The Storm King by Brendan Duffy

The Storm King features Nate McHale, pediatric surgeon and family man, who returns to his hometown of Greystone Lake for the funeral of his first girlfriend.  Lucy disappeared on graduation night and although many assumed she ran away, Nate never believed it.

Told in alternating timelines, the "past is prologue" to the events to come.

When Nate was fourteen, the family car went over a cliff into the lake; Nate's parents and three-year-old brother all drowned, but somehow Nate survived.  The tragedy continues to influence Nate, and his high school years are full of anger at the unfairness of life.  

In the wake of his miraculous survival, people--his best friends included-- view Nate differently. Nate, Tom, Jonny, Owen, and later, Lucy are a tight knit unit, and Nate, the Storm King, is the leader.  Perceived injustices are righted, or more accurately, punished.  Adolescent Nate is not always an admirable character.  

After high school, Nate leaves Greystone Lake for college and attempts to put his high school persona behind him.  He becomes a successful and empathetic pediatric surgeon with a loving wife and an adored child, but when Lucy's body turns up after all these years, Nate returns to his hometown, determined to find out what happened to her.  However, his return to Greystone Lake will force him to acknowledge his own guilt and uncover some disturbing secrets.

The Storm King is not a comfortable read--as the tension ratchets up, you know that some of the mistakes in the past will have far-reaching consequences, and you wish you could step in and shake the boys.  There is a callousness in the "justice" the teenagers meet out in their high school years.  

What comes as a surprise is that there is a new generation of vigilantes--and their targets are Nate, Tom, Jonny, and Owen.  What goes around...

Read in September; blog review scheduled for Jan. 21, 2018.

NetGalley/Random House/Ballentine

Psychological Suspense/Mystery.  Feb. 6, 2018.  Print length:  400 pages.