‘Brain Storm’ by Elaine Viets Has A Tough Female Lead – Book Review

Brain Storm is a mystery-thriller that follows Angela Richman as she tries to uncover the identity of a murderer while recovering from a personal medical condition.

I always look forward to the first installment in a book series. For me, the first book plays a huge role in whether or not I would like to continue reading more of the series. Brain Storm by Elaine Viets is the first book in her Death Investigator Angela Richman series. I liked Angela as a character and wouldn’t mind reading more of her adventures. She is a very resourceful woman. Recovering from strokes only made her stronger than before.

The main plot of Brain Storm has to do with Angela solving the murder of Dr. Gravois. She has a personal stake in the matter because it was Dr. Gravois who misdiagnosed her. The misdiagnosis led Angela to suffer from numerous strokes. We get to follow Angela through her hospitalization and see how she tries to recover and regain her investigative and physical abilities. The whole thing felt very emotional because the author herself went through a similar ordeal.

Elaine Viets suffered from six separate strokes due to a misdiagnosis. It took her four years to recover. I think that is why Angela’s recovery felt so real and had emotional weight, because the author was mirroring her own experience in the story.

While Angela is at the hospital, Dr. Gravois is murdered. The person who seems to be the most likely suspect is Dr. Travis Tritt. He also happens to be the doctor who operated on Angela and saved her life. We find our heroine stuck between wanting to solve the murder and at the same time focusing on clearing Dr. Tritt’s name, as he is facing a death penalty. Though it is fun to follow Angela through her investigation, there is also a strong feeling that she is an unreliable narrator due to her overall recovery process.

I also liked the interactions between Angela and her best friend Katie, a medical examiner. It was nice to see a strong bond between two female characters that didn’t have anything to do with pining after some fictional hunk. Also, Katie had one of the best one-liners in the story. She is witty and I love her for that!

Brain Storm is an enjoyable, fast-paced mystery. There are also a lot of medical terms thrown in. This might be a bit confusing for some readers, but not to an extent that they won’t be able to enjoy the story.

Have you read Brain Storm yet? What did you think of it? Let us know!

Note: I received a review copy of Brain Storm by Wunderkind PR.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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