Another great thriller from Jeffery Deaver featuring the no nonsense Colter Shaw. I really enjoyed this book. It was a very original story and it was interesting that it also featured more of Colter's family, giving the dynamics another level. Highly recommended.

"Need help. Now."

Upon receiving the message, Colter Shaw promptly travels to the small town of Hinowah, where heavy rainfall has led to a breach in the levee. A family of four in a white Chevy Suburban has been swept away, and he must assist in their rescue before it is too late. However, the situation proves to be more complex than it initially appears, suggesting that the weather may not be the sole contributing factor. There are additional unexpected developments involving others affected by the levee break.

Colter and his family must also contend with a mysterious woman seeking information about them. Her identity and motives remain unclear.

This book differed from previous installments in the series. The pacing felt somewhat slow initially, and I was wondering how it would play out, but I ultimately found it to be a very enjoyable read. The story also had a few surprises toward the end.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion

Having enjoyed this author’s work for a long time a new Colter Shaw tale is very welcome. Basically the search for a family seemingly victims of a levee collapse that is not the accident it appears. As always a complex tale full of interesting characters twists hither and thither with time made for a young woman escaping male control slipped into the narrative as someone taking advantage of the levee collapse. It all builds to an exciting climax and a question of mystery family connections is explained at the end setting up a new investigation for hopefully the next episode.

Did I mention that I love this series? I did? Well, it's true. I do. And this, South of Nowhere, book five if you can believe that, is another absolute belter of a thriller. A little different to some of the previous books in that this time around Colter Shaw, our reward seeking hero, is on the hunt for a missing family, not for financial gain, purely because it is the right thing to do. Well, that and his sister asked him for his help, and who is Colter to say no to Dorion? When a levee at the edge of the township of Hinowah suffers a partial collapse, it takes a car carrying a family with it, creating a dual race against time for the Shaw siblings. Not only do they need to find the family before the worst happens, they also need to find a way to shore up the levee to prevent the entire town being flooded.

You'd think that this would all be exciting enough right? The Shaw's against the elements, because it really is man v nature as an escalating water flow threatens to do even more damage to the already failing levee. But that is not the only threat, as we as readers are very quick to learn, and it is not long before a very Colter crosses paths with danger of the very human kind. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that the collapse of the levee was no accident, and trying to get to the bottom of what really happened, and if worse is yet to come, really does drive the tension and jeopardy off the chart. Add in another missing person, a potential threat to the Shaw family by way of a stranger who is trying to track down their compound, and some unexpected revelations about their father, and this really is an intense reunion for the siblings.

And I loved it. I love how in each and every case Jeffery Deaver draws us into the heart of the action. I could almost feel as though I was right there in Hinowah, looking on as Dorion and Colter try to get a handle on the situation. Everything, from the planning of the evacuation, to the investigation into who might be behind the collapse, carries a real sense of authenticity and intensity that had my heart pounding, especially as we cut to certain other characters who are right at the limits of what you feel they can endure. The situation with the missing family becomes almost heart-wrenching, and I got all the emotions reading those scenes. Then there are the action scenes, the moments where Colter really gets into his stride, taking on a nemesis who is set in their determination to complete their 'mission'. Each scene is so carefully plotted and executed, and even each side story comes with a sense of trepidation, never quite knowing how things are going to play out.

What I really do love most about these book though are the characters. From Colter himself - one of my favourite action heroes of recent years for sure - to his extended family of Dorion, even his mother, Mary Dove, and his extended friends circle of Teddy and Velma Bruin, they all bring something special to the books. In fact, I think I love Mary Dove as a character almost as much as Colter. So down to earth, tenacious and strong. It's no wonder her children are so self sufficient. Jeffery Deaver has created such a wonderful cast of characters, that it is a pleasure to spend time with them and a real shame when the story ends, although I'm always left satisfied. But in this book there is one very special character who deserves a mention, Debi Starr, one of the local Police force who plays a very key part in the action. It would be very easy to overlook her in the first instance. She is hardly given any credit by her colleagues and her uncertainty certainly makes you wonder if the entire force is just inept. But you would ignore her at your peril. She is a brilliant character, and I'm hoping that somewhere, somehow, we get to catch up with her again in future books. The ending would certainly suggest it could be a possibility.

Full of action, misdirection, suspect characters with even more suspect motives, a few shocks and surprises along the way including some very explosive revelations, the book has just left me hungry for more and, given the way the story ended, I think we'll be in for a real treat. An action series with real heart and conscience - love it. Definitely recommended.

📗📗BOOK REVIEW📗📗
South of Nowhere By Jeffrey Deaver
Published 8 May

The 5th in the Colter Shaw Thriller Series and he finds himself in the Californian town of Hinowah, otherwise known as Nowhere for obvious reasons. This reads well as a stand-alone but the whole series is so good I definitely recommend reading them all. Colter is a great character, determined and moral and doesn’t suffer fools gladly and despite his attraction to women he never able to settle to a normal family life. As always really well written and plotted.

