Explore our new BookBrowse Community Forum!

Summary and Reviews of The Storm Murders by John Farrow

The Storm Murders by John Farrow

The Storm Murders

The Storm Murders Trilogy (Volume 1)

by John Farrow
  • BookBrowse Review:
  • Critics' Consensus:
  • First Published:
  • May 26, 2015, 320 pages
  • Rate this book

  • Buy This Book

About This Book

Book Summary

Two policemen are called to an isolated farm house. Inside are two dead people. But there are no tracks in the snow leading either to the house or away. What happened here?

On the day after a massive blizzard, two policemen are called to an isolated farm house sitting all by itself in the middle of a pristine snow-blanketed field. Inside the lonely abode are two dead people. But there are no tracks in the snow leading either to the house or away. What happened here? Is this a murder/suicide case? Or will it turn into something much more sinister?

ONE

Sudden on the windshield, the sunlight was blinding. As the squad car emerged from a canyon formed by towering dense spruce onto a broad plateau of farmland, the officers inside the vehicle snapped down their visors. Wild gusts sculpted fields of fresh powder into rhythmic waves overnight, but as the storm passed the wind ceased. No trace of movement disturbed the distant view to the horizon, a seamless ocean of white lying perfectly still as though arrested at the moment of a tidal shift. Plows made a pass, yet the road remained slick with a glimmer of snow. The two cops fumbled for their sunglasses, neither for effect nor from any sense of police propriety, but the reflection off snow on a clear day under a cold snap in February created a brilliance more luminous than any summer's noon.

The man riding shotgun scanned the horizon. He daydreamed of distant destinations, all south. His driver, silent also, remained intent on the soft shoulders as he slowed for a turn and ...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

BookBrowse Review

BookBrowse

The plot not only thickens, it gels into a teeming, delightful stew (sorry for the mixed metaphor) of clues, red herrings, and blind alleys – some in New Orleans, Louisiana where Sandra is kidnapped. There's even a point where, despite all the law enforcement involved from Montreal to New Orleans to Washington, DC, no one appears above suspicion. Mmm. Delicious. And just when I thought I had it all figured out – yes, Farrow is that tricky – everything I thought was going on was tossed into the air. The conclusion – like the chase – is curvy and complicated enough to satisfy the most avid conspiracy theorist...continued

Full Review Members Only (704 words)

(Reviewed by Donna Chavez).

Media Reviews

Kirkus Reviews
Starred Review. One of the best mysteries from Canada in some time, this fourth book in a strong series is equally good at capturing the atmosphere of New Orleans and the distinctive qualities of Montreal.

Library Journal
Starred Review. Farrow (the pen name of Canadian writer Trevor Ferguson) has written an excellent thriller in which characters, plot, and setting score a triple for suspense.

Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. The hair-raising action moves from New Orleans to Alabama and back to Quebec, building to a brilliantly executed conclusion.

Reader Reviews

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Beyond the Book



Law Enforcement and Retirement

Retirement SignWhat is more stressful for a law enforcement officer? Facing a bunch of drunk, angry, armed motorcycle gangsters or facing retirement? The Storm Murders' protagonist, retired Montreal Sergeant-Detective Émile Cinq-Mars would think the latter.

Most who enter the field of law enforcement do so with intentions of public service and bringing peace and justice into their communities. Many have specific and similar qualities, according to the Colorado Police Officers' Foundation. They either like, or possess a knack for, being an authority figure who can command control in out-of-control situations. They often feel comfortable in a military or quasi-military organization where they share a close kinship with their fellow officers, and ...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full readalike results are for members only

If you liked The Storm Murders, try these:

  • The Long Way Home jacket

    The Long Way Home

    by Louise Penny

    Published 2015

    About this book

    More by this author

    Happily retired in the village of Three Pines, Armand Gamache, former Chief Inspector of Homicide with the Sûreté du Québec, has found a peace he'd only imagined possible. Until his neighbor seeks him out, when her artist husband fails to come home.

  • Turn of Mind jacket

    Turn of Mind

    by Alice LaPlante

    Published 2012

    About this book

    More by this author

    A stunning first novel, both literary and thriller, about a retired surgeon with dementia who clings to bits of reality through anger, frustration, shame and unspeakable loss.

We have 4 read-alikes for The Storm Murders, but non-members are limited to two results. To see the complete list of this book's read-alikes, you need to be a member.
More books by John Farrow
Search read-alikes
How we choose read-alikes
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Graveyard Shift
    Graveyard Shift
    by M. L. Rio
    Following the success of her debut novel, If We Were Villains, M. L. Rio's latest book is the quasi-...
  • Book Jacket: The Sisters K
    The Sisters K
    by Maureen Sun
    The Kim sisters—Minah, Sarah, and Esther—have just learned their father is dying of ...
  • Book Jacket: Linguaphile
    Linguaphile
    by Julie Sedivy
    From an infant's first attempts to connect with the world around them to the final words shared with...
  • Book Jacket
    The Rest of You
    by Maame Blue
    At the start of Maame Blue's The Rest of You, Whitney Appiah, a Ghanaian Londoner, is ringing in her...

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Pony Confidential
    by Christina Lynch

    In this whimsical mystery, a grumpy pony must clear his beloved human's name from a murder accusation.

Who Said...

Our wisdom comes from our experience, and our experience comes from our foolishness

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

F the M

and be entered to win..