top of page
Writer's pictureLisa Harvey

Distant Thunder

By Stuart Woods

Stone Barrington #63




It's Time for the Barrington Series to Come to a End.


⭐️⭐️


SUMMARY

A dead man found on the ferry ends up packed on ice on the garage floor of Stone Barrington’s Dark Harbor, Maine home.  The man had been shot in the head twice.  He may have been a CIA Agent, but maybe not.  The Russians may have been involved, but maybe not.


Barrington attempts to unravel the mystery of the man’s death and his identity. But the knots in the story are further tightened by the CIA Director and Barrington's friend  Lance Cabot.  When Barrington returns to his New York home, the dead man’s widow, Vanessa, soon pays him a visit.  Barrington offers the grieving widow his condolences and his bed.  He also helps Vanessa get her hands on the man’s off-shore accounts.


Harrington whisks Vanessa away to his estate in England when he feels they are being targeted by the same Russian operative who may have killed Vanessa’s husband.  From there, they return to New York,  only to flee the city once again while a female Russian operative sets her sites on Vanessa.


REVIEW

DISTANT THUNDER is the sixty-third book in the Stone Barrington series. Wow!The series started in 1991, and the number of books published per year escalated dramatically over the past ten years.  Author Stuart Woods passed away earlier this year, and there will be at least one more book in series releasing in 2023.


I have read many of the Stone Barrington books in the past, and this one followed the same formula.  Things have changed a lot in the past 30 plus years.  I think it's definitely time for the series to come to an end.  Hopefully, the sixty-fourth book will give us all some closure.


We have all grown up, and no long need Stone Barrington to swoop in with all his money and protect a damsel in distress. Barrington’s suave and irreverent character and his treatment of women may have been acceptable at one time, but not now. This scotch-drinking, ultra-rich boy’s club atmosphere is obnoxious.


The plot came across as slapstick comedy and reminded me of the old Abbott and Costello “Who's on First” act.  Well, maybe it wasn't that funny, but when the dead man becomes alive, and a woman who is alive becomes dead and then alive again, it's just too much!


Thanks to Netgalley for an advance reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.


Publisher    G. P. Putnam’s Sons

Published   October 11, 2022



Recent Posts

See All

Hamnet

Comments


bottom of page