My review of The Gathering Storm by Barbara Warren

The Gathering Storm is a pretty involved murder mystery. The whodunnit piece was very well done. Every chance I got, I grabbed the book to read more. That's a very good sign considering I have about thirty books to read.

As far as characterization goes, the author did a great job keeping about ten different key players distinct throughout the book. The initial murder was abrupt so I didn't get to know the victim very well before he was no longer in the story. The daughter seemed to flip from hating her dad to refusing to stop until his killer was found. That switch-off didn't work so well for me. The fact that the plot was interesting and kept my attention made up for that small weakness. There were at least four people that I flipflopped over in regards to their guilt.

The twisted ending suprised me, but that's good. I don't want it to be too easy to solve. The author did a bang-up job at making you get whiplash trying to decide who the killer was in their midst. The tale was enthralling and the faith piece was pretty good, too, though I did feel like the heroine transitioned too quickly to faith in Christ after resisting for so long. But that's just my opinion. It's certainly not enough to take away the overall entertainment value of this book.

I sort of felt like I was in a Perry Mason show with occasional victims showing up and upping the anxiety a little more each time. For a murder mystery, this probably ranks as one of my favorites. It's original, fresh, and definitely worth reading, IMHO. The Gathering Storm is due to be released September 19, 2006 by Jireh Publishing.