ShortHand Publishing - Review of Southern Storm

Review of “Southern Strom”

Terri Blackstock

Rate: ♥♥♥♥♥

ISBN: 0-7394-3528-0 (Hard cover)

Well I didn’t think it was possible, but Terri Blackstock has outdone her previous book, Cape Refuge. This second in the series will hold your interest from the first few pages.

When Chief of Cape Refuge Police Department, Matthew Cade, is called to divert traffic around a downed power line in the middle of a storm, his day doesn’t end the way he expects. With lightening bolts almost constant, and wind and rain coming down so hard umbrellas are useless, he cautiously makes his way through the pouring rain.

As he navigates traffic, he notices a man standing on the opposite side of the road, being splashed by passing cars. He wonders why the man doesn’t move. When cars don’t clear the way for him, Cade decides to pass the car ahead. Carefully he pulls out into the southbound lane with traffic coming towards him, thankfully they pulled over to make way. As he passes the car, he tries to see who's driving, when he turns his attention back to the road, it’s too late to react, the man on the curb steps onto the road – right in front of Cade’s car!

After the impact Cade rushes to the man’s side, an ambulance is called and the man is rushed to hospital, where he later dies. The autopsy reveals the man had a gun shot wound. However that doesn’t stop Cade from blaming himself for the man’s death.

A day after the accident, Cade turns up missing! Has he disappeared to lick his wounds, or has something very sinister happened to him?

Sadie, Morgan and Jonathon’s foster daughter, is having a difficult time adjusting to school. The other kid’s ignore her because of her past. When Trevor, a fellow student with his own shady past, shows an interest in Sadie, she can’t resist. She is warned about his family and her guardians refuse to allow her to see Trevor.

Even though she is caught after sneaking out to attend a party with him, she secretly sneaks out again to attend a wedding with him.

Blair, Morgan’s sister and a non-believer, is desperate to find Cade. The two have become very close, after her parents’ murder a few months earlier. Despite a written note, supposedly from Cade, Blair continues her search. She begins staking out the widow of the man who died after Cade’s car hit him. Could this grieving widow have anything to do with Cade’s disappearance?

After trying to get help from the Savannah police, Blair decides to take matter into her own hands. Even her sister can’t stop her now. Will she uncover more than she thinks is behind those walls? And who is kidnapping all the newborn babies from surrounding hospitals?

This story has so many twists and turns, you won’t be able to put it down. This book should come with a warning – “Don’t pick up, unless you are able to read it cover to cover!”