- Paperback: 528 pages
- Publisher: Sphere (7 July 2005)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0751535591
- ISBN-13: 978-0751535594
- Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 17.7 x 3.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,188,633 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Review
In truth, Blanchard writes so well that even her quiet descriptions of desolate towns and lonely people are good enough to rattle the rafters (New York Times Book Review )
A heart-pounding, highly literary novel full of stunning art and science. Blanchard's descriptions of what it feels and looks like to be inside a tornado at its full power are riveting and addictive (Dick Adler, Chicago Tribune )
The Breathtaker is a dark and stormy novel and a particularly thrilling one (Sherryl Connelly, New York Daily News )
A well-crafted thriller (Booklist )
A heart-pounding, highly literary novel full of stunning art and science. Blanchard's descriptions of what it feels and looks like to be inside a tornado at its full power are riveting and addictive (Dick Adler, Chicago Tribune )
The Breathtaker is a dark and stormy novel and a particularly thrilling one (Sherryl Connelly, New York Daily News )
A well-crafted thriller (Booklist )
Sherryl Connelly, New York Daily News
'The Breathtaker is a dark and stormy novel and a particularly thrilling one'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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First Sentence
Police Chief Charlie Grover was surprised to find Main Street's stately granite buildings still standing, their dimpled windows and variegated roofs intact. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Police Chief Charlie Grover was surprised to find Main Street's stately granite buildings still standing, their dimpled windows and variegated roofs intact. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
"The Breathtaker" is a thrill ride. The story is bone-chilling. The characters are flawed and poetic. The writing is gorgeous. The stakes are sky high. It's exhilarating and original. Wow, this book is fun. There's nothing else quite like it out there.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
At first it looked like the Pepper family had been killed by a tornado, yet Police Chief Charlie Grover, who is a single father trying to raise a rebellious teenage daughter, can't help but think that maybe it had been murder. Several of the marks on the bodies look like they could have been defensive wounds. Still it takes the discovery of the killer's signature in the lab - each victim had a tooth extracted and replaced with another - before he's convinced he's right.
And since there is only one group of people who are likely to know when a tornado is going to strike, the storm chasers, the list of suspects is pretty slim. Included among the storm chasers are his own father, an ex-alcoholic who used to beat him and his mother, as well as the local bad boy his daughter is seeing.
To solve the case and catch the killer, who he suspects is stalking him and his daughter, Grover goes on a storm chase with Dr. Willa Bellman, a scientist at the local wind research facility who also tugs on his heartstrings. On that chase he experiences the awesome power of a tornado. The risk is high, the tension drips, the killer has to be stopped and I predict you won't be able to put the book down, even if you do, as I did, figure out fairly early who the killer is.
This whirlwind of a book has movie written all over it, so don't be surprised if you see it at your local cinema sometime in the near future. Alice Blanchard has written another winner.
Review submitted by Katie Osborne
And since there is only one group of people who are likely to know when a tornado is going to strike, the storm chasers, the list of suspects is pretty slim. Included among the storm chasers are his own father, an ex-alcoholic who used to beat him and his mother, as well as the local bad boy his daughter is seeing.
To solve the case and catch the killer, who he suspects is stalking him and his daughter, Grover goes on a storm chase with Dr. Willa Bellman, a scientist at the local wind research facility who also tugs on his heartstrings. On that chase he experiences the awesome power of a tornado. The risk is high, the tension drips, the killer has to be stopped and I predict you won't be able to put the book down, even if you do, as I did, figure out fairly early who the killer is.
This whirlwind of a book has movie written all over it, so don't be surprised if you see it at your local cinema sometime in the near future. Alice Blanchard has written another winner.
Review submitted by Katie Osborne
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The blurb makes it sound supernatural - a killer who appears to be able to predict when and where a tornado will strike, and murder his victims at the same time. A family are found dead in their farmhouse, close to where a tornado hit, and Police Chief Charlie Grover quickly realises that their injuries were not caused by a freak of nature, but by human hand. So begins an investigation into a series of deaths in Oklahoma and Texas in which others have been suspiciously killed.
Alice Blanchard has stepped away from pure police procedurals and her forensic passages are much less frequent than a Patricia Cornwell or Kathy Reichs. Charlie Grover is almost the sole investigator here, with little focus on his colleagues. The central relationship that develops is that of Grover and weather expert Willa Bellman, who aids Grover as he questions a cast of suspects, principally the 'chasers' whose chief hobby is pursuing and observing tornados.
Blanchard is not as strong a writer as, for example, Tess Gerritsen, Jeffery Deaver or James Patterson, but The Breathtaker is a very different novel to anything those authors have written, and a welcome twist on the traditional thriller. Red herrings are skilfully dangled in front of the reader, and despite the lack of conviction in the procedural details, on the whole this is a very satisfying tale. Definitely worth a read.
Alice Blanchard has stepped away from pure police procedurals and her forensic passages are much less frequent than a Patricia Cornwell or Kathy Reichs. Charlie Grover is almost the sole investigator here, with little focus on his colleagues. The central relationship that develops is that of Grover and weather expert Willa Bellman, who aids Grover as he questions a cast of suspects, principally the 'chasers' whose chief hobby is pursuing and observing tornados.
Blanchard is not as strong a writer as, for example, Tess Gerritsen, Jeffery Deaver or James Patterson, but The Breathtaker is a very different novel to anything those authors have written, and a welcome twist on the traditional thriller. Red herrings are skilfully dangled in front of the reader, and despite the lack of conviction in the procedural details, on the whole this is a very satisfying tale. Definitely worth a read.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Alice Blanchard - The Breathtaker
This book is set in Promise, Oklahoma which falls smack in the middle of Tornado Alley. A deadly twister hits the town and leaves many dead and injured. Read more
Published on 25 Mar 2010 by molko
Not quite breathtaking...
The Breathtaker is a pretty fast moving, serial-killer murder thriller set in the town of Promise, Oklahoma in the tornado belt of middle America. Read more
Published on 30 Oct 2007 by Keris Nine
Interesting Idea
Police Chief Charlie Grover investigates the death of a family, who at first seemed to be victims of a tornado but were also victims of a murderer. Read more
Published on 24 Sep 2004 by Ez
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