Rejoice! The best female protagonist in the genre, and all around badass, Hayley Chill is back! And this time she must stop all hell from breaking loose in Storm Rising, an edge-of-your-seat cinematic thriller merging Hayley’s professional responsibilities and personal quest into a single mission with nothing short of the United States as we know it hanging in the balance.
Hayley Chill has retreated to the familiar territory of West Virginia to train as an MMA fighter, improving her hand-to-hand combat skills as she takes some “down time” after the shocking events in Savage Road. Not one to sit idly for long, Hayley decides she must figure out the mystery surrounding her father’s reappearance and untimely death. Finding clues at his former home and with sanction from the deeper state organization she serves, Hayley sets off on a quest deep in the heart of Texas to seek answers to her father’s role in something called The Storm. In the course of her unrelenting investigation, bodies seem to drop everywhere she goes as Hayley pieces together a massive white supremacist driven conspiracy to effectuate the succession of several states in the American southwest. Now it’s up to her to single handedly thwart a modern-day Civil War while facing the hard truth about her father’s past…and her own future.
There’s something special about Chris Hauty’s unique ability to craft a story. This isn’t new. We know this from the incredible Deep State and Savage Road novels. But it’s reaffirmed in Storm Rising. And it goes beyond a strong plot that’s action packed and moves at the speed of light. Although that certainly helps. But what’s perhaps his biggest and most unparalleled talent is the insanely brilliant way Hauty crafts and develops characters. Whether it’s main, supporting or seemingly inconsequential characters, Hauty gives each of them a story that only someone in complete love with his characters can achieve. And the way he can convey a character’s life story in less than a page is nothing short of <insert chef’ s kiss GIF here>. There’s nothing else like it in print today.
Ok fine. A very strong argument can be made that Hauty’s best skill is unloading major twists on his unsuspecting readers. And I can’t combat that claim. Fact is, I don’t know how Hauty keeps doing it. But the Master of Epic Twists strikes yet again in Storm Rising. There are several twists along the way, but this time he waits until the end to unleash an unholy, fucking brutal gut punch that has me shook and will undoubtedly draw comparison to the ending of a critically acclaimed movie that will remain nameless to avoid spoiling the experience for others. But when you read it, you’ll know.
All this is to say that Storm Rising is one helluva thriller. Chris Hauty is batting 1,000 with three phenomenal novels out of the gate, catapulting him to the upper echelon of the genre and into the rarefied air of “take the day off of work, clear your calendar, read in one sitting on release day” territory. I recommend you do just that. Preorder Storm Rising today and block May 3rd to immerse yourself in the Hayley Chill experience.
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