Rating: 
Summary: Twisted story of torture and mutilation.
Review: This was an amazing murder mystery(best I've read),I figured it out a little earlier than I wish I would of, but it was great all the way up to and after I figured it out. Boris Starling's Storm ties in with both mythology, cruel torture, and a twisted past in the killer's method to mutilation. The writing style is fantastic,just the right amount of descripition and pretty realistic characters. I have yet to read the first, Messiah by Boris Starling, and have heard it's even better than Storm, so you might want to read this one first and then read the other as a prequal. A definite must read with A GREAT plot and intresting sub plots, I suggest it to anyone who enjoys a good twisted story.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: This was truly an excellent book. However, it was not as good as Messiah. If you have never read a Boris Starling book, I recommend you read Messiah first, then Storm. If you like good or should I say extremely captivating endings, then you'll love Boris Starling books. I can't wait for his next novel.
Rating: 
Summary: A truly recommandable book
Review: Unfortunately I did not read Messiah first, which I highly recommand to everyone, but I have to admit, that I simply could not put it down - it is full of suspense until the very end. 4 stars because Boris Starling has to work a little more on the detective's Kate Beauchamp's character and because I didn't like the end of the book - I would have preferred it less confusing - it reminded me much more of an Hollywood film. If you want to forget television and everybody else around you - that's the right book!
Rating:
Summary: Edmund Emil Kemper in the Storm from Boris Starling
Review: Well, I must say Mr Starling has done his homework about research in serialkillers. No doubt a necessity if you are writing books about them. But this time he takes the notorious Edmund Emil Kemper, a Californian Serial Killer from the 70-ties, as a rolemodel. Edmund was also dominated by his mother who hated her child and he also had too live in the cellar of the house. He also killed his mother and cut out her larynx to try to destroy it in the garbage disposal. Too his surprise it popped back up, too let him believe he couldn't keep his mother shut up, even after her death. Also the story of the inmate who kept a injured robin in his cell and killed it after they told him he could not keep pets in his cell is also a true crime story. The rest of the story is not as gruesome as his first one, Messiah, but I could not put the book down anyway and kept reading. Good storyline and easy reading, marks Mr Starling. Also this time the killer is someone who you wouldn't suspect, but it's an easier guess than in Messiah. Mr Starling may write his next book with knowledge about serialkillers, but please don't put actualy events from known seralkillers into the character of your book. Or disguise it in a way that we won't notice.
Rating: 
Summary: So close but yet so far
Review: What is with authors these days. No one seems to be able to write an ending. Boris Starling maintains a high level of suspense for the better part of 400 pages in his mystery - thriller "Storm", only to have it fall apart at the end. What a disappointment! Starling weaves two seemingly unrelated events, the sinking of a ferry in the North Sea and a pair of grisly serial killings into what starts out to be a taut thriller. Several of the ferry survivors are members of an amateur acting troop returning to Scotland from Norway, and one troop member, a police inspector named Kate Beauchamp, must face down her own demons and survivor's guilt to lead the murder investigation. At the same time, Starling uses flashbacks to take us into the mind of the killer. This had all the makings of a great story, and then things go terribly bad at the very end. Evidence and the input of a main character from an earlier Starling novel who makes a cameo appearance here, along with a discovery by the chief investigator of the ferry sinking, who happens to be Kate's estranged father, point to one of the three surviving male members of Kate's acting troop. Additional evidence points to bachelor number one, but wait, the evidence is really just a coincidence. Kate then is certain that it is bachelor number two, who she has taken as her lover, but, oh no, another coincidence has led her not only astray, but sent her running for help. Ah, where shall Kate run? To the police station? No, her young son coincidentally hates it there. How about to her aunt or her now doting dad? Nope, by coincidence neither can be found. So, of course, she runs to the safety of bachelor number three. Bad choice, Kate. Coincidences are the last refuge of hack writers, and from there the ending becomes even worse. Kate is knocked unconscious, tied up, and gruesomely tortured in much too much detail. Of course she escapes, but through a series of actions each of which is more improbable than the one before it. Authors should be sent to Devil's Island for leading readers on like this only to fail them so miserably in the end. We spend hours getting to the finish of the book. It is a shame when it lets us down like this. Starling had the makings of a wonderful tale. Where was his editor? Where was anyone who could have told him, "Hey Boris, maybe you should rethink this."
