The Killing Storm

by:  Kathryn Casey
published by:  Minotaur Books

On a quiet afternoon in the park, four-year-old Joey plays in the sandbox, when a stranger approaches looking for his puppy. While Joey’s mom, Crystal, talks on her cell phone, the stranger convinces the child to help search. By the time Crystal turns around, her son has disappeared. Yet her reaction is odd, not what one would expect from a distraught mother. Is Crystal somehow involved in her son’s abduction?


Meanwhile, on a ranch outside Houston, Texas Ranger Sarah Armstrong assesses a symbol left on the hide of a slaughtered longhorn, a figure that dates back to a forgotten era of sugarcane plantations and slavery. Soon other prizewinning bulls are butchered on the outskirts of the city, each bearing a similar drawing. The investigations converge at the same time a catastrophic hurricane looms in the Gulf. Finally, as dangerous winds and torrential rains pummel the city, Sarah is forced to risk her life to save Joey.

This is the 3rd book in a series by Kathryn Casey featuring Texas Ranger Sarah Armstrong.  I haven't read the first two, but I didn't feel lost at all.  This book felt like it stood competely on it's own.  That's a real plus in my opinion. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  It was very well written and it was really tense and suspensful.  There was the all the action of the initial abduction and trying to figure out what happened to him and trying to find Joey before it was too late.  In addition to that, there was an impending hurricane threatening to derail the entire investigation. 

I've been telling my suspense loving friends to check out Kathryn Casey.  This was this first book I've read by her and I was very impressed.  Her characters were great and story was clever and obviously well researched.  I'll be going back to read the first two books for sure and looking forward to future books as well.