Rating: 
Summary: exciting police procedural serial killer thriller
Review: Promise, Oklahoma Police Chief Charlie Glover knows the danger of an F-3 (Fujita Scale) twister having lived in Tornado Alley all his life. Death and destruction are a normal pattern of a tornado of that strength. So when one that severe hits his jurisdiction, Charlie is prepared for the worst. However, what he and his staff find at the Pepper home makes no sense. The outside of the house remains standing as if nothing touched it. Inside the home is the work of a diabolical killer, who used the latest nasty storm to disguise three brutal murders made up to look like a twister somehow got into the house.Charlie immediately noticed the abrasions on the arms and hands of the victims. These injuries look like someone trying to fend off an attack. Later the medical examiner informs Charlie that only a maniac would have done this. The culprit transplanted someone else's tooth into each of the dead victims. Successive storms result in more victims with the eerier additional tooth implanted in their mouths. Charlie continues to investigate a psychopath with an obsession and a professional knowledge of tornadoes. Fans will appreciate this exciting police procedural serial killer thriller. The story line is action packed and the key cast members, especially Charlie, his teenage daughter, his romantic interest, and his employees are a solid cast. The key characters remain the tornados that have a life of their own yet the depth of rage does not come across as with recent movies or even compared with the humorous twister that transported Dorothy out of Oz. Still readers obtain a powerful storm related thriller inside a strong cat and mouse who-done-it. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Breathtaking!
Review: 'The Breathtaker' by Alice Blanchard is so well written that I'm not sure whether I enjoyed the plot, the charachters or the descriptions of the town and the storms most. Together they create one of the most original mysteries I've read in many years. Charlie Grover, recently widowed police chief in a small midwest town, is the victim of a childhood fire that left him scarred both physically and psychologically. He is doing his best to help his feisty teenage daughter after the recent death of his wife from cancer but his long hours at work are taking their toll on their relationship. When a devastating tornado sweeps through the town Charlie discovers that three murders have been committed under cover of the tornado. Additional research convinces Charlie that there are previous murders that have been committed by this dangerously derranged killer. He seeks the help of Willa Bellman, a tornado researcher and part of a group of local storm chasers, to whom he has had an attraction in the past. Together they must find the culprit before the next tornado hits and he finds his next victims. This story succeds on many levels. It is informative, beautifully written, exciting and suspenseful. Along with 'Darkness Peering' it puts Blanchard at the top of my list of favorite mystery writers.
Rating: 
Summary: Murder Most Unusual
Review: Breathtaker starts fast and ends even faster. A diabolical serial killer murdering under the cloak of tornadoes is a great change of pace from the many mysteries based in 'dark' urban areas that I could recommend this book for that alone. Our hero is quite flawed with unresolved anger towards his father, unrelenting grief over the deaths of his mother and sister when he was a young boy, and now, trying to cope with a teenage daughter while both are still reeling from the death, due to cancer, of their beloved wife and mother. Blanchard allows her characters to make poor decisions or over-react to situations. My only criticisms are the tornado chases become a bit repetitive and upon learning who the killer is, I realize I would have loved some scenes or chapters in his 'voice' without necessarily revealing his identity. The killer has quite a background in abuse and violence which is told in a sort of 'catch-up' style towards the end. I would have prefered to 'hear' him in his home or work area thinking about his next kill or just merely preparing his materials. Breathtaker is very good, but not a legend like "Silence of the Lambs".
Rating:
Summary: INTENSE
Review: I had know idea what to expect when I picked up this book to read. I bought it because it was a Today Show Pick. Well let me tell you it was great!!! It is a very suspensful novel about a serial murder who kills during tornadoes. I couldn't put it down. Should make a good movie. Only reason I didn't give it 5 stars was because I felt there were a few loose ends but I would read another by this author.
Rating:
Summary: NY Times Book Review:
Review: "Nothing about the delicately rendered psychological terrors of Alice Blanchard's debut novel, ''Darkness Peering,'' could have prepared us for the howling horrors of THE BREATHTAKER. Set in a region of rural Oklahoma known as Tornado Alley, this gale-force thriller charts the warped progress of a serial killer who strikes only during tornadoes and models his handiwork on their devastation. That should be enough of a charge for one book, but such is Blanchard's artistry that she whips up even more excitement by taking us joy riding with storm chasers who jump into their trucks and ride into the path of the big twisters. ''Heroin for the heartland'' is their catchphrase for storm chasing. As one enthusiast puts it, ''When you chased the wind, the ground fell away from under your feet and you were transported someplace else.'' Charlie Grover, the seasoned police chief of Promise, Okla., joins these daredevils when his 16-year-old daughter is kidnapped by the killer and driven into the eye of a majestic storm -- a plot development that satisfies genre conventions but seems superfluous in a story that gets more blood-pumping effects from its spectacular weather reporting. In truth, Blanchard writes so well that even her quiet descriptions of desolate towns and lonely people are good enough to rattle the rafters."
Rating:
Summary: A terrific thriller
Review: This was a scary, fast, fun book. There were a lot of great storm scares and the killer was a freak of nature. :) It's beautifully-written with an interesting and original cast of characters. And the ending is action-packed.
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Summary: A PAGE TURNER - SHOULD BE MADE INTO A MOVIE
Review: THIS A GREAT BOOK. I LOVE TO READ BUT WITH 3 KIDS IT'S HARD TO FIND TIME TO READ. THIS BOOK WAS SO SO INTENSE THAT I READ IT IN A DAY. GREAT GREAT BOOK!
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Summary: A thrilling thriller with lots of "twists"...
Review: I read this on a single plane ride from coast to coast and only put it down to eat and take bathroom breaks. What a terrific story and very well-told. Kind of cool reading about tornadoes when you're flying in the clouds, too... natural atmosphere! The only thing Blanchard could've done better with this one is to have written it faster. I hope I don't have to wait four years from her next book, even though this one was well worth the wait.
Rating: 
Summary: Willard Would Know Better
Review: Author Alice Blanchard must have been absent from writing class every time the instructor tried to drill into students' heads: "Write what you know!" Her book, Breathtaker, is set in Oklahoma, but, Boy Howdy! it is painfully evident that Blanchard has not even a passing acquaintance with its geography. Her fictional town of Promise, OK, is said to be just north of El Reno. But when folks get in their vehicles and start driving around, it just plumb don't make no sense. Burns Flat becomes just a hop, skip, and a jump away - as is Tulsa. And "EAST Texas" is only about 80 miles away. Near as this former resident of Norman, Tulsa, and Clinton can tell, Blanchard and her editors are calling the Texas panhandle "East Texas." Nope! Ask Oprah, who faced trial and tribulations in Amarillo, or Pres. GW, or Dr. Phil! Nor does anyone involved with this book (their Coasts are showing!) catch that those of us in Central Time do NOT have nightly News at 11:00 for which TV reporters must scramble to make deadline. In our part of the Fly-over, news is at 10:00. Whoever picks selections for the Today Show bookclub must not read many mystery thrillers, either. The habitué can see the killer comin' like a storm all the way across the flats of the Texas Panhandle and Western OK. /TundraVision, Amazon Reviewer..
Rating:
Summary: Could have been better
Review: The book sounded like it had a very interesting premise, but, in the end, it was a little disappointing. It was a fast read, but there was not enough about the motivations of the killer. If the author would have spent a little longer on that arc, then the fast-paced ending would not have seemed so premature. I would certainly recommend this book for light reading.
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