Rating: 
Summary: Definitely no comparison to Messiah
Review: When Kate Beauchamp, Detective Chief Inspector of the Aberdeen Police awakens in a sinking ferry boat she faces a night of horror that claims hundreds of lives. Returning from an amateur theater tour in Norway, and saved only by good luck and the skill of a friend, she arrives back in Aberdeen in a state to be reckoned with. Unable to feel comfortable alone, she copes by burying herself in work. The case she finds herself dealing with is a hideous torture murder, the hands and feet cut off, and a black adder tied to the victim's chest. The second murder is even worse than the first, but good clues are almost impossible to find. To add to Kate's mental stress, her estranged father turns up as the lead inspector investigating the sinking of the ferry Amphitrite. If Kate Beauchamp is stymied, Frank Beauchamp finds a trail of clues that first seem confusing and then come together to reveal that behind the tragic sinking lies a nightmarish crime. One that points to unexpected high places. Everyone involved seems to conspire to keep him from the truth, and the mind behind the crime is willing to kill him to keep its secrets. This side of the tale will appeal to those that love police procedurals, especially as it includes several underwater trips as well as especially fine detection. In the end it appears that Kate's troop of amateurs is involved in the sinking. Kate finally decides to get the advice of her old boss and profiler, Red Metcalfe. Red, for those of you who did not read "Messiah," was an extremely successful hunter of serial killers who eventually realized that he had gotten a bit too much like his prey. After murdering a killer in what was nearly self defense he decided to plead guilty and is currently serving his sentence. Kate borrows him from a maximum security prison and shows him the crime sites and the case records. Unwillingly, Red provides enough information to make Kate realize that the killer is someone uncomfortably close to her. The two cases blend into one another and the conclusion is satisfactorily hair-raising. Based on "Storm" and its predecessor "Messiah," Boris Starling is one of those authors who will inevitably push their sleuths to the edge of destruction, and even beyond that if necessary. He is very adept at developing his characters, and the reader will find themselves nearly as brutalized. Hopefully Kate will last long enough to provide several more volumes of thrills. Starling has a habit of using flashbacks to provide insight into the killers mind, which I found a bit tedious early in the narrative, but which smoothed out later. There are more than enough plot twists and turns to keep the reader guessing even after only a few suspects are left. I found the book a very enjoyable experience, and look forward to more. After a short break to recover from all the excitement.
Rating:
Summary: A Sudden Horror
Review: When Kate Beauchamp, Detective Chief Inspector of the Aberdeen Police awakens in a sinking ferry boat she faces a night of horror that claims hundreds of lives. Returning from an amateur theater tour in Norway, and saved only by good luck and the skill of a friend, she arrives back in Aberdeen in a state to be reckoned with. Unable to feel comfortable alone, she copes by burying herself in work. The case she finds herself dealing with is a hideous torture murder, the hands and feet cut off, and a black adder tied to the victim's chest. The second murder is even worse than the first, but good clues are almost impossible to find. To add to Kate's mental stress, her estranged father turns up as the lead inspector investigating the sinking of the ferry Amphitrite. If Kate Beauchamp is stymied, Frank Beauchamp finds a trail of clues that first seem confusing and then come together to reveal that behind the tragic sinking lies a nightmarish crime. One that points to unexpected high places. Everyone involved seems to conspire to keep him from the truth, and the mind behind the crime is willing to kill him to keep its secrets. This side of the tale will appeal to those that love police procedurals, especially as it includes several underwater trips as well as especially fine detection. In the end it appears that Kate's troop of amateurs is involved in the sinking. Kate finally decides to get the advice of her old boss and profiler, Red Metcalfe. Red, for those of you who did not read "Messiah," was an extremely successful hunter of serial killers who eventually realized that he had gotten a bit too much like his prey. After murdering a killer in what was nearly self defense he decided to plead guilty and is currently serving his sentence. Kate borrows him from a maximum security prison and shows him the crime sites and the case records. Unwillingly, Red provides enough information to make Kate realize that the killer is someone uncomfortably close to her. The two cases blend into one another and the conclusion is satisfactorily hair-raising. Based on "Storm" and its predecessor "Messiah," Boris Starling is one of those authors who will inevitably push their sleuths to the edge of destruction, and even beyond that if necessary. He is very adept at developing his characters, and the reader will find themselves nearly as brutalized. Hopefully Kate will last long enough to provide several more volumes of thrills. Starling has a habit of using flashbacks to provide insight into the killers mind, which I found a bit tedious early in the narrative, but which smoothed out later. There are more than enough plot twists and turns to keep the reader guessing even after only a few suspects are left. I found the book a very enjoyable experience, and look forward to more. After a short break to recover from all the excitement.
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