When The Wind Blows [Paperback]

Zachary Alan Fox (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 1999

From the author of the acclaimed "All Fall Down" comes this story of a single father who, according to a death certificate, died as an infant 30 years ago in a town he never heard of. Now, an uncertain past is beckoning from the deceptively peaceful community of Harmony, Colorado, where secrets of a heinous old crime are hidden away in the Rocky Mountains. Someone will kill to keep them hidden forever.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Readers may think they are seeing double this season, since both this novel and the new James Patterson (reviewed above) bear the same title. Although it opens with the same electric tension that crackled through the author's 1997 debut, All Fall Down, Fox's second thriller soon lapses into a parody of itself through an ungainly cast and a plot that's too long and needlessly complicated. When widower Mark Ritter, the 30-year-old father of seven-year-old Lisa, travels from his home in Seattle to backwater South Dakota to bury his mother and sell off the old homeplace, he finds evidence that he was secretly adopted after the mysterious cradle death of his parents' biological child. The search to find his own biological parents leads Mark to Harmony, Colo., a world-famous ski resort, where, with the help of local reporter Karen Paige, he begins to unravel the dark threads of his life tapestry. The quest takes him to California as he uncovers smoldering embers of lust, land feuds, pedophilia, murder and betrayal?then the killing begins anew. Despite a strong first half, Fox introduces too many?and often too cartoonish?characters. By the time the tedious tale reaches the slapstick shootout, the reader is too exasperated to care who lives or dies. $150,000 ad/promo.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

It's something most of us wonder at least once: What if I'm not who I think I am? When Mark Ritter's mother dies, he finds, among her papers, a 30-year-old death certificate with his own name on it. When he sets out to discover his real identity, he expects it to be a tough job, but he doesn't expect to uncover a conspiracy of murder and mayhem. And why do so many people in the small town of Harmony, Colorado, seem to be taking such an unhealthy interest in Mark's seven-year-old daughter? This is Fox's second novel, and it's a real corker. Unlike many thrillers, this one is genuinely baffling. Readers will find themselves stepping into Mark's shoes, trying desperately to get a clue, even the tiniest hint of a clue, about what's going on. But Fox uses misdirection with the skill of a master magician, keeping us looking in one direction while he does something sneaky with his other hand, so it's best just to sit back and enjoy the show. David Pitt --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 478 pages
• Publisher: Pinnacle (July 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786006587
• ISBN-13: 978-0786006588
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,907,418 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Faulty, but ..., October 27, 2000

By 

Ronald Flackus "Music/Movie Addict" (Chandler, AZ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: When The Wind Blows (Hardcover)

I agree with many of the previous reviews of WHEN THE WIND BLOWS--the book has flaws. For one thing, most of the members of the police force in the little town of Harmony were really stereotyped, like the typical southern cops in a TV melodrama. Why a town that totally relies on its tourist trade for survival would have a bunch of thugs as its law enforcers stretches the credibility factor. The cops were a lot of fun to dislike, but would have been more believable had at least a couple of the members of the force been more sincere in carrying out their duties as public servants.

Events fall into place too fast and too easily. Mark Ritter goes from being a man bereaving his mother's death to finding out secrets buried and hidden from his past within the time span of a few days. It's like the town of Harmony had been in limbo for 30 years until he showed up to set them in motion.

One of the really annoying factors in this novel was the author's problem in trying to decide what to do with Ritter's 10-year-old daughter while the man was hunting down clues to his past. In most scenes, the child was in the way of the story. The common device the author used to remind us of the girl's presence was to have her complaining for ice cream, whining to go horseback riding, etc. This, in reality, is what most children would do to get some attention after being subjected to hours of listening to adults talk about topics often too mature for a 10-year-old's ears. But her presence became annoying when I wanted to see the plot advance and then have to stop for an ice cream break for the child. To solve this technical problem, the author should have found a logical way to keep the girl from appearing in just about every scene, i.e., creating a nice motherly character to baby-sit her (there HAD to be someone without an evil thought even in Harmony). Instead, her father left her with virtual strangers or let her wander off by herself, even after he discovered the child's life had been threatened.

And yes, the ending was too long and cumbersome, finally all tied up in ribbon like a Christmas package.

Despite its weaknesses and inconsistencies, I had a great time reading this novel.. Mr. Fox has a knack with suspense that, at two o'clock in the morning, kept me saying, "One more chapter and then I'll go to sleep." Needless to say, I read the book in two days. And that's what a suspense novel should be. Right?

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good at first, but about 150 pages too long, February 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: When The Wind Blows (Hardcover)

The premise was fascinating - who hasn't thought at least one time in their life their parents are not really their parents, and that they were adopted? This book grabbed me from the start, and carried me through the first hundred or so pages at breakneck speed. In the middle I kind of lost steam, and by the end of the book, I was almost screaming, "When is this going to be over?!?!?" The last hundred pages or so dragged, and I almost didn't care if anyone made it to the end. Overall, it was a decent book, and I wouldn't mind trying out another one by Zachary Fox, I just hope he gets a better editor.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars That's not the only thing that blows..., January 15, 2005

By 

W. Phinizy (Fountain Valley, Ca United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: When The Wind Blows (Paperback)

Just to emphasize what has been said here in other reviews: I found Mark, the "hero" plagued with an inability to control his emotions, to be a little off-putting. His personality is wholly inconsistent with the fact that he endured four years of Air Force Academy hazing, the stress flying F-16s (he must have had temper tantrums on each mission he flew), and his wife being mowed down by a drunk..

..but, then again, I guess I would get a little edgy around his daughter as well. Perhaps if he didn't feed her so much junk food and ice cream. Mr. Fox's writing style is not that bad and things could have been worse. He could have been working with the editor who worked with Mr. Finder when he created that unfortunate book, "Extraordinary powers".