Storm Catchers

by Tim Bowler

Fin is devastated by guilt when his sister, Ella, is kidnapped. She is snatched away from the house in the middle of a storm. As the kidnappers make their demands, Fin's guilt is replaced by a fierce determination to find his sister by whatever means he can, and bring the criminals to justice. But as the drama unfolds, a complex web of family secrets is revealed. It emerges that Ella's kidnapping is revenge for mistakes Fin's father made, years before. The consequences will change all their lives forever.

Genres: Mystery, Young Adult, Fiction, Suspense, Teen, School, Thriller

200 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Tim Bowler is one of the UK’s most compelling and original writers for teenagers. He was born in Leigh-on-Sea and after studying Swedish at University he worked in forestry, the timber trade, teaching and translating before becoming a full-time writer. He lives with his wife in a small village in Devon and his workroom is an old stone outhouse known to friends as ‘Tim’s Bolthole’.

Tim has written twenty books and won fifteen awards, including the prestigious Carnegie Medal for River Boy. His most recent novel is the gripping Bloodchild and his provocative Blade series is being hailed as a groundbreaking work of fiction. He has been described by the Sunday Telegraph as ‘the master of the psychological thriller’ and by the Independent as ‘one of the truly individual voices in British teenage fiction’.

Reviews

[viki♡ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hated it. And I don't say that for a lot of books.

Had to read it for school nearly 2 years ago, and the first few 50ish pages were decent! But it just began to get full after.

You could basically say I DNF as I was literally blanked out while reading it (still reading the book, but nothing was really going in 🤣)

But yeah would not recommend ❤️

[Grace · Rating 1 out of 5]

this is the last time i take book recs from a man

[K. Carters · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm not sure how to rate this book or if I'm being fair/harsh/generous. When I write the story down, it's something I would be interested in reading and it's not a bad notion. However, I don't think it translates to the book. The pace should be ultra quick -you are thrown in with an abduction in the opening chapter- but it feels ploddy and like nothing is happening. Half the book was learning to dowse for example -which wasn't that useful to the actual plot or outcome...the same thing would have happened if they had done it or not! Likewise, the dialogue just seemed fake and awkward. It didn't feel right. They were on a cliff with a storm approaching and a kid missing...and they stop to fill in all the plot gaps for nearly three pages, explaining motives, spoilers, side plots and so forth. Just feels a bit cheated. I don't feel much for any of the characters and genuinely didn't blink when it was teased that the kid had jumped off the cliff. There's no pay off at the end, no one has learnt their lesson and people just act strangely and get on with their lives. Maybe I'm too harsh but I just found the characters very one dimensional and not very interesting. Shame as it's a great idea for a story...

[D C · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read it for school. It actually started off really decent, but then about a hundred pages in the plot got completely bogged down by, I shit you not, the antagonist going fishing. By the time it got back on track I'd checked out. I didn't care what happened anymore. All the tension was gone and I was praying for it to end as soon as possible. All the characters were awful and not in an interesting way. The plot was borderline incoherent. There was so much random stuff that was introduced, seemingly to pad out the page count, and then just never brought up again. Whoever gave this book an award needs to be shot. This book killed my family, burned down my house and wrote Alien 3.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is 1 of the most moving books I have read in a long time. Its beautifully written, from the kidnapping to the collapsing to the truth to the strange little boy it's well worth the look!!!

The Summary (back of the book) Taken from the Book Storm Catcher:

"Tell a soul and she's dead. We'll be in touch."
The kidnap shocks the whole family. Ella has been snatched away from the house in the middle of a storm. Her brother Fin will never forgive himself for leaving her on her own. Now Sam, their little brother, has gone wandering on the cliff to "catch the storm" as it blows out to the sea.

As the kidnapper's plans unfold, all members of the family are forced to confront their deepest, darkest secrets. Fin comes to realize that Ella is not the only victim and that the real villian may be closer to home than anyone thought.

A new storm is breaking on the horizon. And it's going to change everything...




Thats the whole preview!!! Please read!!

[Anna Fiolkowska · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely adored this book.the amount of things happening at once was at times hard to understand, but at the end paid off with amazing twists to the story, which personally, were never expected. For example when Ella's dad turns out to be the father of Imogen Prescott or that the little girl that Sammy followed around was in fact the ghost of Imogen Prescott.

