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The Breathtaker
The Breathtaker
Author: Alice Blanchard
Award-winning author Alice Blanchard delivers the must-read literary thriller of the year-a twister of a tale about a detective trying to outwit a killer-and Mother Nature-in Tornado Alley. In the small town of Promise, Oklahoma, Chief of Police Charlie Grover has trouble on his hands. Located in the heart of TornadoAlley, Promise has just been ...  more »
ISBN-13: 9780446612746
ISBN-10: 044661274X
Publication Date: 11/1/2004
Pages: 433
Rating:
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 44

4 stars, based on 44 ratings
Publisher: Warner Books Inc
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover, Audio Cassette
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

reviewed The Breathtaker on + 29 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
Blanchard's gripping second thriller follows a smalltown police chief's pursuit of a serial killer who strikes only during tornadoes, but the "Debris Killer" is only one of the highlights of this fast-moving shocker, which also features the keen characterizations and fine atmospherics of the author's first thriller, Darkness Peering. Charlie Grover, Blanchard's sympathetic hero, lives in Promise, Okla., deep in "Tornado Alley." Recently widowed, Charlie is the physically and emotionally scarred survivor of a childhood fire that killed his mother and sister, and the father of a sweet 16-year-old daughter enchanted by a teenage storm-chaser ("the kind of troubled youth who gave troubled youths a bad name"). After Promise is hit by a severe tornado, Charlie discovers three bodies in a house with only minor damage. Their deaths are particularly gruesome-mother, father and daughter have all been impaled by flying debris; the father is "stuck like a pin cushion"-and Charlie quickly realizes that this is not the work of a storm. The bodies display defensive wounds and, worse, the killer's "signature": each has had a tooth extracted and replaced with another tooth. Charlie seeks the help of spunky scientist Willa Bellman, who introduces him to the art of storm-chasing ("heroin for the heartland") and slowly reawakens his heart. As tornado season comes on, more victims are discovered, and Charlie begins to suspect someone very close to him, before the murderer leads him on a final terrifying chase that will have readers gasping. Blanchard makes a bold move by linking her villain to tornadoes-each such powerful forces of destruction and chaos-and while it's a little far-fetched, it pays off in this dark depiction of environmental and human turmoil.
reviewed The Breathtaker on + 15 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This suspense novel by Alice Blanchard is a very unique, gripping thriller. Kept my interest from beginning to end.
reviewed The Breathtaker on + 193 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
I good mystery involving tornados. Murder and mayhem in the midst of a killer storm, How does the culprit do it? Can the sheeriff solve this mystery?....
reviewed The Breathtaker on + 3 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Very good read. Still haunts me. This is one book I remember which is rare.
ukulady avatar reviewed The Breathtaker on + 91 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
What a thrill ride! Storm chasers and serial killers. Wow.
Read All 24 Book Reviews of "The Breathtaker"

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susieqmillsacoustics avatar reviewed The Breathtaker on + 1061 more book reviews
A pretty good read, though I was a little disappointed. It seems like such a good premise, but some parts were a little "over the top" and made the story less believable. There are also some grisly details that just seemed to be added for shock value. Overall, good enough, but disappointing.
reviewed The Breathtaker on + 3 more book reviews
This is a very good book, and keeps the action moving all the time.
reviewed The Breathtaker on + 636 more book reviews
I really enjoyed the premise of this murder mystery... and even the killer was a bit of a surprise. It was pretty grotesque, but all in all, I liked this melding of _Twister_ and your standard serial killer story. I enjoyed it, but didn't love it... I have another book by her that I'll read, but unless I absolutely love it, she'll be a strictly premise-dependent author on whether or not I will keep reading her.
reviewed The Breathtaker on
This was one book I could not put down! It was so good I have read it twice and would recommend it to anyone who loves acts of mother nature with a twist of murder/mystery. Wish there were more books out there like this one!
reviewed The Breathtaker on + 91 more book reviews
Very original and very good. I recommend it!
reviewed The Breathtaker on
absorbing-- I really was sorry when the book was finished


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