The Howling Storm (Cooper’s Snoopers Book 1)

WHEN THE STORM QUIETS, THE REAL RECKONING BEGINS

In the quiet town of Brookhaven, Washington, you can set your clock by the slap of newspapers hitting front porches. Ten-year-old Cooper Simmons never misses a delivery. Gregarious and sharp-eyed, Coop notices things others don’t — a gate left ajar, a stranger lingering too long, trouble brewing beneath ordinary skies.
But on the night a violent storm descends without warning, even Cooper’s instincts aren’t enough to keep him safe.
As hurricane-force winds rip through Brookhaven and the power grid collapses, Coop takes shelter at Frank’s 76 Gas Station — only to stumble upon three masked men fleeing a bank robbery in nearby Stanwood. Armed and desperate, they don’t see the boy hiding in the men’s room. When his cell phone fails due to a power outage, Cooper knows he must get home and warn his mother — Deputy Susan Simmons — the quickest way he can.
That shortcut leads through the forbidden Brooks Trails.
With rain lashing sideways and trees groaning in the wind, Coop pedals into the blackened forest. He lands hard when he crashes his damaged Trailcraft bike. When he awakens, he believes coyotes are tracking him. Panic drives him deeper into the woods on foot. Bloodied and alone, the storm howls like something alive. Using his Boy Scout training, quick thinking, and coded trail markers, Cooper fights to survive the longest night of his life.
Meanwhile, Deputy Susan Simmons is already stretched thin — raising Cooper and infant Tabitha alone while her husband serves on a covert U.S. Army mission overseas. When Coop doesn’t come home, Susan and Officer Barbara Braxton — his fiercely loyal godmother — launch a desperate search beneath flashing patrol lights and falling trees. Sheriff Robert Stine calls in Search & Rescue, but crews are overwhelmed by storm rescues across Brooks County. Once the skies clear, the three officers who love the boy refuse to give up — even as hope begins to fade.
As floodwaters recede and the forest grows still, the hunt for a missing paperboy becomes a race against time — and against criminals who may realize they left behind a witness.

The Howling Storm is a gripping survival thriller about courage in the face of fear, the unbreakable bond between family, and one boy’s determination to outlast both nature’s fury and human evil.