South of Nowhere

South of Nowhere by Jeffery Deaver is filled with suspense and action in the fifth book in the Colter Shaw thriller series. Reward seeker Colter Shaw is brought in by his sister Dorion, a disaster response specialist, when a levee collapses in Hinowah, California. A family was swept away for the raging water and there is limited time to find and save them.

As he searches for them, Colter is attacked. Is the levee at risk of full failure from natural causes or is someone sabotaging it? Racing against the clock, Colter, Dorion, and the local police force work to find the truth as they evacuate the town before a total collapse of the levee.

Shaw found the law profession stimulating, but a poor fit for his restlessness. Instead, he now runs a rewards business, where he usually only accepts payment if he delivers what is requested such as finding a missing person. However, he does occasionally take a for-hire job as well as doing some work for free as he in doing in this story. He loves solving a problem no one else can solve. He also tends to work better alone and observes and assesses situations dispassionately. Dorion is the more extroverted of the siblings, but compliments unsettle her. She’s logical and can easily takes charge in stressful disaster situations, but she also works well with officials. Their mother, Mary Dove, is talented, an in-demand academic researcher, and a physician.

The story starts with a storm, the levee, and three vehicles. Stunning and heartbreaking, the book starts out strong, but gets even better as the characters became better known and the action amps up. The tension starts immediately and continues throughout the novel and this sense of urgency kept me rapidly turning the pages. The plot has plenty of twists and turns as well as surprises along the way. The novel has great world-building and atmosphere. It was easy to feel as if I was in Hinowah with the characters. The tension, stakes, and action build up to an exciting ending that is over-the-top, but satisfying. The author’s ability to combine strong characters and complex plots with excellent pacing kept me fully engaged. Themes include family, water, infrastructure, domestic violence, and much more. This novel does a great job of setting up a thread for another book in the series as well as a new subsidiary business that Colter might or might not pursue.

Overall, this suspenseful high-stakes thriller is well-written and engaging with great characterization and extraordinary atmosphere. If you enjoy thrillers, then look no further than this novel. This series has also been adapted for television. I’m looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

PENGUIN GROUP Putnam – G.P. Putnam’s Sons and Jeffery Deaver provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own. Publication date is currently set for May 06, 2025.