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An unexpected snowstorm becomes a monster and shuts down the town of Sheridan, Michigan.  No one forecasted what was going to happen. Not the National Weather Service, nor the majority of Meteorologists forecasting for major networks. But surprise, surprise, the unexpected storm dumps an enormous amount of snow in the area around Sheridan completely shutting down the town and causing havoc for the residents and the authorities charged with protecting them.

Conroy’s description of nature’s devastation and the damage caused by it is excellent. He also works with a scenario in which two killers have come into the town and can’t get out. A builder has put up many homes and other structures which do not conform to government code and not able to stand up to the pressures of the storm.

Meteorologist Wally Wellman working for a TV station and Police Officer Mike Stuart become the author’s go to characters in order to follow the events ensuing from the horrific snow fall. Both coincidentally have become involved with women that they are romantically attracted to; Officer Stuart with a school teacher new to Sheridan, and Wellman with the governor of the state with whom he had a short relationship years before.

The story provides an interesting read and one dealing with the real possibility of nature running wild, something which happens at frequent intervals in areas around the United States.

12/15 Paul Lane

STORM FRONT by Robert Conroy. Baen (December 1, 2015).  ISBN 978-1476780870. 240p.

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Camaro Espinoza is a charter boat captain living a quiet life, taking south Florida tourists out deep-sea fishing. Parker Story is an ex-con who is trying to do the right thing but just keeps getting kicked to the curb, so he acquiesces when his old prison cellmate offers him the job of chartering a boat.

Story asks Camaro to smuggle a political dissident out of Cuba and offers her a large sum for her services, but it is not the money she’s interested in, it’s Parker Story. He desperately needs her help with this job, as well as making her promise to get his young daughter to his brother in Texas should anything go wrong. Camaro was a combat medic and still has those skills, which stand her in good stead as nothing goes as planned with the Cuban passenger.

This is a fast moving story with lots of action, some interesting twists and the deadliest female protagonist since Jon Land’s Caitlin Strong and Steig Larsson’s Lisbeth Salander.

Copyright ©2015 Booklist, a division of the American Library Association.

12/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

NIGHT CHARTER by Sam Hawken. Mulholland Books (December 8, 2015).  ISBN 978-0316299213. 336p.

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Ethan Holt overcomes an abusive childhood – or perhaps because of it – becomes an Olympic gold medalist in the Decathlon and the press nicknames him Hercules. Many years later he is teaching at his college alma mater and struggling to raise his teenage daughter Skip alone after his wife dies in a car wreck.

Then Skip is kidnapped and Holt’s life careens out of control, especially as the kidnapper has proffered a rhyming list of challenges to be completed in order to get Skip back. Eventually Holt realizes that he is being tested through the Twelve Labors of Hercules and the kidnapper knows way too much about him, his family and his childhood.

The detective assigned the case is biased by her own personal history, but that is a definite advantage here. Eventually the FBI gets involved but it is up to Holt to complete the challenges and win his daughter back.

There are the usual kidnapping tropes in play and no real surprises here until the very end but the story pulls the reader in nonetheless. Should appeal to readers who enjoy Harlan Coben or Linwood Barclay type suburban thrillers.

Copyright ©2015 Booklist, a division of the American Library Association.

12/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

DIG TWO GRAVES by Kim Powers. Tyrus Books (December 4, 2015).  ISBN 978-1440591921. 304p.