“Low Pressure” by Sandra Brown – Bloody Storms

Low Pressure by Sandra Brown tells the story of Bellamy Lyston, who at the age of twelve witnessed her older sister Susan being killed on Memorial Day during a very stormy night. 

The shocking events, coupled with Bellamy’s fear of storms, contributed to partially erasing her memory and modifying her memory of what happened on that day; the best she can manage to remember are brief, fractured and seemingly senseless flashbacks.

Now being a woman of thirty years of age, Bellamy decides to write a book chronicling her experience on that night. To protect her family’s identity from rabid fans and the media, she used pseudonyms. However, a sneaky tabloid reporter soon figures everything out, and of course exposes the family’s identity in relation to the book, bringing down a media scandal upon them. 

While it seems that it is bad, things haven’t even started to take a turn for the worse yet. As it happens, Bellamy has made herself a new friend: a relentless and creepy stalker whose motives are unknown. It seems that whoever is after Bellamy either wants to keep what she knows under wraps, or even worse, get revenge for the man who was accused for the crime.

Needless to say, as Bellamy digs deeper and deeper into Susan’s killing, she comes across evidence which conjures up long-forgotten demons from her past, ones that she must face should she discover the horrible (and as is often the case, simple) truth behind it all.

It seems that many great works of literature (or movies for that matter) have roots in the Whodunit genre, and not without reason: the suspense of not knowing who a murderer is while keeping in mind that you do (or at least ought to) have all the clues you need to find his or her identity is quite a thrill and pulls the reader deep into the story. It should come as no surprise that many authors are trying to use this element in order to better their books, just like Sandra Brown does it in Low Pressure.

However, I have to say that the murder mystery part of this book (and it was a pretty big part), is solid, but nothing to write home about. There are many instances where the reader can easily enough deduce what is going to happen next, and you don’t even need to be an experienced murder mystery reader to figure it out. Yes, there are a few very well-done twists and moments, but overall, I found this facet of the book to be only above average.

As far as the rest of the story and the characters go, I have to say that even though the plot is quite intriguing, certain characters are a bit difficult to appreciate. Now, I know that not all characters are designed to be likeable or even relatable, but in this case, it seems that Sandra put far too much effort in certain characters while neglecting others. 

The end result is that many of the characters appear interesting and intriguing when you first encounter them, but over time, your attention to them fades for they stop brining new things to the story. That being said though, I didn't find the characters to be bad or unbearable… they simply lacked that something which will make me remember them for years to come (like I’ll never forget Piggy from Lord of the Flies, for instance).

All in all, I did enjoy Low Pressure, although there are a few turns where I was left a bit disappointed. However, I have no trouble seeing how some people could enjoy this book: it’s entertaining. If your goal is to kick back, relax, and dive your mind into a solid murder mystery, there is no doubt Low Pressure will be right up your alley.

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Sandra Brown Personal site Known for having numerous pen names, Sandra Brown was never the kind of author who shied away from experimentation. She wrote numerous bestselling novels and even one that was made into a movie (French Silk), and as of now it seems her contributions to the world of literature are far from being at an end.