ALC Review: Alex Carter #5

Storm Warning by Alice Henderson

Read by Eva Kaminsky

Publication Date: March 24, 2026

Summary from Goodreads:

Wildlife biologist Alex Carter jumps at the chance to work with hawksbill turtles in Hawaii, only to face an unthinkable threat that endangers countless lives in the captivating latest entry of the acclaimed series by Alice Henderson.

Alex Carter is thrilled to be in lush, tropical Hawaii for her new assignment: to study and protect hawksbill turtles. From global warming to poaching to the simple fragility of a turtle’s nest, these creatures are under constant threat. And as excited as Alex is to swim, explore, and relax, she’s also ready to be these turtles’ fiercest protector.

Alex looks forward to a break from the danger of her past assignments, but soon finds that environmental crime can happen anywhere, even in a Hawaiian paradise. As a massive hurricane approaches, armed thieves storm onto the beach where Alex and her volunteers are desperately trying to move turtle eggs to safety out of the storm surge.

When the gunmen take one of her volunteers hostage and Alex tracks them to a nearby paleontology museum, Alex suspects that there’s more to these mysterious criminals than meets the eye and that the repercussions of their success will extend far beyond the shores of the Big Island. Whatever their treacherous plot may be, Alex must scramble to protect the turtles, her friends, and the world at large… before irreversible damage is done.

ALC provided by HarperAudio Adult via Netgalley for an honest review.

Confession:

The Alex Carter books are all well written ecological thrillers that are also a call to action. Each book is centered on an endangered species, and you learn quite a lot about each one through out the story. These books are sort of like a nonfiction book with a thriller storyline and a main character that you can root for. Alex travels the US to help endangered species while also taking on some bad guys and winning.

Eva Kaminsky does an excellent job portraying Alex and the other characters in the story. She does a great job with the accents of the other characters, even the australian one. She keeps a steady voice when Alex is in danger, just like I imagine Alex’s inner voice to be.

I really like Alex. She is very smart and usually well prepared for any situation. She also cares deeply for the environment and the animals around her. She is a scientist who has a lot of empathy, not only for animals, but for people too. She is also a very determined young woman who is strong willed but also vulnerable. She has shown some growth in her characters over the course of the books, and has learned some restraint as well. She no longer just jumps in to rescue others, but takes a moment to assess the situation and makes a plan. Alex tends to make friends wherever she goes, but due to the nature of her work, is also often lonely.

I always enjoy the secondary characters that Alex meets in each book, even the bad guys are always interesting. These characters are always well rounded and we even get a bit of backstory on each one that makes them feel well fleshed out. In this book we even get a few chapters from the main bad guys which I really enjoyed.

The world building is, as always, phenomenal. The author does a really good job of describing the setting and the animals that Alex encounters. I felt transported to Hawaii and reading this made me want to visit it again. The dialogue is also well done, and I loved some of the heartfelt discussions Alex has with her volunteers and her friend Sasha.

Even though I really enjoyed this story, it did push the boundaries of incredulity a bit farther than the other ones have. Especially towards the end as the bad guys are chasing Alex across the island during a hurricane. But the author does a great job making you think that it could really happen. I also really enjoy all of the information about hawksbill turtles and some of the other animals that Alex encounters throughout the story. The nonfiction information can sometimes drag the story down, but it is always interesting and usually important to the rest of the story.

If you enjoy eco-thrillers, crime thrillers or any kind of thriller, than you really should give these books a chance. A bookseller recommend the first book in the series, A Solitude of Wolverines, and I am so glad I listened to her. You don’t have to read these books in order, most work well as a standalone, but it is always best to start at the beginning.