The premise for Dark Storm is really interesting, with a couple of unique plot elements focusing on suspended animation, and yet somehow this romantic suspense fails completely at being either romantic or suspenseful. Instead, it’s bloated with characters - about 12 were introduced in the first 5 or so pages, leaving me utterly boggled - and has clunky PoV switches around characters who aren’t actually the focus of the story. Neither Darcy, the woman kidnapped at the beginning of the story, nor any of the ‘bad guys’ ever get to tell any part of the story in their own words. Instead, most of the story is told from the point of view of Claire, Darcy’s sister, with occasional switches to Claire’s husband Nick and completely random people like Claire’s ex-husband, flying a ‘storm-chaser’ plane into a hurricane in an obvious attempt to add more drama to a plot entirely lacking in it.
Honestly, I just didn’t care about Claire and the way she kept recapping all her past dramas (obviously things which happened in the first five books in this series). This is definitely not a standalone, and if you’ve read and enjoyed the rest of the series, it’s possible you’ll eat this one up with relish, but I was totally bored. I only kept reading because I was watching the kids at swimming and didn’t have wifi to download something different to read - hoped the action might pick up at some point but it really didn’t. Not predictable because of that unique premise, but drawn out, lacking in suspense and bloated with characters who didn’t add anything to the plot. Two stars.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book for review through NetGalley.