Customer Reviews

Storm Warning

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Ginny Shapiro gets the shock of her life when she realizes that six out of the seven girls that were in the gifted class at age six are dead of suicide after receiving mysterious phone calls. Most of the women were happy, most especially her close friend Georgia who embraced God and became Sister Mary Theresa. When she finds out how Georgia died, and receives a package from her after she died, Ginny knew that she couldn't stay put. On the run from an unknown assaliant, Ginny has no one, until Sullivan Dean comes to her rescue.

Agent Sully Dean is dealing with his own guilt. Knowing Georgia since she was in pigtails, he was more than happy for her when she made her decision to become a nun. When he got her package too late to help, he knew that the one thing that he could do to honor her memory was to protect her friend, Ginny. What he doesn't expect is the complexity of the case, nor his feelings for Ginny.

Storm Warning has a very interesting story line, but the romance between the two seemed to fall flat. There was a little too much drama involved with an incident that happened half way through the book, which I think the book could have done with out. It was after days that they fell in love, but they just didn't seem to click as most authors make their characters click. I enjoyed the suspense and the ending was very surprising and a lot disturbing.

I was looking forward to this book. The plot sounded interesting, and I am a great fan of Dinah McCall. To say I was disappointed is an understatement. Is this the same women who wrote Jackson Rule and Dreamcatcher??? The romance was forced, and almost like an afterthought. The part of the book about the fishing camp had nothing to do with the main plot, and was distracting to the story line. This book, in my opinion, was poorly written. I expected much better from an author with Ms. McCall's experience. If you want to read this book, wait until it comes to your library.

Dinah McCall serves up a thriller with a little different beat. STORM WARNING has the reader wondering if this could really happen and lets your imagination take over from there, similar to John Saul's GUARDIAN.

Seven girls who attended a gifted class when they were very young in 1979 are suddenly committing suicide with no warning and under very bizarre circumstances - each receive a phone call and become entranced and kill themselves. When Ginny Shapirio, an investigative reporter, realizes she's the only one left from this class, she begins to wonder. She receives a letter of warning from Sister Mary Theresa (her best friend) warning her not to answer the phone. Sister Mary Theresa has linked their classmates' deaths to a phone call right before their demise. However, Sister Mary Theresa dies before the letter is received and Ginny flees to try to save herself - but from what or whom she's not certain.

FBI agent Sullivan Dean, finds Ginny, and tries to help. It's a convoluted chain of friendships that gets Dean involved, but once you figure that out, you understand his drive. Ginny and Dean strive to figure out why these suicides happened, and what can be done to stop the "trigger" from setting off Ginny.

Character development is excellent. McCall creates a vibrant victim in Ginny - she's smart, attractive, and a strong female. Dean is also robust and the perfect match to compliment Ginny. Thrown in is a Nobel-winning doctor (Emile Karnoff) who is a bit eccentric but believes in his theory of using hypnosis to heal. Emile comes with his crazy son and doting wife (she thrives on keeping everything tidy).

The plot line is a bit farfetched, but fun. To spice up the thriller side of the story, a good dose of romance is tossed in for good measure. STORM WARNING is a perfect blend of thriller and romance. Dinah McCall (AKA Sharon Sala) is definitely an author to peruse. I've enjoyed all of her books that I've read to date and STORM WARNING is at the top of that list!

This silly book is a waste of money, from it's implausible plot to it's poorly developed characters and worse writing. Seven little girls were in a special gifted students program- now six of them are dead. But prior to the death of the sixth, she discovered the link between the previous five suicides, and both warns the last girl, Ginny Shapiro, and requests help from FBI agent Sullivan Dean. Dean is too late to help number six but dashes off to the rescue of Ginny. She has gone on the run, but given the resources of the bureau, Sully soon tracks her down. Then follows a menace completely unrelated to the story, which seems to have been put there as filler for this slender plot. Sully and Ginny fall in love by rote and for no good reason except for lust and proximity, as far as I can see. The writing is stilted, as if to say, "Now we have the love scene." What is happening to these writers? Dinah McCall and her alter ego Sharon Sala has never been one of my favorite writers, but she has written far more competant novels. Maybe publishers should let writers write at their own pace. The only result of pushing and depending on a name to sell a book is that I, for one, will never bother to spend another penny on this writer.

