When the Storm Breaks - Softcover

Lowell, Heather

3.73

405 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0060542128 ISBN 13: 9780060542122

Publisher: HarperTorch, 2003

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A serial killer has one obsession . . .

Claire Lambert walked into a nightmare on a rainy night in Washington, D.C. Stumbling upon a killer in the midst of his latest bloody crime, she ran for her life -- but not before a head injury caused her to lose her memory, along with her purse and ID. Now a monster knows who Claire is . . . and where she lives.

Waking up in a hospital room the day after being attacked -- her mind stripped of all memory of what happened to her -- Claire can only listen with horror to the scenario Detective Sean Richter unfolds before her. A law officer fiercely dedicated to ending the wave of brutal killings that has struck the city, Sean knows that this brave and beautiful woman holds the key to stopping the murderer before he can strike again. Claire is the only victim who has seen the killer's face and lived -- which is why Sean needs her help and will risk everything to protect her . . .

And why a depraved, relentless animal is determined that Claire Lambert must die.

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About the Author:

Heather Lowell was born and raised in Southern California. She attended Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where she began her love affair with foreign languages, international politics, and off-the-beaten-path travel. She's journeyed by bus, train, and boat throughout the developing world, meeting local people and practicing her language skills -- the occasional face-to-face encounter with livestock was an added bonus. While her "list of things to do before settling down" is still quite long, Heather has already crossed off hiking the Andes, going up the Amazon River, backpacking through Australia and New Zealand, SCUBA diving, bungee jumping, white-water rafting, caving, and jumping out of an airplane.

In the 1990s, Heather studied in Brazil, volunteered as an English teacher in Hungary, and earned a Master's degree in International Development. She briefly considered becoming a professional traveler before deciding that defaulting on her student loans wasn't a lofty career goal. Instead, she served her time in a cubicle as a project manager in Information Technology, where her life closely paralleled that of the comic strip Dilbert. When the tech bubble burst and the stock market plummeted, Heather took it as a sign that she should get out of the corporate world and follow her dream of writing. She hasn't looked back since that day.

Despite an adventurous past, Heather Lowell now considers herself to be a dedicated homebody -- with a car, mortgage, and dog to prove it. She currently lives in Arizona, where she is working on her next book.

From Publishers Weekly:

Like mother, like daughter-or so the saying goes. Unfortunately, this debut romantic suspense novel from Lowell (daughter of author Elizabeth Lowell) is ridden with run-of-the-mill characters and overused plot devices. After a night spent joining a dating service, Claire Lambert stumbles across a murderer in the act of committing his latest crime, drops her purse and runs away, only to wake the next morning with little memory of the night before. As Washington, D.C., detective Sean Richter tries to coax her into remembering, she finds herself falling in love with him. There's only one problem: she may be the killer's next victim. In an outrageous plot twist, Sean devises a plan to send Claire on closely monitored dates with men from the dating service she joined earlier. This scenario provides the potential for some fun scenes, but the gag falls flat when each date proves to be a cliche (a stuffy banker, a closeted gay man, etc.). In addition, the reader learns early on that the murderer never joined the service, which deflates any hope that tension might arise from this scenario. Most disappointing of all, however, is the distance the author places between herself and her characters. This narrative detachment results in protagonists who lack definition and sex scenes that fail to evoke emotion.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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