Initially picking up this book, based on the title, I thought it'd be about a super-storm, set to wipe out the world, if humanity didn't discover a way to stop it in time..... Ya know, good ol' apocalyptic fiction. Instead, the title has NOTHING to do with the story, which is about a lost Egyptian physician, Peseshet, who happens to be the greatest female doctor of all times, who's power was so great that she earned the wrath of a pharaoh & subsequently murdered & erased from history. Or, she would've been erased was it not for the efforts of a disciple who left clues in the tombs of Peseshet's patients for future generations to find. This is where our main characters, Rachel Kirby & John Tavak come in. Rachel is Pesechet's modern peer, in regards to mental capabilities, and Tavak is the treasure hunter on the search for the secret hidden by Peseshet's disciple millenia ago. Anyway, long story short, Rachel & Tavak both have people out for their blood, Rachel's on a desperate search for a cure for the disease that's been slowly killing her sister, and OH! A "client" of Rachel's has decided to throw his lot in with theirs, join the hunt for Peseshet's tomb, and also become a target for the people trying to kill Rachel & Tavak. To make matters even MORE complicated, Rachel's mortally ill sister decides to tag along for the ride. Yeah, that makes sense......

I only finished this book because I hate NOT finishing books. It ends predictably: bad guys die, good "guys" get what they're searching for, everything ends well. But NONE of the story is believable, NONE of the characters are believable. It's not a story I recommend, over all. Don't waste your time.

Quick read and enjoyable book. It had some logic errors that left me twitching.

Disclaimer: I have been reading and reviewing for over a decade, and in that time, I have grown and changed a lot. My views in the following review reflect the person I was when I wrote them and may not reflect who I am today - for better or for worse. While I would love to be able to reread and update my reviews to reflect who I am today, I think my time is better dedicated elsewhere. If you choose to read this review, please bear in mind this attitude.

NOTE: I received this book as part of the Amazon Vine Program

Spoiler

Rachel Kirby is desperately trying to find a cure for her ailing sister using a computer called Jonesy. But not only is someone--John Tavak--siphoning off some of the computer's processing power but someone is out to kill her. Furthermore, John Tavak in Egypt needs her help. Together, they search the ancient history, hoping that Peseshet may give them the key to save Rachel's sister's life...and their own.

I Liked:
I enjoyed seeing a real life computer concept (combining the unused processing power of normal computers) in a fictional setting. I know that this is used by SETI (our home computer even ran the program for many years) and I think it is an incredibly neglected concept in the fictional realm. Also, Egyptian history has always been intriguing. Whether it's their ages old architecture still standing, their hieroglyphics or some other inexplicable draw, the Egyptians have always held an appeal.
I appreciated the affection for Rachel and her sister, Allie, which reminds me a lot of the relationship I have with my own sister.
Also, the very end was kinda exciting. Probably the most exciting in the book.