Briefly, Colter had been at The Compound, aka his family safe location, when he receives a text from his sister Dorian. She is asking for his help as during a ferocious rainstorm the levee protecting Hinowah from the Never Summer River looks like it will burst, flooding the town. He is immediate dropped into a scenario involving sabotage, a young woman looking to escape her possessive partner and an apparent dispute about water. With a killer on the loose and a threat to his mother Colter has his hands full.

This is a fast paced, non stop ride from beginning to end. All the different threads, with some great twists and turns, add to the thrills and all tie up wonderfully by the end. A exciting and very entertaining read and oh, so enjoyable!

Thanks for the advance copy of this Colter Shaw tale. I have read all the others but this one I felt was extremely slow to get going. I think I noted I was at Chapter 30+ before a crime was identified. Always well written characters but I found this one had a lot of description that was a bit alien to me eg levee etc and therefore I did not enjoy it as much as previous novels.

Wow. This book I read in no time as once I started I just couldn't stop. And although a part of the Colter Shaw Series this book can easily be read as a stand alone. Colter Shaw is a great character and one I do like reading about. In this book his sister Dorian gets involved which I enjoyed.

A fast paced thriller with many twists and turns, many characters bringing interest and intrigue to the story and I loved the small town on the brink of disaster theme of the storyline. There are lots of clues to lead you on a journey of finding the bad and good and sorting them out. It is a book that starts a bit slow and builds quite quickly which I liked.

A great read, enjoyable and once you start reading you won't want to stop.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

I haven’t read all of the books in this series, but this works well as a stand alone. I’ve been a Deaver fan for some twenty years. When looking for something escapist, with great characters, packed with surprises and fast paced, Deaver is your man. This doesn’t disappoint, with impending disaster, tension and family drama, he packs in so many elements it’s a compelling and fast paced read.

I particularly enjoy the way Deaver weaves fact into his stories. The drama here involves a levee and flooding and with that theme, there’s a scenario with people trapped underwater in a car. It’s also linked to the goldrush and the ever increasing need for water as a resource. This is filled with a diverse range of weird and wonderful characters, all so well drawn, they seem real. I love the dialogue, the drama and the doubts Shaw has along the way which cause him to question.

I’ve whipped through this in a couple of sittings, surprised more than once by the sudden and unexpected twist; Deaver leads the reader up a path, only to find it’s a dead end and the ring lies the surprise. Really enjoyed this story. My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an early review copy.

I have always enjoyed reading Jeffery Deaver, since the first time I read a Lincoln Rhyme novel, and whilst this Colter Shaw series isn't quite as exciting to me as the Rhyme books, I still very much enjoy revisiting him each time a new book comes out.

This is book 5 and Colter is very well settled as our main protagonist. He is called in to help the search for a missing family after a 'natural' disaster occurs in a small town. Colter is unsure if it was as natural as it seems, or if foul play is involved.

A fantastic plot with the potential to be absurd, but the writing is top notch and keeps this one grounded and plausible.

Book review 25
South of Nowhere by Jeffrey Deaver
This is a Colter Shaw book and is thrilling, heart wrenching, and enigmatic in equal measure. I’ve got a bit of a soft spot for Colter Shaw who never gets the chance to settle down, who seems to always be on the run, whose moral code is so specific that he It feels morally obliged to always do the right thing and help whoever he can, this is just the sort of character that I that I’m drawn to.
In South of Nowhere, as well as a possible threat to his mum Colter and his sister, Dorian, work together to prevent a natural flood catastrophe which could kill many and destroy a small town.
Time is of the essence when a bridge collapses submerging and washing away vehicles and their occupants and the pressure is on Colter to find the vehicles before their occupants die. With three vehicles to find, and resources directed to a bigger but less threatened nearby town, they have their work cut out but of course we’re talking Colter Shaw here and we know that it’s going to be something more than just a collapsed bridge.
The twists and turns penned By Jeffrey Deaver are just amazing in this book. You’re given so many different possibilities, any of which could be viable, but you’re never quite sure which one to pin your flag to and say right this is the motive behind all of this. This is what’s really happening here and that kept me drawn to the book throughout it.
It was lovely to see Colter his sister and his mum all together in this one. They’re such a lovely family that you automatically root for them, but things aren’t normal for them which adds in another dimension to the narrative. Whilst Dorian manages to have a semi stable home life with children and a husband Colter just never seems to be able to do that and that I think that flawed character really draws you in.
Absolutely loved this. Read it in record quick time. Couldn’t put it down highly recommended.

