This is the third book in Ann Cleeves' Two Rivers series, which is set in Devon with DI Matthew Venn at the helm.

As is always the case with anything Anne writes, The Raging Storm is well written, with an excellently conjured sense of place, and moments of palpable unease that ratchet the tension nicely. Matthew makes a good solid character to build the series around, and I find Jen Rafferty both likeable and very real. 

However Ross May, the third member of Matthew's team, got on my nerves; he doesn't seem to have grown as a character at all since the first book, still hyper competitive, stereotypically misogynistic, and often lacking both empathy and any form of introspection. Combine that with a plot which became increasingly overcomplicated as the story progressed (and a resolution which seemed, to me, slightly unbelievable) and I was left feeling a bit short changed.

That said, I did gallop through it as I wanted to know what happened next and I will certainly read the next book in the series, if another one is written. It just wasn't quite as good as many of Ann's other works.