I Did Not Like:
I have not violently hated a book this passionately since probably Batman: Fear Itself or more likely, Deck the Halls. I wanted to throw this book so hard against the wall no less than half a dozen times...within the first 50 pages. Why? Let me expand...
1. Rachel Kirby. In the beginning, I liked her (despite her rather glowing physical description: petite, delicate, face "glowing with energy and life"). But then, she takes a one way nose dive into Mary Sue territory when she gets a PhD in Computer Science (a notoriously challenging degree) at the ripe age of 15 and a SECOND doctorate in Medicine when she is 20 (page 18). Yes, she somehow whipped through twelve years of elementary, middle, and high school and 12+ years of college in 15 years of her life. As if this in and of itself didn't make her a Mary Sue, then the fact that every time anyone tries to cross her, she treats him or her extremely rudely (even the investigator who is trying to find her killer starting on page 11) and gets away with it (which I could understand maybe occasionally, but all the time and with each person?). Despite her poor behavior, she has flocks of fans, is highly respected even by her enemies, and pushes around the NSA like a doggie chew toy. Right. Mary Sue anyone?
2. John Tavak. He's the Indiana Jones of the book and, proving that the authors think the readers are stupid, is spelled out as such on page 307. He is one of the most contradictory characters I've ever seen! One minute, he's "mocking, unscrupulous, reckless, and completely self-absorbed" (page 99), then the next he is charming, kind, and witty! More disgustingly, Tavak can steal, cheat, spy, invade privacy, kill, and more and it's not bad, but when the "bad guys" do it, it is? What kind of shady morality is this? Not to mention, he is described as so smart that his IQ couldn't be measured (page 75). Uh, hello, did no one take a brief jaunt to Wikipedia and look up the IQ test? Number one, there is no "maximum limit" for the IQ. Furthermore, since when did a high IQ mean that a person was intelligent? Then, as if things weren't unbelievable enough, he starts Harvard classes at 10! What is it with this authors and these super smart babies? Has no one heard of a normal childhood? The last nail in the coffin of this Gary Stu is that, while he "was not a handsome man" (page 79), he is described as having "dark hair ruffled by the wind", looking "younger than thirty-eight" with a "tall, muscular body [that:] possessed a sort of rough elegance", having a "high impact" presence whose "(sometimes described as "electric") blue eyes glitter with...vitality and intelligence...[that:] was almost mesmerizing". This flowery description is enough to make me gag the first time around, but A) he isn't supposed to be attractive and B) we are constantly inundated with this description!
3. Other characters are equally frustrating. Ben, Tavak's friend, is insulted at every opportunity, down to the fact that Tavak let his drag along only to make Ben feel needed (aw, thanks guys!). Allie, Rachel's sister, is supposedly so sick...but how does she get Russian customs to let her in? Hal Demanski, the casino owner that Rachel Kirby cheats in a boring theft of Ocean's Eleven, would be great were it not for his over-the-top "Galahad" romance with Allie (lasting all of a few hours) and being described constantly as having "undeniable wit and intelligence" (which is jammed so far down our throats, we are gagging; see page 247 for yet another clunker mention). Nuri and the Russian are heavily stereotyped. Norton has the bite of a neutered dog. Sorens and Dawson I easily interchanged, not even sure who was saying what most of the time (not that I ultimately ended up caring). Emily is almost exactly like Rachel, only older and drunker. Simon and Val have no personalities other than to worship and lick Rachel's feet (oh, and Val is also super hot too). The detectives are hideously stereotyped, particularly the computer nerd who would give his front teeth to see his goddess...yes, Rachel Kirby! I didn't even bother to remember their names. The college kid who helps the detective is so hideously portrayed as a weed head, it makes me sick. And this is only a spattering! Where are the Tums?
4. The plot. Firstly, sending an email that is nearly the length of a novel to a woman on the other side of the world while stuck in the middle of a tomb with a man about to die (page 47)? Talk about taking a HUGE risk! Just the other day, my mother, who lives all of 17 miles away from me, sent me an email at 10am and I didn't get until 12am! So, I hope that these guys have a better connection. Next, while I can believe much of the super-computer thing (using to find cures, searching for archaeological finds, and even decrypting to an extent) but using the computer to analyze data to find Peseshet's tomb in the first place? This really smart of making Jonsey (dumb name anyway) a Dues ex Machina. Not to mention, that in an obvious attempt to be Indiana Jones, National Treasure, Ocean's Eleven, CSI, the plot skips and belches all over the world, spending a page or two detailing the most important parts in each locale, e.g. finding the clues, forcing their information from their informants an,d gabbing about how Rachel and John feel about each other, and then whipping to the next location. I have never felt so jolted around in my life. It was as if the authors had ADD.
5. The romance. John and Rachel's romance is so forced, so over the top, I wanted to wretch. The authors force John Tavak down our throats, hoping we will forget that he has killed a man and committed arson, theft, breaking/entering, and is a rude, arrogant, self-centered thrill seeker (which is completely inconsistent with how he really acts) and will want to see him hook up with Rachel Kirby (who at least is consistent in her character!), with whom he has almost no chemistry. Then Allie and Hal's romance is strange. She is 32, and he is late forties. That right there is strange (not many will abide an almost 20 year age difference). From his over the top gentlemanly speech about being her Galahad to his buying a piece of her artwork, this relationship made me want to throw the book through a closed window.
6. This scene: "She was suddenly acutely aware of everything about him. The smell of a spicy aftershave, his long fingers on the glass holding the drink, the strength of his shoulders, the tightness of his stomach and buttocks." Uh, HELLO? "Buttocks"? EW! Too much information! "The desire to reach out and touch him..." Depeche Mode ought to try to sue for the use of these words. "...was dizzying in intensity. What was happening to her? Stupid, she knew what was happening. Sex." WTF? Sex was happening to her? How does sex happen to a person? Is something happening in this scene that no one is telling me? I so do not understand that wild comment in the slightest.
7. Travel to other countries, many of which are hostile, is way too easy. And where does all this money come from? Company card? If so, tsk, tsk.
8. The villains are straight from a child's book, stupid, dorky, and blurting their simplistic plans to any and all who are willing to listen. Also, a big red herring appears, which was annoying rather than clever.
9. Repetition. Need to describe someone? All else fails use the words "vitality", "intelligence" or "energy" or some derivative of the above. In fact, those words (or their forms) occur so frequently in the book, it would make a hell of a drinking game. Also, at least once a chapter, Rachel has to mention how she doesn't trust Tavak, yet still believes him (one example on page 99 and another on 275). I mean, come on, get over this already! Either trust the guy or don't but don't spend half the book waffling.
10. Why the hell is it okay to interrupt Emily's important project but to interrupt Rachel's important project is a sin? Come on, even if Rachel found a cure for her sister's ailment, it would be years before it could be used!
11. The conclusion was a little too over the top in its optimism.