Anything the Author writes I will read - why you may ask ?......... because he has no equal when it comes
to writing characters and storylines which grip you , leaving you invested in the outcomes . There
are plots within plots and clever misdirection weaving throughout the story , drawing everything
together to reach a conclusion - in this case also some sadness

Colter and his sister Dorian find themselves trying to help the residents of Hinowah whose
levees are about to collapse due to mountain snow melt flood waters , even though the area is suffering a drought .
There are multiple people in town , all with their own agendas who have an invested interest in what happens - not
always with the Town's residents interests at the heart of the matter .
Colter must navigate these threats and perils and try to assist the Townsfolk in surviving the collapse of the levees,
whilst , all the while trying to put his own problems with his father's past to one side .for the moment .

The Author has produced another fast paced , page turning thriller , full of twists and turns , with just a touch
of romance to keep any reader enthralled throughout .

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own

In the latest instalment of Deaver's compulsive readable Colter Shaw series (though, I'm not sure Deaver writes anything that isn't compulsively readable) our hero is pitted not only against the bad guys but against the forces of nature itself.

Amidst a general drought, the Californian town of Hinowah is threatened by, of all things, flooding, due to snow melt in the mountains. The levee that protects the town has been allowed to fall into disrepair, and it's threatening to give way. In the heart-stopping prelude to the story, we see travellers on the levee road facing the threat of being swept away by the floodwaters, and later, Shaw's cool analysis of how they might survive (if you're trapped in a submerged car with a pocket of air, it will last longer if you wee on the carpet, apparently, so you'd better hope the car's upright).

How, and why, Shaw comes to be in Hinowah and what allies - and enemies - he has there, will be revealed in the book. At the start he's worrying about a development from his troubled father's past, one that may place the family in danger again. That thread is picked up in the book as something that may feature in future stories, but mostly, this one is about the peril in Hinowah. We see an agreeable set of figures battle against the crisis - Army engineers, a disaster response professional who happened to than be passing by, the town boss who fancies taking over as police chief and sees the whole episode as a "test" for him, a new police recruit who's who most competent person on his team, and, of course, Shaw himself.

Laced with Deaver's brand of informed analysis on issues ranging from river law (and law), to flood risk to the history of the California goldrush to modern tech and its insatiable demand for water, and his meticulous plotting, the story isn't without the human touch either - whether it's Shaw himself finding romance or seeing the inhabitants of a small town respond in realistic ways to the threat hanging over them (spoiler: realistic ways doesn't always mean sensible ways).

There are subplots and wheels within wheels and a feature I love with these novels, a Survivalist family who are not far Right crazies - and whose skills and talents are particularly well suited to the crisis unfolding in South of Nowhere. We also see some bad actors about their business (but what, exactly, is their business, amidst a natural disaster?) and there are some surprises about who is up to what.

As ever, immense fun, and those same bad actors provide enough of a whodunnit/ whytheydunnit element to leaven the straight disaster narrative, if that's your thing, although for me , that drama was nalibiting enough in itself.

Strongly recommended, but if you pick this up, be sure to clear your diary for the next few days because you won't willingly out it down again till you reach the end.

I always look forward to a new Jeffery Deaver novel. I’ve read most of the series he has written, and he always manages to create characters that grip you, and make you want to read more. I’ve particularly enjoyed his Colter Shaw series, and this next book in the series didn’t disappoint. Will highly recommend to customers.

Another thrilling book in the Colter Shaw series.. There were lots of twists and turns and interesting characters. I do not like regurgitating the storyline of books I read suffice to say I thoroughly recommend this book.

This is an epic Shaw family endeavour with multiple story lines and an eclectic collection of characters.
My favourite being Debi Starr - she of the kick ass shooting.
I’m looking forward to the next book in this series and possible entanglements with characters already created by the talented Mr Deaver??

Coulter Shaw joins forces with his sister, Dorian, to help a small town on the brink of disaster when a levee breaks, putting everything at risk of flooding. But as he digs deeper, Coulter senses that something far more sinister is at play—and he’s not sure who he can trust. Is anyone truly who they claim to be?

This latest adventure is packed with clever misdirections and hidden clues, hallmarks of Jeffery Deaver’s signature storytelling. I found it a little slow at first but once the story develops it is faced paced and hugely enjoyable.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

4* Good intro to this series, and I wasn't lost at all. My very first, but not last, read by this author.

I'm not sure that the blurb did the book justice, as once the car was located - no spoilers - I thought the most fraught part of the tale was over. But, that's where it came alive and it became apparent that there were bad guys at the core of the tale, and some parts were really well done, and neither I nor Colter saw something coming that perhaps did have a RED herring about it.

Perhaps because I didn't fully understand the levee concept, I didn't get some of the urgency but the figuring out who was bad, good and shades of grey was pretty well done. It reminded me a little of the Mercy Thompson detective tales, but without quite the same feel of urgency.

ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Harper Collins Publishers for my reading pleasure.