Ratings3
Average rating3.3
“Deeply atmospheric, breathlessly suspenseful, with a ticking clock like no other—a terrific thriller.”—Lee Child Haunted by dark secrets and an unsolved mystery, a young doctor returns to his isolated Adirondacks hometown in a tense, gripping novel in the vein of Michael Koryta and Harlan Coben. Burying the past only gives it strength—and fury. Nate McHale has assembled the kind of life most people would envy. After a tumultuous youth marked by his inexplicable survival of a devastating tragedy, Nate left his Adirondack hometown of Greystone Lake and never looked back. Fourteen years later, he’s become a respected New York City surgeon, devoted husband, and loving father. Then a body is discovered deep in the forests that surround Greystone Lake. This disturbing news finally draws Nate home. While navigating a tense landscape of secrets and suspicion, resentments and guilt, Nate reconnects with estranged friends and old enemies, and encounters strangers who seem to know impossible things about him. Haunting every moment is the Lake’s sinister history and the memory of wild, beautiful Lucy Bennett, with whom Nate is forever linked by shattering loss and youthful passion. As a massive hurricane bears down on the Northeast, the air becomes electric, the clouds grow dark, and escalating acts of violence echo events from Nate’s own past. Without a doubt, a reckoning is coming—one that will lay bare the lies that lifelong friends have told themselves and unleash a vengeance that may consume them all. Praise for The Storm King “Brendan Duffy’s second book mingles horror, historical fiction, supernatural suspense and old-fashioned murder mystery, the rare phantasmagoria whose pieces click into a satisfying resolution. . . . This is a gutsy, intricate, evocative piece of mischief, much closer than anyone usually gets to that particular spell cast by Stephen King.”—USA Today “Duffy follows his debut, House of Echoes, with a stunning literary thriller, which combines accomplished wordsmithing with startling twists.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “An elaborately layered, creepily atmospheric story that blends haunting legends and the psychological terror of a murderer on the hunt. A winning thriller sure to draw readers of Jennifer McMahon, Ruth Ware, and Michael Koryta.”—Booklist (starred review)
Reviews with the most likes.
4.5 This was a fantastic read. An evocative atmospheric thriller with an original plot and plenty of twists. Will be eagerly looking towards my next read by Brendan Duffy!
I'm considering bumping to a 5...months later I still find myself thinking about this one.
I received this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review
DNF @ 32%
I did try! 32%??? That is me saying “okay, this isn't terrible writing, I can totally get through this– eventually I'll care about the outcome” over and over again until I realize I'm wasting my time and I really just don't care how it ends.
Like I said, I don't think this is badly written. Everything is where it should be and all makes sense. I just wasn't gripped by it. When I read a thriller, I want to feel desperate to know how it ends. When I read a mystery, I want to be guessing along with the MC about who is doing the bad things. Yet, I felt neither of those things.
Nate is a character I could almost feel myself liking. He has the hints of an anti-hero, especially when we read the chapters that take place in the past. Instead of liking him for his vengeful and vigilante ways of thinking, I honestly just found him to be childish.
Childish, that is literally what my feelings on the characters, the conflict, and everything comes down to. It is like the characters have grown up, but at the same time, haven't. And everything that is happening to them? Karma.
I could probably vent some more about how I just wanted the characters to grow up, or the police to do other things, but I think I've covered it well enough.
In the end, this isn't a terrible book. Many people are totally in love with it. I think it just hit me wrong and once I started thinking about how silly all of this was, I couldn't get into it. I might recommend this to some people if they like minor thrillers and small town settings.