She Treads Softly: Storm Cell

Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Storm Cell

Storm Cell by Brendan DuBois
3/12/24 (originally 11/22/16); 268 pages
Severn River Publishing
Lewis Cole # 10

Storm Cell by Brendan DuBois finds Lewis Cole under pressure to prove Felix Tinos is innocent of murder charges. It is the very highly recommended 10th thriller in the Lewis Cole series.

Felix is on trial for the murder of Fletcher Moore and inexplicably is using a sub-par lawyer called Hollis Spinelli instead of his long time go-to Boston based attorney Raymond Drake. Since Lewis is not on Felix's visitor's list he can't talk to him about it. The evidence seems conclusive on the surface, but Lewis refuses to believe Felix is guilty. Things become more odd when two FBI agents approach Cole and tell him if he has to prove Felix is innocent or Felix will be murdered in prison. Then, when Lewis tries to talk to Spinelli about his defense of Felix, Spinelli sends a tough young man to convince Lewis to back off. If Lewis had questions before, this really raises his curiosity, and an inquisitive Lewis is a force to reckon with.

As expected, the quality of the writing is exceptional and the plot is compelling and intriguing. The investigation Lewis undertakes is engaging and the information he uncovers is intriguing. Part of the enjoyment is following the investigation and the clues and pieces of information Lewis uncovers. It's also good to see reoccurring characters from the series make an appearance in the narrative.

The Lewis Cole series is an excellent crime fiction thriller set in New Hampshire that just gets better with every book. The series is being re-released by Severn River Publishing. Most of them can be read as stand-alone novels, but your reading experience will be deeper and more engaging if you follow the series and have more information about all the characters. Thanks to Severn River Publishing for providing me with an advance reader's copy via Edelweiss. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.