#BookReview The Storm King by Brendan Duffy @randomhouse

The Storm King by Brendan Duffy
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

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.

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I read Brendan Duffy's debut novel House of Echoes when it was published and blow away. It was such a fabulous story and I couldn't wait to read The Storm King to see if that book would be as good.

The Storm King is about repercussions and consequences. How ones youthful acts can have consequences years later. Nate lost his family when he was young and he and his friends took out their anger on the people that they thought deserved it. He never reflected on what the consequences would be. Not until twelve years later when a body is found and he has to return back to his hometown to see the effect of his action all those years ago.

I found The Storm King to not really grab me the way House of Echoes did. Don't take me wrong, the writing is good and the story is good. It's just not mind-blowing good. There is just not much suspense in the story and I cared very little for the characters. The best part is when Nate sees the bigger picture, how everything is connected. Also, the final confrontation at the end was good.

The Storm King is a book that I wanted to love, but in the end, its story just didn't truly appeal to me. It's a case of good writing, but with a story that just didn't rock my boat.

I want to thank Ballantine Books for providing me with a free copy through Edelweiss for an honest review!