A lot of unsolved mysteries throughout the book also kept me wanting to find out what was happening. A good idea to support this, is who the little girl Sammy was talking to, or even better, why did she keep on calling him to catch the storm and why did the Ricky Prescott get so scared when Sam mentioned it accidentally over the phone.

The only part I did not understand, was why was Imogen's death Fin's dad's fault. Maybe I didn't read that very well or it indeed isn't mentioned in the book.

However in the end, when Ella's dad uncovers all the secrets, one by one, it feels really good to suddenly know exactly what was happening in the book all along when all this time, you knew of nothing...

In summary, this is so far my favourite book I've ever read. It's perfect.

[Hannah S · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book started off good, but slowly got worse and worse to the point where I was wondering how it had got an award to be honest.
The blurb kinds of paints it out to be a thriller with elements of mystery in it, but it’s just got random supernatural elements that don’t really make sense and kind of leave you a bit confused. The whole ‘dowsing’ thing was a lazy way to proceed with the book’s plot.
And with regards to how the kidnappers’ motives were found out, it doesn’t really give the reader a chance to work it out on there own. Almost the entire thing just gets explained by one character at the end which is a lot to take in and somewhat irritating.
And none of the characters really learn anything from the whole ordeal so ultimately reading it just felt pointless.

[Jepha · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't understand how this book won an award,it feels like the author took a couple of unfinished NaNoWriMo projects and smashed them together. It's a mystery novel that tries to become supernatural? The exposition is terrible. instead of dropping clues and developments over the course of the story, we are led blindly until suddenly everything is revealed in a monologue after the climax has taken place.
There is very little depth to any of the characters, I wonder how many 3 year olds the author has met because, as a preschool teacher, I found it the things that Sammy got up to were quite unbelievable.

[Zoe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hm how do I rate this book? In one way it’s genius and in another it is not. Not much happens and even though you would expect a story about kidnapping to be fast pasted, it is very slow going. There are some chapters that seem irrelevant to the story/ come out of nowhere with no context. But at the same time I sorta enjoyed it? I don’t know. The little boy Sammy is a quirky character and without him I think the story would be a no go. He definitely carries the story. I feel it was a brilliant idea and I see what the author is trying to do but I don’t think it is executed as cleanly as it could be.

[Lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Storm Catchers was a great book! We originally read it in school, but as I enjoyed it, I bought myself a copy and decided to annotate and highlight my favourite parts: to really understand the plot and characters. I really enjoyed the story, and I loved how the plot unfolded. One thing I really liked was the characters! They all seemed very secretive and mysterious in their own ways, and they kept changing and adapting because of the situations. My least favourite parts were on the boat- I just found them slightly dull and repetitive. Apart from those 2 scenes, I enjoyed the book! :D 4 stars!

[Noor Alzidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was soo damn good, i was intrigued the whole time, you don’t really know what’s going on or what’s going to happen, oh my my the suspense!!!

1000/10 would recommend. It’s so light, only 290something pages and you can literally finish it in one sitting if you went hard at it, and it wouldn’t even be that difficult because you’ll be gripped so hard and you’ll be turning page after page frantically.

[Aoife · Rating 3 out of 5]

Catch the storm ? Peter Parnell can catch these hands!!

Looking forward to teaching my students about the audacity of men once again being the downfall of society

Lowkey though this is not a good book 🤦‍♀️

August update: I don't have the year group that I would have been teaching this book too, so both I and my friends who I snapchatted to about this book have suffered

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

it was very exciting and a real page turner

[Tailsmo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable thriller for teens. Creepy supernatural element. I will be looking for more books from this author.

[René · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a steaming pile of crap. I feel personally offended.

[Clare · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, a great find in a charity shop. I will be looking for more books by this author in the future.

[Paul · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dear Tim Bowler
Your book is shit,
But you're shitter

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A teen mystery thriller by Tim Bowler, Storm Catchers follows the viewpoint of Fin. Upon finding out his sister was kidnapped and held for ransom, he attempts to take things into his own hands when his parents are unable to handle the situation. Recommended dowsing by a friend, Fin realizes his sister may not be too far off, but is she still alive? Meanwhile, Fin's younger brother, Sammy, is acting up more. He's wondering outside a lot and talking more frequently to a supposedly imaginary friend, but is there a connection to his sister's disappearance?

