To Catch a Storm

Mejia (Strike Me Down) delivers her best work yet in this propulsive, intelligent page-turner. Eve Roth’s life changed forever when she lost her father to a tornado as a child. That tragedy drove her to become a physics professor at the University of Iowa, specializing in meteorological phenomena. One night, during a flight in her mobile air lab, she spots an unusual black cloud emanating from the ground—upon landing, she learns the source of the smoke was her now-missing husband’s Tesla, which somehow caught fire in the middle of a rainstorm. The police immediately suspect Eve of foul play, and things get even more complicated when she’s contacted by detective Jonah Kendrick, who claims both that he’s a psychic and that her husband’s disappearance is linked to an open case of his. Desperate to clear her name, Eve reluctantly teams up with Jonah to uncover the truth, despite her science-based reservations about his supposed “gift.” Mejia gives Eve and Jonah uncommon depth, which makes their potentially clichéd skeptic/believer dynamic feel surprisingly fresh, and manages to hold onto plausibility even when the plot gets far-fetched. This indelible thriller has series potential. Agent: Stephanie Cabot, Susanna Lea Assoc. (Aug.)