Storm (Rene Gutteridge) Books in Order

The Storm books are Rene Gutteridge's straight-up suspense series, but they still carry her ear for character and offbeat detail. At the center is Mick Kline, an FBI agent who also chases storms, which tells you a lot about the energy of these novels. He is drawn to danger for a living and for relief. Tornadoes, violent weather, and huge open skies are not just background scenery here. They mirror the chaos Mick keeps trying to outrun in his personal life.

This is a higher-stakes series than the comedies.

Published order starts with The Splitting Storm, continues with Storm Gathering, and finishes with Storm Surge, though Storm Gathering works as a prequel that digs into Mick's earlier life. Across the three books, the main thread is not only crime solving. It is Mick's long struggle with grief, guilt, damaged family ties, and the way one old case can keep throwing shadows years later. His brother Aaron matters deeply to the larger arc, and so do the people Mick meets while working cases that turn personal very fast.

In The Splitting Storm, Mick is reeling from Aaron's murder and becomes obsessed with following the trail, even when that obsession starts to cost him. The book mixes serial-killer danger with storm-chasing tension and introduces the lonely, bruised atmosphere that defines the series. Storm Gathering pulls the reader backward to a time when Mick is younger, more reckless, and suddenly trapped inside a murder investigation himself. Then Storm Surge moves forward again, revisiting the past through mysterious letters, a death-row claim of innocence, and a race against time that plays out under the threat of another major storm.

What makes these books work is the balance between pace and personality. Mick is not a clean, invincible thriller hero. He is smart, stubborn, wounded, and often one bad decision away from making life harder for himself. The cases matter, but so do the awkward conversations, the strained loyalties, the half-healed relationships, and the sense that justice is rarely neat. Gutteridge also likes giving supporting characters memorable quirks, which keeps the books from feeling overly grim.

If you come to this series wanting atmospheric Christian suspense, you will get that. The faith element is there, but it is woven into conscience, consequences, and hard choices rather than tacked on as a speech. Expect murder investigations, danger on the run, storm-country mood, and a hero who keeps getting pulled back toward the people and questions he would rather leave buried. These books are a good fit for readers who like crime fiction with emotional weight and a setting that feels unsettled before the first thunderhead even rolls in.