The book starts very quickly into the story, with the kidnapping scenario occurring immediately and the family receiving the ransom notice. The story progresses moderately after that, with Fin attempting to search for his sister, Sammy's unusual antics, and the parents fretting over the ransom. We are left to ponder who the kidnapper is as well as the connection of Sammy's imaginary friend and a constant warning of an impending storm, supposedly. It is very apparent that this book was more plot focus than character development, as some moments just feel like they came and went. Luckily the mystery and the ongoing subplots wraps up kind of nicely at the end. It was all right, but the way the twist came is what brought it to a 4 for me

[Mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t dislike this book like I thought I would, actually I quite enjoyed it. I liked all the different aspects of the story and how they all tied up in the end. I felt the book was the perfect length and everything that happened had some significance to plot. I also loved the character of Ricky and how he had so many layers to him and his actions all had valid motivations.

Some thing I didn’t like, was how the whole mystery was solved by waving a pendulum around. Just felt a little too easy for the main characters and the magic seemed too powerful and out of place in the story. I have to say that all of Tim Bowlers books are the same. I’ve read quite a few now and the ghost girl is something we saw in Bloodchild and antagonist out for revenge after some past trauma was in Buried Thunder. I just feel this author re-uses the same plot points in all his books and it’s probably not worth reading as many of them as I have.

Overall I liked this book a decent amount, but probably won’t be picking up any new books from this author. 3 stars.

[Ginessa S · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book title is Storm Catchers by Tim Bowler. The book is about this little girl that gets kidnapped and her family is the only one that knows this, they all try to look for her but they all don’t have any luck, but they’re little brother finds her, but they cannot do anything because if they do tell anybody, the kidnapper kills her. The author makes it sorta scary and a mystery so many people would want to know what would happen next so they continue to read it, and be more interested in the book. I recommend this book to people because many people would probably like this book due to it being a mystery and it would probably be really hard to stop after what the book is about and how it is written.

[Emily Fitzpatrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can see where they were trying to go with this book but in the nicest way they failed miserably the start of the book was good yes it was exciting but then it just got super confusing especially with sammy like why didn’t the parents get him checked for schizophrenia??? The only real good bit was at the end where we found out about Imogen the whole book was long and confusing and I don’t recommend like no I don’t wanna hear about a voice a young boy hears and the pendulum thing?? What?? That was so confusing and overall I don’t really recommend I did not care about the characters and when it was hinted sammy died I didn’t gaf

[Javier Burken · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think the theme of the book is that ella is left home alone and fin was at his freinds house and after fin left he came home with the horore of that his sister was missing and he was responsable of this because he was supose to stay home with ella and now he is supose to try to find her.

[Jimmy Snuggerud]

I think this book is very good and it really keeps me up in my seta while I am reading it. It has a bit of mystery and a bit of thriller so it is a all in 1 great book. They do go through some boring times in the book but definitely more good and exciting parts. Storm Catchers was a great book.

[Christine Norman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book to see if it was good to give as a gift to my grandkids. It's not. The story employs occult practices and religious epithets, neither of which I would want to encourage in my grandchildren, so I'm tossing it.

[Jasper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book, although quite dark. The betrayal of the father was really obvious from the beginning, however, and it felt like it ended a bit abruptly, without as many answers to the questions as I might have wanted, although that may have been purposeful by the author.

[Kav · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a good book but it’s not that interesting, the book is sometimes really predictable and the story is kind of lengthy, if you’re a new reader this book is recommended, if you have already read a lot of books this is probably not the best one to chose.

[Isabelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think it was a very dramatic book and I enjoyed it very much

[Megan ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book so much when I read it 6 years ago and desperately want to re-read it!!

[Lucy ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book. I knew from the start though that the dad knew who Ricky and his family was. The ending when everything got revealed was done perfectly and so page turning.

[Aobha16 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really confusing book but I promise you it’s worth it. It’s so fascinating, and heart wrenching. Do yourself a favour and read it