Book Description
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Martin County Sheriff Detective Marcus Brubaker, worn down by fatigue and personal grief, is jolted awake by his ringing phone. Outside his condo, blue-white lightning flashes across the midnight sky, followed by thunder that shakes Fairmont, Minnesota, to its core. Brubaker drives into the atmospheric hell to investigate a brutal hit-and-run murder that leaves the victim’s face unrecognizable. Local obstetrician Bradley Ferguson was hit and dragged while changing a flat tire on his Jeep Wrangler in a deluge of rain. His lifeless body lies in the muddy water covering a rural Martin County highway. Brubaker recognized the Jeep’s vanity license plate, DRSTORK. A streak of green paint on a lug wrench leads to the murder weapon, a 1955 Studebaker truck found nearby. Evidence points toward Trevor Jacobi as the culprit behind the steering wheel of the death mobile. He is missing with a four-hour head start. A second victim, Jacobi’s elderly father, Earl Jacobi, is found dead in the truck registered in his name. Brubaker now has two murder inquiries. His probes uncover layered family dynamics, revealing abuse and estrangement. Leadership conflicts within the Sheriff’s Department hinder progress. The chase for Jacobi extends from Minnesota to Florida, revealing his aggressive tendencies and criminal schemes, including money laundering, illegal immigrant shakedowns, and offshore drug trafficking, plus a missing million dollars linked to Jacobi’s Cuban-American boss. Brubaker and Tampa police clash over jurisdictional authority once Jacobi is captured. The case deepens with the suspected double murder-for-hire of a Tampa Civil Rights advocate and the Cuban-American’s wife. All evidence points to Jacobi and his former boss, who has fled to Cuba. A vulnerable, unreliable witness to Jacobi’s crime spree is murdered along with two officers escorting him to protective custody. Brubaker relies heavily on Corporal Linda Michaels, whose friendship, training, and instincts support him. Their bond is both professional and emotional. She is in love with Brubaker. He wavers, nostalgically unable to let go of old memories. The investigation climaxes with violent clashes against hired thugs from Florida attempting to recover stolen cash. Michaels’s marksmanship saves Brubaker’s life at one point. Ultimately, it comes down to Brubaker and Jacobi in a fight to the death, leaving the detective injured and needing hospital care. Jacobi is worse for wear, requiring multiple surgeries, lying in pain and agony behind steel bars, wearing Brubaker’s handcuffs.
More About This Book
When and Why Should Someone Read It?
Small-town cops are often viewed as Barney Fifes. Detective Marcus Brubaker shatters that perception. When big-city crime comes to his rural Minnesota county, he draws on skills honed in the military, facing terrorists and international enemies of America. October Storms is a ride-along as Brubaker tracks a killer through a complex nationwide trail of crime. Alongside is Corporal Linda Michaels, his most trusted and skilled police partner, also a former military member. Michaels provides both emotional and professional partnership. She is in love with the man. He wavers, nostalgically unable to let go of old memories and love again. Their relationship deepens amid the challenges of sorting through drug trafficking, money laundering, and murder for hire. Brubaker's pursuit of justice culminates in a dangerous face-to-face confrontation and fight for life between the cop and the criminal.
Themes, Ideas & Atmosphere
Detective Marcus Brubaker describes his dedication to his job as doing God's work. Relentlessly pursuing justice for crime victims and society. Struggling with the loss of his wife four years earlier, Brubaker relies on the emotional and professional support of Linda Michaels, a Deputy Sheriff. In the dangerous and daring pursuit of a killer, Michaels is almost always at his side or a phone call away. She loves the man and saves his life in a violent clash with criminal thugs. He covets her companionship. She wants a life together.
If You Loved These, You'll Love This
If you like reading Long Shadows, Storm Watch, Dark Harbor, or watching the Jesse Stone movies, you'll like October Storms, featuring new police personality Marcus Brubaker.
The Story Behind the Book
My experience in the U.S. Air Force Air Police introduced me to police work. Hearing or reading about the death of a law enforcement officer was a reminder of the untold stories of these local heroes. Over time, I read and collected news articles detailing police officers' selfless bravery in protecting citizens and pursuing criminals. The dichotomy of law and crime fascinates me. October Storms is a compilation of stories I have read and my imagination of serious investigation. October Storms is dedicated to law enforcement, the civil, and the military.
The Central Question
Detective Marcus Brubaker struggles to move forward after the death of his wife four years earlier. His life is his work. It causes conflict with his son, Cody, who encourages him to 'get a life.' Linda Michaels, a beautiful deputy in his department, seeks a meaningful relationship with Brubaker outside of their police partnership. He is a 52-year-old widower; she is a 50-year-old, 26-year law enforcement veteran, divorced for 12 years. Their platonic relationship ends at the front door to Michaels's apartment. Much to her disappointment. She loves the man. Trevor Jacobi, estranged from his parents for 24 years, suddenly comes home- or 'comes running home' would be truer to the story. The Jacobi family is thrown into chaos by Trevor's bad decisions, before and after coming home. He is soon running again, this time with Marcus Brubaker in pursuit. In Jacobi's rearview mirror is a dead obstetrician, and his cancer-stricken father, 80-year-old Earl Jacobi, dead of a fentanyl overdose. Witnesses place the blame on Trevor for forcing the pills on his frail father. The criminality of Trevor Jacobi's aggressive behavior in Minnesota is the continuation of a trail of crimes ranging from money laundering, drug trafficking, shakedowns of illegal immigrants, murder for hire, and the theft of one million dollars in Florida. Brubaker's pursuit of justice culminates in a mano-a-mano, free-for-all fight for life between the law and the lawless. Both end up in the hospital. One asleep, the other awake, in pain, awaiting corrective facial surgery and wearing Brubaker's handcuffs.
October Storms - a non stop suspensful small town police drama by Joe Spiller, a book, promoted on Goodkindles for .