's books.

If the name 'Rene Gutteridge' does not appear on your list of reading credits, your literary dossier is woefully incomplete.

Ms. Gutteridge's veteran pen has once again produced a superbly entertaining work with a wonderful balance of humor, poignancy and mystery. Storm Surge, the third in the "Storm" series, follows FBI Special Agent Mick Kline in a race against the death-row clock. The condemned prisoner, Sammy Earle, has been incarcerated for a crime in which Agent Kline himself was once implicated. Only now doubts begin to surface as to Sammy's guilt, and Mick personally takes on the case against everyone's advice, including his own.

The web of intrigue began to weave itself in steamy jungles of Vietnam with the murder and disappearance of two American soldiers. In the intervening years, it expands and stretches taut, ensnaring more hapless victims who stumble--or are pushed--into it. It finally snaps amid a Category 4 hurricane on the Texas coast, where it threatens not only Mick, but the woman he loves. The action is intense, the drama poignant, and the characters multidimensional. Having said that, my next comment may seem a little odd: it was really funny. By that I mean Ms. Gutteridge has mastered the tricky art of diffusing tension at just the right points with appropriate humor. How? By knowing how to write.

I've commented on an author's writing voice in a few of my posts, with notables going to Liz Curtis Higgs and Sibella Giorello. Put Rene Gutteridge right alongside them. I rarely laugh out loud when I read a crime novel, but my uninhibited reaction to Ms. Gutteridge's subtly witty narrative style and glib repartee between characters drew more than one raised eyebrow from my wife, who was lying next to me trying to concentrate on her own book. I kept saying, "Listen, you've got to hear this passage! You'll crack up!" I guess I said that too many times, as she finally exhorted me to stop before I read her the whole book. (Sorry, Jeannie, but just wait until you read it . . . )

I had the pleasure of sitting through a couple of Ms. Gutteridge's seminars at an ACW writers' conference two years ago. If I had taken better notes, perhaps I could write as well as she does . . . in a few years . . . or longer . . . maybe. (Sigh!)

Rene has an incredible talent for character developement. The characters she creates are people you've known, or wish you had. She draws a reader into the lives of her character in a way that makes you regret their loss when you finish her books. Rene traps you with her storyline from the first sentence and carries you through to the non-stop ending.

The twist and turns of Rene's Storm Series are the cause of a sleepless night or two and then again as you wait for the next book in the series. Teh ending is then a cause of some frustration when you realize you won't hear of these friends again.

Storm Surge is the third book in a series involving Mick Kline, who in the series has been an FBI agent, storm chaser, accountant, football coach, fugitive and then and FBI agent again.

The second book in this series revealed that a killer was still on the loose and this book adresses that mystery as well as some new ones. In my opinion, the second book should definitely be read before this one. It isn't necessary to read the first book to enjoy the next two.

Sammy Earle, the sleazy lawyer from the last book, is on death row and believes he is innocent. He doesn't care about his life, but he does want someone to know that here is a killer that is still roaming free. Earle contacts Mick Kline and Mick agrees to take a look a the case since his deceased brother had taken an interest in it.

The best part of the book for me is the love triangle hapless Mick finds himself in. Mick has never had much success with women, but somehow finds himself in love with three women and having to juggle time with them. The first is Jenny, his deceased brother's wife and a woman he once loved. The second is Faith, a woman he saved from danger in the first book and who is finally over the death of her husband. The final is Libby Lancaster, the ATF agent with a tough shell hiding a damaged woman on the inside.

Mick is working with Libby to solve a string of fires that may or may not be insurance fraud. Mich manages to penetrate her hardened shell of cynicism and soon a romance develops as they try and find out who is setting the fires and if Sammy Earle is innocent.

This is a good book that I'd recommend to anyone. My only problem is that Mich chose a girl other than one I would have chosen. Oh well.

I love Rene's previous novels, and this one is no exception. It brings her "Storm" series to a satisfying conclusion and really makes it work. It's not every day you have a trilogy like this involving a central character and theme, yet possible to read in any order and still enjoy. Another winner!