Staff Reviews

In a small, claustrophobic midwestern town, Tornado Day means the beginning of a plague of sentient tornadoes and the introduction of the tornado killer—a teenage boy with the power to protect the town. Bride of the Tornado’s narrator is a high school sophomore, so we get to experience this terrifying phenomenon through the perspective of a midwestern teenager: seeing the tornado killer as just a teenage boy, viewing the ominous town leaders’ plots as high school parties, sleepovers, and part-time jobs. We always feel like there’s a lot we don’t know, which keeps the tension and dread at tantalizingly high levels. I loved the narrator, a 1980s teen who rides her bike around town listening to her Walkman and carrying a cat in her basket. While the town is suffering the plague of horrifying tornadoes, she’s still trying to plan a trip out of town to see a concert, considering getting a part-time job, and navigating the social landscape of a small town high school.
—Elisabeth Hardin, Snail Readers Circle