Reviewed by Larissa

TITLE:  Outrun the Rain

SERIES:  The Storm Boys, Book 1

AUTHOR:  N.R. Walker

NARRATOR:  Glen Lloyd

PUBLISHER:  BlueHeart Press

LENGTH:  4 hours and 50 minutes

RELEASE DATE: July 20, 2023

BLURB:

Tully Larson has loved tropical storms since he was a kid and spent his summers with his dad in the wilds of Kakadu National Park. He’s happiest outdoors, a rough and ready kind of guy who loves the power of Mother Nature and chasing the thrill of electrical storms every chance he gets.

Jeremiah Overton, a fulminologist from Melbourne, chases storms for a whole different reason. Lightning has shaped his entire life and he’s driven to study it, to understand it, so heading to Kakadu in the middle of the storm season is a logical thing to do. After all, the Top End is the lightning capital of Australia.

Tully wasn’t sure how a week at his remote bunker with an academic type would pan out. And Jeremiah didn’t expect much from the storm-chasing cowboy who volunteered to take him.

But both men know all too well that when opposites attract, lightning strikes.

REVIEW:

Outrun the Rain is the first novel in N.R. Walker’s The Storm Boys series.  If you’ve read the prequel novella Second Chance at First Love, you are well acquainted with our awesome setting – the expansive land and skies of Kakadu National Park in the remote Top End of Australia.  The prequel is a nice-to-have introduction to the series, not a must-read before embarking on Outrun the Rain.

The main character is Tully Larson, who we met briefly at the end of the prequel.  He’s the youngest child of a well-off family that lives in Darwin, and unlike his older “dependable” siblings, he’s a bit of a wild child – literally.  The power of nature and the raw beauty of the wilds call to him from a place deep in his core.  He’s not a scientist, and he’s not in it for research.  He chases storms because he loves it.  The solitude and bonding with nature give him peace.

Tully has an easygoing, devil-may-care attitude.  He’s a glass-half-full kind of guy, and when he sees, hears, or experiences something new or different, he absorbs it on its facts and allows himself to be amazed by it.  He’s sunshine even in the storm.

In contrast, Jeremiah Overton pursues the storm – lightning in particular – like his life depends on it.   That’s not hyperbole because the events that have shaped his life, have driven him to thrill-seeking (some may say death-wish) adventures, feel life or death to Jeremiah.  He’s closed off, cantankerous, and sees the negative in everything.  He loves his job but isn’t respected.  He has no friends because people view his lightning obsession as strange and offputting.  He’s also openly gay and suffers from homophobic attitudes on the job.  All of this causes him to relentlessly try to prove himself.  He pursues his study of lightning, particularly its effects on the human body, even at the risk of life and limb. This is the lightning capital of the world, so apropos for pushing limits.  However, a Pyrrhic victory is a real possibility for Jeremiah if he keeps throwing himself into harm’s way.  Tully gets that and tries to dissuade Jeremiah from his most outrageous efforts.  Ironically, Jeremiah’s own safety does not deter him, but his concern for Tully gives him pause.  Quite a marked shift for a loner who doesn’t like people and whose sole goal has been proving his own worth.

Most notable about this story is how tight the focus is on Tully and Jeremiah.  For almost the entirety of this story, they are the only two characters. It is a testament to Walker’s skill in that she keeps things interesting and keeps us fully invested even though there’s little variety in scenery, characters, or events.

Glen Lloyd is back again on the audiobook.  He gives another invested performance here, using an authentic Australian accent, which pairs perfectly with the authentic Australian setting grounded in the land and the people most connected to it. He adds an additional dimension to Tully and Jeremiah’s story, and it just pulls us deeper into the experience of Tully and Jeremiah’s romance, as they improbably fall for each other under some extreme circumstances.  The story has an open end to it, clearly leading into the following books in the series. I look forward to hearing more about Tully and Jeremiah’s life and love in the remote Australian landscape.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

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