By Ann Cleeves https://anncleeves.com/ @AnnCleeves
Narrated by Jack Holden @1JackHolden
Published by Pan MacMillan https://www.panmacmillan.com/ @panmacmillan, MacMillan UK Audio https://us.macmillan.com/audio/ @MacmillanAudio
400 pages (10 hours 7 minutes) ISBN 9781529077728
Publication date 31 August 2023
The Raging Storm is the third novel in the Two Rivers series featuring Matthew Venn.
I was allowed access to an audio review copy on Net Galley https://www.netgalley.com/ @NetGalley. Thanks to the Author and Publisher for organising this and Anne at Random Things Tours @RandomTTours for the invitation to participate in the Blog Tour.
The Cover
A raging sea and a RNLI lifeboat at work. Lifeboats and their crew have an important part to play in the story. The author is a big supporter of the service and is currently participating in a series fund raising events whilst promoting this novel – see her X/Twitter feed for more information.
From the blurb
When Jem Rosco – sailor, adventurer and local legend – blows into town in the middle of an autumn gale, the residents of Greystone, Devon, are delighted to have a celebrity in their midst. The residents think nothing of it when Rosco disappears again; that’s the sort of man he is.
Until the lifeboat is launched to a hoax call-out during a raging storm and his body is found in a dinghy, anchored off Scully Cove, a place with legends of its own.
This is an uncomfortable case for DI Matthew Venn. He came to the remote village as a child, its community populated by the Barum Brethren that he parted ways with, so when superstition and rumour mix and another body is found in the cove, Matthew soon finds his judgement clouded.
As the stormy winds howl and the village is cut off, Venn and his team start their investigation, little realizing their own lives might be in danger. . .
The narration
A nicely judged narration with the placid nature of Matthew Venn nicely captured and I enoyed Jen’s slightly passive aggressive Scouse accent. It’s good that he doesn’t try to make the female voices too ‘girlie’ or make the accents too strong, but just enough to give the listener a sense of location.
My thoughts
After Shetland and Vera, the Two Rivers series (which somehow passed me by until last year) is the third set in a rural location. Yes, Vera does have a Newcastle base, but the stories are largely based in the Northumbrian countryside. So more of the same but in a different location? An emphatic no from this reader, the central characters are very different, the landscapes are too, with unique social and environmental issues. The author’s keen eye for nature gives her the ability to bring landscapes to life, which along with her perception of the human psyche are great strengths that she brings to her writing. After all there are more than enough big city crime novels.
Religion in the form of the Plymouth Brethren casts a long shadow over the series. It is a strict branch of Christianity which closely follows the teaching of the bible and has a stronghold in the Southwest of England. Venn was brought up under the faith by his devout family, following its restrictions, one of which appears to be not having fun which might be a problem for a child. His split came when he fell in love with Jonathan, who is now is husband. Homosexuality not being approved of, he was given an ultimatum and he chose Jonathan over the brethren, thereby severing all ties with his family.
Venn is an unusual central character, not through his sexuality, that is nothing new in crime fiction, but because he is so calm and level-headed, seemingly without any of the usual troubles or vices that we are used to. Most fictional detectives have so much excessive baggage to deal with that they would fill Michael O’Leary’s (of Ryanair) eyes with pound signs. Venn is so remarkable because he is ordinary, nice and a little plain, this is no flamboyant gay man. He is the counter point for the moody and troubled now single mum Jen and the social player Ross. A combination that works perfectly.
The setting is Greystone a small village on the North Devon coast which is vividly brought to life. It’s a place that is firmly rooted in the past and due to its lack of sandy beach, has missed the tourist and second home boom that has benefitted a few but blighted the lives of many. Its housing is still affordable, and it remains very much a working village of agriculture, fishing and until its closure quarrying. So far, it hasn’t been turned into a ghost village, with tea rooms and craft shops. In some respects, its isolation is what is insulating it from the outside world, but this same isolation is so crippling when the big storm closes the roads and brings down power lines. At this point we see the village rallying around to help and support each other, just as it does to raise funds for one of the children to go to USA for treatment for a rare condition. It is a place where family comes first, here one looks after one’s own. A tight knit community, but also one where secrets and grudges are buried but never forgotten.
The victim, Jem Roscoe, is brash, extrovert man who has had great success on the television with his adventure series. An outgoing man who seems to be very friendly and able to quickly turn on the charm, he’s someone who everyone wants to befriend, or so it appears. His return to his roots was unexpected but he quickly worms his way back into village life down at the local pub The Maiden’s Head. He says he’s in Greystone because he is expecting someone, but nobody seems to come. Then late at night when the weather is particularly foul a mysterious woman is sighted walking in the street but no one appears to know where she came from or where she went.
With no motive or suspects it is Roscoe’s life that is examined in minute detail to solve the murder. Venn, Jen and Ross peel away at his life like an onion and with each successive layer a murky past is revealed. A complex man who is not as well liked as may first appear.
The rural setting means a gradual build-up of intrigue and tension before it is masterfully released, and the secrets revealed. The North Devon countryside is no place for rip roaring car chases, but don’t be fooled amongst the stunning natural beauty there is violence and danger on the rugged coastline.
The Raging Storm mixes the idyllic North Devon countryside with secrets and dangers both natural and man-made in a gripping police procedural.
The Ranging Storm can be purchased direct from the publisher here
The author
ANN CLEEVES is the author of more than thirty-five critically acclaimed novels, and in 2017 was awarded the highest accolade in crime writing, the CWA Diamond Dagger. She is the creator of popular detectives Vera Stanhope, Jimmy Perez and Matthew Venn, who can be found on television in ITV’s Vera, BBC One’s Shetland and ITV’s The Long Call respectively. The TV series and the books they are based on have become international sensations, capturing the minds of millions worldwide. Ann worked as a probation officer, bird observatory cook and auxiliary coastguard before she started writing. She is a member of ‘Murder Squad’, working with other British northern writers to promote crime fiction. Ann also spends her time advocating for reading to improve health and wellbeing and supporting access to books. In 2021 her Reading for Wellbeing project launched with local authorities across the North East, and in 2022 she was awarded an OBE for her services to reading and libraries. She lives in Northumberland where the Vera books are set.
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