REAP THE WIND
by
Joel Burcat
Action-Adventure / Suspense / Climate Change / EcoThriller
Publisher: Milford House Press, an imprint of Sunbury Books, Inc.
Date of Publication: February 6, 2024
Number of Pages: 215 pages
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THE PERFECT STORM meets THE FIRM.
Reap the Wind is a thrilling action/adventure novel that follows three lawyers as they embark on a treacherous journey from Houston to Cincinnati during a catastrophic hurricane. Josh Goldberg is on a mission to be with his girlfriend for the birth of their child. Along the way, they'll face terrifying obstacles like tornadoes, hailstorms, and driving rain. But the real danger may come from within as they struggle to survive each other's company. His two travel companions—his best friend, a drug-addicted lawyer, and his conniving boss who has her own agenda.
Don't miss out on this unforgettable odyssey that might just be a suicide trip.
PRAISE FOR REAP THE WIND:
"Reap the Wind is a bold, bracing and blisteringly original take on the legal thriller form. Joel Burcat has fashioned a seminal tale focusing on the nightmare of all road trips in which a storm raging outside the car is matched only by the storm raging within. Burcat dares to tread on the hallowed ground of John Grisham and Scott Turow and ends up blazing a fresh, daring literary tale of his own. Not to be missed!"
—Jon Land, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author
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5 stars!
Riveting road trip during a massive and unexpected
hurricane-force storm.
Reap the Wind is the new climate-fiction road trip
thriller by veteran author Joel Burcat, and from its edge-of-your-seat opening
to the final pages, the suspense never lets up. This book made me stay up half
the night just to find out what was going to happen, and it was worth it!
Although the road trip from Houston involves three people,
the story focuses on the young couple, Josh Goldberg and Keisha Jones, who are
expecting a baby sometime in the next six weeks. They love each other and are
fun and sweet together; their anxiety is palpable when apart. Both have
reservations about their futures, and their tense situations have them thinking
and rethinking their actions. Josh is an environmental attorney who feels like
a sell-out working for his large corporate clients, who are the antithesis of
all he believes. While he fights through the massive storm, he also struggles
with his ethical dilemma. Along for the ride is a senior associate coworker,
Geoff Roberts, and Josh’s selfish and manipulative boss, Diane Scanlon, a
villain who is easy to despise. Keisha, confined to the hospital in Florence,
has time on her hands for reflection as well, and that includes thinking about
Dr. Anthony Sudor, her ex-boyfriend who just happens to be the attending OB/GYN
at St. Elizabeth’s.
Coincidentally, the initial stage of Josh’s drive from
Houston was certainly déjà vu for me. I drive to Houston along parts of his
route a couple of times a year, and one leg of the trip is ALWAYS through a
major storm, without fail. (It has become a joke with my family.) While the
storms are not in the same league as this fictional one (except for that one
time outrunning an actual hurricane), the trip becomes exponentially longer and
more difficult with the smaller highways, winding terrain, and tall, encroaching
treelines, all contributing to the experience. Throw in an unfamiliar vehicle
(my husband’s pickup rather than my daily driver), and I could absolutely
relate. And, yes, there are some odd little towns along the way should you have
to make a stop.
I was definitely on the edge of my seat and actively
guessing the whole time as to how the story would work out. I was not
disappointed. This is the first book by this author I’ve read, and I will check
out his Mike Jacobs series as soon as I have the chance.
I recommend REAP THE WIND to readers who enjoy exciting
climate-related thrillers, stories featuring attorney protagonists, and tense
road trip tales.
Joel Burcat is an award-winning author of three environmental legal thrillers: Drink to Every Beast (illegal dumping of toxic waste), Amid Rage (a coal mine permit battle), and Strange Fire (a fracking dispute). His most recent book, Reap the Wind, is about three lawyers trying to drive from Houston to Cincinnati in a climate change-induced hurricane.
He has received a number of awards, including the Gold Medal for environmental fiction from Readers’ Favorite for Strange Fire, and as a Finalist in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards for Amid Rage. He has written numerous short stories. Burcat imbues his novels with facts to educate his readers about critical environmental issues while they are being entertained by the story.
Burcat’s books are infused with realism developed over a forty plus year career as an environmental lawyer.
“What Could I Do That Was Like That?”
Guest Post
By Joel Burcat
I am legally blind. I have an eye
disease called Non Arteritic Anterior Ischemic Optic Neuropathy (NAION). In
July 2016 and again in January 2018, I had blood clots form in the back of
first my left, then my right eyeball, which prevented blood from getting into
part of my optic nerve. Over the course of about 6 weeks, I lost vision in each
eye. I was seen by neuro-ophthalmologists at three leading hospitals and was
told the same thing—I had NAION, an incurable eye disease. The best I could
hope for was that it would not advance further and, maybe someday, there might
be a cure.
Because the
loss of vision was in my optic nerve, I cannot wear glasses to correct the
NAION vision loss (eyeglasses correct vision loss in the front of your eyes).
Also, there are no treatments for this condition (although several drugs are
going through trials). I cannot see words on paper in regular font very well,
have difficulty seeing almost anything at distance, and cannot make out faces
at about ten feet (a weird condition known as prosopagnosia, which seems like a
literary metaphor). Thankfully, I did not lose all of my vision. I still see
well enough to walk, see most things (although a lot of what I see is fuzzy),
and function well in daily life. I lost enough vision, however, that I could
not work as a lawyer and could not drive. Thankfully, I was able to continue
reading. I cannot readily read paper (even large print), but I can read a
screen using a large heavy font with appropriate backlighting. I bought myself
a yard-wide ultra-high-def monitor, which works pretty well when I spread a
sentence across the monitor using Ariel black font.
Beginning
in January 2018, I spent two months feeling sorry for myself. In March 2018, I
was watching a show on TV about skiers who had lost one or more limbs. I found
it fascinating and inspiring that they were doing something most people would
say they could not do—skiing with one leg. I wondered: what could I do
that was like that? I went to my home office and began writing a novel. Seven
weeks later, the first draft of STRANGE FIRE was done. I have been writing
continuously ever since.
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