Cover Jacket Blurb…

Lieutenant Shane Winslow is a recipient of the prestigious Coast Guard Medal. But four years after his rescue and survival story that catapulted him into the news, he is back home on Cape Cod. The perfect life he’d planned to live has become one of unfulfilled promises and grief. Samantha Edgerton is descended from English royalty. Vivacious, brilliant and talented, she has lived a life of privilege and luxury with just one major disappointment. During those frightening days at sea, she fell in love with a man she couldn’t have. When Sam and Shane unexpectedly meet on Cape Cod, four years after their ordeal, reunion sets in motion a chain of terrifying events. Both will be forced to call upon every skill to save the life of someone they love.

Eye of the Storm

Eye of the Storm is a contemporary romantic thriller with two main themes—one the love story between Samantha Edgerton, granddaughter of a British Lord and Shane Winslow, a former Coast Guard Officer. The second is the story of the vendetta by a powerful Russian and his family who blame Lord James Edgerton (Samantha’s Grandfather) for the tragic death of his wife and two children.

It is a sequel to my 2013 novel, Out of the Storm, and like that one is set on Cape Cod during late May and June of 2016. Samantha Edgerton and Shane Winslow meet as the result of a sailboat sinking in the Gulf of Mexico during Hurricane Isaac in August of 2012. Shane, a young Coast Guard Lieutenant finds himself in a life raft with Samantha and several members of her family when he attempts to rescue them from their foundering sailing yacht. The two spend several days in the raft before being rescued. Sam (Samantha) develops strong feelings for her heroic rescuer. But after their rescue Shane undergoes surgery to repair the arm and shoulder he injured during their ordeal. Sam tries to pursue her hero only to discover that he may lose his promising career because of the injury he suffered in helping them and is also told by his commanding officer that Shane is returning home to recuperate and spend time with his fiancé.

In June of 2016, we find Sam and her family arriving in Boston and heading to Cape Cod. Her grandfather, James, a former Admiral in the Royal Navy, Member of the House of Lords, and a noted businessperson plans to give a lecture series at the Harvard Business School in the fall. The family rents a compound on the Bass River, a large tidal estuary that divides Cape Cod. Eric and Ashley Montgomery (Hero and Heroine from Out of the Storm) are asked by Brian Turner, a man known as the Admiral and the Director of a high-level government security agency to help the Edgertons on their visit to the Cape. The Admiral helped to rescue the Montgomerys from a treacherous domestic terrorist in Out of the Storm.

Shane’s life had been difficult since his return to Cape Cod. He has resigned his commission because of his injury; his older brother, a Marine officer has been killed in the Middle East, and his fiancé died in an auto accident. He’s become withdrawn and moody, helping his hometown as the temporarily appointed Harbormaster.

When asked by the Montgomerys to take the Edgertons on a cruise around Nantucket Sound he and Sam are reunited. While they’re renewing their connection, the Russian businessperson and several skilled accomplices have also landed in the US. Ilya Romanov, aka Axab (Russian for the name Ahab which he has adopted), continues to blame Sam’s grandfather and his company’s negligence for the death of his family. Axe has spent years planning this sinister plot to exact revenge. He will kidnap Sam’s younger brother Charles, keep him in an air-tight cell in a rented house on Cape Cod and demand a huge ransom. Axe intends to exact his cruel vengeance by letting the fourteen-year-old boy die. PP5As Axe and his assembled team of mercenaries go about the task of surveilling and preparing for the kidnapping Shane and Sam continue to reconnect. Or so it seems at first. Though both are thrilled at this amazing turn of events, Shane suddenly balks at pursuing their relationship for reasons known only to himself.

The Admiral and his assistant, Jeanie Flynn, arrive on Cape Cod after a strange and frightening incident takes place at the Edgerton’s rented compound. Their visit is transformed from a friendly reunion to an investigation into who and what was behind the strange attack.

As Sam tries to understand why Shane suddenly seems to be avoiding her, the Admiral and Jeanie begin to suspect that the strange incident at the Edgerton’s was far more than harassment or a prank. Especially when they see photographs from one of their field teams that show two notorious international mercenaries on Cape Cod.

After Ashley delivers a revelation while talking with Sam, she decides to confront Shane at a social function. Though he continues to rebuff her at first, he finally chases after her and the two have the romantic evening both had longed for. Shane confesses the reason he has avoided her was guilt. He was consumed by guilt because he had fallen in love with her during the long frightening days in the Caribbean. When he returned home his fiancé suspected his feelings had changed so after her tragic accident, he felt responsible.

But while Sam, Shane, and their relationship now move forward at breakneck speed so do Axe and his henchmen’s plan to kidnap Charles, Sam’s fourteen-year-old brother. After a shake-up with his family security team, James Edgerton seeks the Admiral and Jeanie’s aid to ensure his family’s safety. They enlist Ashley and Eric. She is a world-class technology expert and Eric is a former Green Beret team leader. They discover that the Edgerton property is under surveillance and that their electronics have been hacked.

But before they can incorporate any countermeasures Charles is kidnapped while riding on a remote bridle path. Jeanie, who is helping provide security for the family is thrown from her horse and suffers a fractured skull.

Charles is terrified as he is bound, gagged, and dragged away with a hood over his head. He soon finds himself being pushed into a dark stuffy cell. Axe has his own technology expert who has designed a hack-proof video and audio feed that they broadcast to James and his family. The tension mounts as the Edgertons and an assortment of security and police stare helplessly at Charles in his frightening state of captivity.

Ashley uses all her hacking skills as she tries desperately to discover the kidnapper’s location, but it appears, she has met her match. The Admiral, who had flown back to Washington returns to Cape Cod, distraught and furious over the kidnapping and Jeanie’s life-threatening injury.

The action moves forward at breakneck speed as the terrifying situation unfolds over the long afternoon and evening. We view the Edgertons, the kidnappers, Shane, Sam, and Charles in a minute by minute chronology. Ashley uses all her technology skills as she sits surrounded by Eric, the Admiral, James Edgerton, and a host of police and security personnel. But the frustration and fears mount as they all realize that the kidnappers have their own electronic savant.

When technology fails Eric, Misha (head of the Edgerton Security Team), and Shane use their intuitive skills to narrow down where the kidnappers may have taken Charles. When they come up with a possible locale Shane and Sam get in his jeep and use his knowledge of the backroads near where Charles was taken to narrow his location even further.

Axe and his accomplices use their own electronic expert to show the Edgertons a live picture of Charles in his small dark cell. James is angry and terrified but is held in check by those with him.

After scouting the remote area for where the kidnappers have taken Charles, Sam and Shane find the farmhouse where he is being kept… or so they think. When ordered to return to safety they refuse but insist that Ashley bring her laptop to make sure that the kidnappers are broadcasting from the location they’ve discovered.

Ashley and Eric arrive at the scene and confirm what they all hoped: that the live feed is originating at that location. The police, FBI, and the Admiral’s operatives on the Cape descend on the house and surround it. They use a drone to ascertain how many kidnappers are inside and are about to announce their presence when gunshots are heard inside. One of the kidnappers has gone rogue and wounded two of the others.

How will this edge of the seat thriller end… get your copy today and find out!

Enjoy!

Kevin V Symmons