Overall:
A much better and shorter book would have been thus: The shooter is successful in killing Rachel Kirby. Harsh? Oh, yeah, but this book was harsh on the mind. It was like salt in a wound, like sand in your underwear, like eating rotten eggs. The torment that I went through just to read this book (and to finish!) was so great, I should get an award for it!
The characters are horrible and unbelievable, changing every two seconds to suit the authors' purpose. The plot is stupid and jerky, hopping from one end of the globe to the other in an attempt to show a huge, epic, thriling adventure. Then the romance...Lord have mercy, if I ever have to read about firm buttocks again and sex "happening", I think I will put myself out of my misery.
And thus a great concept is violently murdered. The pure atrocity of the book was so much, I could only read like 5 pages at a time, otherwise I would have thrown the book at the nearest wall and screamed in pain and agony. In fact, at the end, I could no longer contain myself (I was desperate to finish the dreck before I threw in the towel), I was literally yelling at the book. I wouldn't wish this book on my worst enemy. If I could, I would go 0 stars, but alas, I can only do 1.

Work from home 2020: book 3.

Indiana Jones-esque. A quick read, mainly good if you are trying to alleviate boredom, but not a book that I wanted to devour (unlike most of Johansen’s books). I liked the happy ending, the positive sister bond, the twist at the end that I (at least) did not see coming.

I imagine that writing with your mother (or your son) can inhibit some of the scenes you would write on your own. But I did read another book by this writing duo — Silent Thunder — which was a lot more enjoyable than this one was. I’d definitely recommend that one over this one. This was a little too predictable, a little too “happy” in that both sisters end up with boyfriends by the end (& you see that coming from the beginning of the book, basically). And just a little too unbelievable in general (see Indiana Jones comment above)...

Iris Johansen should help her son find a new career!

The story starts well enough!

Rachel Kirby, a computer whiz kid in Houston, Texas, and a rock hard business woman, will let nothing and nobody stand in the way of the only goal that really matters to her. She is intent on using the power of a super computer and a vast network of supplementary computing power to find the cure for GLD (Globoid Cell Leukodystrophy more prosaically known as Krabbe's Disease), an obscure neurological disorder most commonly found in infants that is killing her younger sister, Allie.

Having narrowly survived an attack by a sniper she thinks is linked to her computer contract with the National Security Agency, Kirby is working frantically to close the back doors in her system that have been compromised by a hacker whose skills likely outstrip her own. An enigmatic e-mail from John Tavak, a stranger who claims to be trapped and in imminent danger inside an Egyptian tomb also includes a surprising but unapologetic admission that Tavak is the virtual thief who has hacked into Kirby's system. If Kirby will press her contacts into service and rescue him from the would-be assassins waiting for him outside the tomb, he'll explain everything about his illicit use of her computer network. Of course, Kirby is unable to refuse the offered bait and the game is afoot!

The game, unfortunately, is a weak and entirely derivative copy of Dan Brown's THE DA VINCI CODE. STORM CYCLE is filled to the brim with unbelievably sterile, cartoonish caricatures and cardboard cutout characters, insipid dialogue, gunfights, explosions, contrived romance and, of course, historical puzzles. The goal, if you can believe this, is a compendium of miraculous cures developed by Peseshet, an ancient Egyptian physician. Naturally, one of the illnesses for which Peseshet had developed a cure was GLD but if the big mean, corporate, pharmaceutical machine, driven purely by bottom-line profit motives, beats Tavak and Kirby to the brass ring, all the cures will be suppressed.

One of the editorial reviews suggested "Despite the lack of character development or surprising plot twists, action fans should be satisfied." Well, they were half right. There certainly was a lack of character development and there were no surprise plot twists. But I certainly wasn't satisfied.

The nicest thing I could think of saying about STORM CYCLE is to suggest that it would make a decent screenplay for a computer game. The action and the setting would make for some fun computer play and the puzzles would make an interesting diversion. But, as a novel, STORM CYCLE is a waste of good paper and precious reading time. Give this one a wide berth!

Not recommended.

Paul Weiss

This was an okay book. It was pretty predictable. It didn't hold my attention the way a good action packed thriller should be. It was too easy for my mind to wander to the point where I would have to go back and reread the last page.

Computer genius Rachel Kirby runs a myriad assortment of data for various organizations through her super computer as well as utilizing the computing power of many private machines throughout the country. Utmost on her agenda is to find a cure for her ailing sister's rare disease. John Tavak is on the hunt for the formula of a brilliant ancient physician, and illegally taps into Rachel's computer to decipher information he's uncovered. Circumstances bring them together and on the run to be the first to uncover the clues and bring this possible cure to the public. They lose and the formula will be forever buried by the pharmaceutical company who stands to lose a great deal of money if a cure for many illnesses is found.

I found the writing to be tight and the story to be creative and entertaining. I have really been enjoying the books by this mother/son pair.

i really love iris johansen but am not a big fan of ones she writes with her son

Kind of boring.