Six seemingly well-adjusted women including a nun commit suicide following a phone call. Before Sister Mary dies, she sees the link between herself and the other students from the gifted class they all belonged to years ago. She sends a package to the other remaining survivor St. Louis reporter Virginia "Ginny" Shapiro and to her brother's best friend, FBI agent Sullivan Dean before she kills herself too.

Ginny grasps what her friend's warning means and flees into the night. Sullivan believes that in spite of a reliable witness, somehow an unknown assailant killed Sister Mary. He vows to protect Ginny from the serial killer and follows her paper trail to Tallahatchie River Landing, Mississippi. As they work together, Ginny and Sullivan fall in love, but how can they keep her safe when a murderer is just a phone call away?

STORM WARNING is an exciting romantic suspense novel that starts off with six unexplained suicides before changing into a romantic police procedural with psychological overtones. Readers will find Ginny and Sullivan to be charming characters with a strong support cast augmenting the tension. Although a major red herring seems contrived and unnecessary, this well written novel never eases up on the throttle as Dinah McCall shows why she is a best selling author.

Harriet Klausner

I found this book in a deli on my way to the beach. I didn't see any reviews on the jacket, but thought it looked interesting . . . and got a great surprise. It's very, very suspenseful, and cleverly plotted, with twists right up to the end. It's much, much better than a lot of recent books that have gotten far more hype. I wish I was a powerful literary agent -- I'd swoop in and send Dinah McCall to the moon. She's got talent and style.

The back of the book reads: "The phone rings. She picks up, but no one is there. She hears music and the sound of thunder. She hangs up in a trance. Minutes later, she is dead." Sounds good intriguing, doesn't it? Seven little girls were placed in a gifted class at an exclusive school. They only went one hour a week. Years later, they begin to die by suicide, one by one until only one is left.

Ginny Shapiro is the one alive and she's running for her life. Thanks to Sister Mary Teresa, the sixth victim, she knows someone is after her and it's all connected to a phone call. Regardless of what happens, she can't answer the phone. FBI agent Sullivan Dean, a friend of Sister Mary Teresa, tracks her down. Sister Mary Teresa had tried to contact Sullivan. He wasn't available so she sent him all the information she had found out about the other five victims, the same little girls who were in her gifted class, but he received the information too late. Now in memory of his friend, he is bound and determined to find Ginny and protect her from the same fate.

This book had the promise of being a great romantic suspense thriller; yet it fell flat on its face. The author, Dinah McCall tried to incorporate suspense and romance into her plot. She should have stuck with one and left the other alone. The book starts out full of suspense. I was immediately drawn into the story. However, when Ms. McCall started incorporating the romance angle, the whole story fell flat. It is almost like she had to write so many pages for publications. While I could see the point of the story about the doctor's family, I fail to see the need for the plot concerning the fishing camp. To me it took away from the plausibility of the plot.

Final opinion, Storm Warning is ok for a lazy afternoon read. You can put it down and come back to it. While the story isn't horrible, it's not so great that you can't bear to be away from it without knowing the ending. If I could do it over, while I would still read the book, I think I would have been better off borrowing it from a friend or picking it up at a used books store.

When I'm unable to find it locally I go to my Favorites listing, click on Amazon and away I go. Its so easy and fun and when I find my choices I'm so happy. When I get my order it just what was described. Thanks

With a tagline like "death is within arms reach...every time the phone rings" you'd expect a suspenseful thriller, but what you get is a trashy romance novel centered on a forced relationship and moved along by awkward dialogue. It started off promising and looked to be a quick read with plenty of action, but it quickly stalled. The main plot was so slow that it seemed as if hundreds of pages passed in between even being mentioned. The charactors were never fleshed out and there was no suspense, action, drama, or...well anything interesting. I forced myself to finish it because I hate to quit mid-book just in case something interesting happens, but nothing ever did.

I was hooked on this book by page 4,Loved it so much, I have bought it 3 times when my copy went Missing! Now I want it on Kindel so I always have it.