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The Breathtaker

by Alice Blanchard

Alice Blanchard (if that's her/his real name) is a writer to be reckoned with. The Breathtaker is only this author's second novel, set in an entirely different part of the USA from the first, and in one of the scariest sections of our country – the Oklahoma-Texas district (Tornado Alley) where tornados and cyclones are common. Mother Nature is frightening in all her worst aspects – earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions as well as tornados – probably because there's absolutely nothing you can do to stop any of them except run away. So when a book like The Breathtaker comes along dealing almost exclusively with that awe-inspiring wind force and written with knowledgeable insight for both characters and location, you sit up and take notice.

The Breathtaker has Police Chief Charlie Grover as its primary character. Charlie plays detective, but he has a complex background. As a child, Charlie suffered burns over one whole side of his body from a fire he suspects his father of setting – and the scars affect him emotionally as much as physically. Even though he tries, Charlie finds it almost impossible to forgive his father, especially since he remembers how viciously he was beaten with the belt whenever his father was inebriated. He also remembers how his father beat his wife. Charlie's own wife Maddie is dead from cancer, and he still misses her, although he finds himself attracted to a female employee in the tornado testing lab.

The novel opens with a tornado. After it's passed and left total destruction in its wake, Charlie finds a family of three all dead, with pieces of debris sticking out of their bodies. On closer examination, he also finds what appear to be defensive wounds. His worst fears are realized when the lab results return and he realizes that someone who knows when and where a tornado might land is also a murderer; hiding his murders as the work of the tornado itself.

The only people remotely capable of predicting the onslaught and path of tornados are the storm chasers – a group of diverse people who get as close as they can to the destructive winds, sometimes photographing the funnels, and always fanatic about locating and following every tornado. This group naturally includes those in the Wind Function Facility at the Environmental Sciences Laboratory, located as part of the Dryden Technical College in Montoya, Oklahoma. It also includes a number of unscientific folk, including Charlie's father.

The story escalates when more tornados touch down and suspicious deaths begin to accumulate. Then not only does Charlie have his hands full attempting to discover the murderer, but also in trying to deal with his teen-age rebellious daughter, Sophie, who insists on seeing one of the scumbag adolescents in the area – not only another storm chaser, but a boy called Boone with a reputation as black as his parent. Sophie loses her virginity with Boone, and is incensed when Charlie forbids her to see him again.

The Breathtaker is fast-paced and exciting, catching you up in the awesome beauty and terror of a tornado – first when Charlie goes storm chasing with the lovely Willa Bellman, one of the members of the Wind Function Facility – and the next when Charlie is actually chasing the murderer who happens to have Sophie along. The clues Charlie has found in the killer's house leave no doubt as to the identity of the murderer at last.

The very idea of someone entering a house just before a tornado strikes is creepy enough, and the fact that the wind force can distribute what would otherwise be clues (fibers, hairs, etc.) and blow them away as well as blow false ones in, makes this novel and detection of the murderer full of suspense. Evidence at the scene of the crimes is scarce, and it's only by a lucky fluke that Charlie is able to find the individual who has been subjected to years of abuse as a child – an abuse grown into rage – a rage which can
only find its outlet in tornados and killing.

Although perhaps a little more characterization could have been lavished on the actual killer, Alice Blanchard has written a powerful, compelling and scary story in The Breathtaker. The mystery of a well-written whodunit combined with the terrifying force of nature is enough to rate this novelist high on our list of writers to remember – and follow with anticipation. Alice Blanchard is already the recipient of a number of awards, foretelling a very lucrative future indeed for this clever, imaginative writer.

Alan Paul Curtis

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