Product Description

Unsatisfied with the police investigation of his brother's murder, FBI agent Mick Kline embarks on a journey to discover the truth. A young blind woman holds the key, but her fear for her own life keeps her silent. Readers will be gripped by the suspense and moved by the underlying themes of faith and spiritual blindness in this novel by up-and-coming author Rene Gutteridge.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #257095 in Books
• Published on: 2004-05-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Gutteridge launches her new trilogy with style in this first installment, which offers fast-paced suspense and some intriguing insight into the world of serial killers. FBI agent and tornado-chaser Mick Kline is determined to track down the person who murdered his brother in cold blood. When he becomes obsessed by his theory that a serial killer's at large, he's ordered to take mandatory leave so he can presumably make peace with his loss. Instead, intent on revenge, Kline follows a trail of clues that leads to Bakerville, Tex., where Faith Kemper, the recovering wife of another murder victim, is in hiding—afraid she is next. Faith, her sight impaired by the killer in the same incident that left her husband dead, harbors her own secrets behind her dark glasses. Despite the tension, genuine humor and warmth permeate the novel, and intriguing details about profiling serial killers and symbolism built around storm chasing help keep the reader engaged. The characters have some delightful quirks—Mick is deathly afraid of food poisoning, even keeping his peanut butter in the refrigerator; his partner, Reggie Moore, has never met a diet he didn't like, or that worked. Gutteridge (Boo; Troubled Waters) withholds just the right amount of information to keep the reader turning the pages. She strikes a good balance with her faith themes and leaves plenty of room to develop potential romantic interests in the sequel. This novel for the inspirational market provokes a few chills while offering an enjoyable read.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Gutteridge's The Splitting Storm is about an FBI agent, Mick Kline, who seeks the murderer of his brother. Mick is also an amateur tornado chaser. He finds some solace for his troubled soul in the awesome power of nature, and Gutteridge uses storm scenes to good effect to suggest the mystery of God, whose creations include serial killers and whose essence is always beyond our power to comprehend. Mick becomes so obsessed with his theory that a serial killer is responsible for his brother's death that he is put on administrative leave. But instead of dealing with his grief, he heads to Texas, where several seemingly random murders have occurred. He crosses paths with Faith Kemper, a blind woman whose husband was murdered and whose story begins to corroborate Mick's intuitions. The Splitting Storm is the first entry of what looks to be a fine series; Gutteridge's characters are believably eccentric, and she has done her homework with police procedure. John Mort
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
"Rene Gutteridge is a fine writer who skillfully tells this story driven by interesting characters and an intriguing plot. Splitting Storm is a page-turner--it really held my interest." --Randy Alcorn, best-selling author of Safely Home

"I highly recommend Splitting Storm. In it I found suspense, mystery, touches of humor, and a spiritual beam shining through that held it all together. Another Gutteridge winner!"--James Scott Bell, Christy Award--winning author of Breach of Promise

Customer Reviews

A great new series begins!
Rene Gutteridge can't be put into a particular genre. She seems to flow seamlessly from one to the next, and she's strong in all of them. Her last book was a romantic comedy, and now we find ourselves deep into the mind of a serial killer and the storm-chaser out to stop him. As in her previous novels, the characters here are realistic and flawed, and it's interesting getting to know them and their quirks. Rene's obviously spent a lot of time preparing and researching for this one, and it shows. And only someone living in the tornado land of Oklahoma could make you appreciate a storm like she can.

We haven't seen the last of Mick Kline either. I heard there are supposed to be two other books in this series (at least), and I'm looking forward to them. Highly recommended.

A tightly written thriller with fun characters
The Splitting Storm is an enjoyable thriller by Rene Gutteridge full of twists and turns and strong characters. The is first time I've read a Christian novel in this genre. FBI agent Mick Kline's brother was just murdered randomly, and Mick is obsessed with finding the killer. Mick thinks he has found a link between his brother's murder and seven other cases of cop murders over the last few years. Mick is forced to go on leave and with the help of some FBI friends including a profiler Mick continues to investigate the case.

Mick's search leads him to Faith Kemper. Faith lost her husband a few years ago to a murderer and has been moving around because of an unknown fear. In the attack that killed her husband, Faith lost her sight and now must get around with the help of a seeing eye dog.

The Splitting Storm focuses mainly Faith and Mick and a few other characters, yet for a serial killer thriller, there are quite a few twists and turns that kept me interested and surprised. This novel is character driven, not plot driven, but the plot is still strong and interesting. The characters in this book are Christians and yet they have their troubles and their fights with God. The religion isn't over the top or preachy and seemed in place in this book.

So-so
FBI agent Mick Kline's brother is murdered in his sleep. Mick believes that there is a link connecting his brother's murder to several other murders of law-enforcement agents. The Bureau, however, does not seem to agree, in large part because Mick has no particular evidence. Nonetheless, Mick insists on investigating the murder and some of those he thinks related. His persistence leads to a mandatory thirty-day vacation, which takes him to Faith Kemper, a woman whose husband (also a cop) has been murdered. Faith might be the one person to witness the serial killer--that is, if there is one. The problem is that the injuries Faith suffered during the attack on her and her husband caused her to become blind and to live in fear.

As Mick investigates, he encounters a racist local cop, a terrified witness, and locals who are less than encouraging. Meanwhile, he begins to develop feelings for Faith as both question their relationship with a God who would allow two brutal murders. Both of these inquiries--the criminal and the theological--sort of meander for much of the novel, whose title comes from Mick's love of storm chasing, a passion that we encounter only briefly at the start of the novel and then read a few mentions of later.

"The Splitting Storm" (a storm that separates into two parts, one of which fades out while the other grows stronger) is a somewhat lackluster book, saving its only real suspense for the very end. The characters did not especially leap off the page to me, and the religious aspects were similarly somewhat bland. For example, everyone of any significance seems to be a true believer, so references to God and faith occur too frequently. (This is not to say that people of faith should hide their beliefs but is instead to say that the frequency with which the characters referred to God and their implicit assumption that all others share their views made the faith aspects too pat.) For example, Faith's reaction is probably quite common--if there is a God and He would let her husband be murdered, she can do without Him. Such a situation seems to me an ideal opportunity for a C.S. Lewis-esque defense of faith in times of trouble. Such a scene would have, I think, enhanced the plot, allowed for deeper views of religion, and fit in well with the various characters and their motivations. Ah well. Finally, the ending also seemed pat, a sort of deus ex machina, if you'll pardon the pun, while leaving some important plot elements without resolution. Three stars because I finished it and found it an easy, albeit problematic, read.