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High Water #4
The Second Storm
The Second Storm is the fourth book in the High Water series. It blends contemporary mystery and suspense, dramatic situations, and high adventure that readers 12 years old and older will love.
A Category 5 hurricane is heading for southern Florida, and Parker Buckman’s friend Wilson Stillwaters is caught in its crosshairs. It’s going to be bad, and Wilson will need help. But that means going back to the Everglades―a place filled with some bad memories.
Angelica will do anything she can to get her friend Parker back home safely. What she doesn’t realize is the real threat―the second storm―is threatening to be far more deadly for Parker and his friends than the hurricane. The storm has allowed Clayton Kingman to escape from prison, and he has a big surprise in store for the group, one he intends to deliver personally.
An even bigger storm is brewing . . . and there’s no way to stop it.
A Category 5 hurricane is heading for southern Florida, and Parker Buckman’s friend Wilson Stillwaters is caught in its crosshairs. It’s going to be bad, and Wilson will need help. But that means going back to the Everglades―a place filled with some bad memories.
Angelica will do anything she can to get her friend Parker back home safely. What she doesn’t realize is the real threat―the second storm―is threatening to be far more deadly for Parker and his friends than the hurricane. The storm has allowed Clayton Kingman to escape from prison, and he has a big surprise in store for the group, one he intends to deliver personally.
An even bigger storm is brewing . . . and there’s no way to stop it.
- GenresFiction
432 pages, Paperback
Published November 7, 2023
4 people are currently reading
73 people want to read
About the author
Tim Shoemaker
36 books101 followersTim Shoemaker is a speaker and author of eight books, including Dangerous Devotions for Guys; Smashed Tomatoes, Bottle Rockets, and Other Outdoor Devotionals; and Mashed Potatoes, Paint Balls, and Other Indoor/Outdoor Devotionals. He has three grown sons and has been happily married for over 32 years. His debut into the juvenile fiction market draws from his experience with kids as a volunteer youth leader for more than sixteen years.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
April 20, 2025
My rating was hanging between a 3-3.5 for a little while there. And then that ending…
I should have written this last night, right after I finished…I’m going to try and make this somewhat organized and not just a bunch of rambling.
First of all, all the previous books have put our main characters in very life threatening situations. I should have known I could expect the same for this one…
Anyways, this story starts with a Category 5 hurricane hitting Florida. We get to see Wilson from Book 1 again, and another familiar face (which I’ll get to later). The majority of the book is kinda the aftermath of the hurricane, but more how it affects Parker and the gang back up in Rockport.
As far as reading the book, I felt like the beginning was a little slower paced, but I was reading with lots of breaks in between. Towards the middle there’s kinda a rest before the end which then was a race to see how everything worked out.
We get to see a lot of perspectives throughout the book like the previous ones, but this might have had the most different POVs.
First of all we get to see the “bad guys” POV. Clayton Kingman returns. He escapes prison in the hurricane and heads to Rockport. He is the main reason I took my rating down. I was kinda bummed reading the description beforehand that he was going to be in this one again. I very much did not like him in book 1. He was 10 times worse in this book. He was just kind of a sick guy.
So we see his perspective throughout the book, but he doesn’t actually confront Parker and the others until closer to the end. So I was liking everything before then. Spoilers ahead: he kidnaps Jelly, Ella, and Miss Lopez. Shoots 3 people (they all live). Then takes just Jelly, and he’s planning to basically flee the country with her. It’s clean, but honestly just creepy. I’ll put more content at the end. So everything that happened with Kingman took my rating down.
Okay, Parker. I liked him in this book. I love his grandpa too. I feel like there was a lot more about Parker’s faith than in the previous books. I love to see that growth. He always learns great lessons throughout the stories.
Harley!! He is my favorite character! I just want to cry with everything that he has gone through in this series. But his character could be so relatable to other guys who’ve been a foster kid. And he grows sooo much! The end, ahh, it was so good! I love how Harley’s kinda smitten with Ella even though she’s like, I am so smarter than you.
Wilson grew a lot in this story too, but still has more to learn.
We didn’t see as much of Ella in this story. I liked her, but honestly sometimes she was a little annoying. Some of her interactions with Harley weren’t as good as in the previous books.
Okay, and Jelly. I was prepared to rant about her before I read the Epilogue. I’m still going to rant. First of all, there is a lot lighter faith content in her POV. More just questions and not answers. And then, whenever she’s around Scorza, all she does is call names and throw insults and threats at him. She kinda tries to be this tough girl. I wanted to suggest to her to try being nice, and they might make headway with him a LOT faster. She also is way overprotective of Parker, and Parker and Wilson talk about how they don’t like that. But then she actually wasn’t overreacting about Kingman, so it just makes Parker and Wilson look like the naive ones. Finally, I like how she has obviously grown by the epilogue, but I missed it! I feel like we didn’t get to see that progression at all. Like all of a sudden she decided to trust God. Which is good, of course. But how did she get there? I just would have loved to see more of that growth. The epilogue is so good because we kinda see the result of that growth.
Also, when she is kidnapped by Kingman, she didn’t really pray at all. Parker and all them were praying constantly, but I was just missing that from Jelly.
Miss Lopez is a great character. Not gonna lie, I like her better than Ella’s grandma. I hope she’s in the next book.
Well, now that I’m done ranting…I really did like this book, just not as much as the last one because of how things went with Kingman. Would still recommend it, and definitely this series as a whole! This is a very great, clean alternative to other YA books on the market. Can’t wait for book 5!!
⚠️ Content wise: The villain Clayton Kingman uses some language. He kidnaps Jelly and is preparing to run away with her as payback basically. He mentions maybe marrying her in the future. Jelly is totally grossed out, which I was too. It was still clean though and nothing happens to Jelly (besides her getting shot). Speaking of, multiple people are shot. No one dies, but I feel like there was more blood in this one.
There isn’t any romance, besides Jelly trying to get Miss Lopez and her dad together (I’m rooting for that too).
I should have written this last night, right after I finished…I’m going to try and make this somewhat organized and not just a bunch of rambling.
First of all, all the previous books have put our main characters in very life threatening situations. I should have known I could expect the same for this one…
Anyways, this story starts with a Category 5 hurricane hitting Florida. We get to see Wilson from Book 1 again, and another familiar face (which I’ll get to later). The majority of the book is kinda the aftermath of the hurricane, but more how it affects Parker and the gang back up in Rockport.
As far as reading the book, I felt like the beginning was a little slower paced, but I was reading with lots of breaks in between. Towards the middle there’s kinda a rest before the end which then was a race to see how everything worked out.
We get to see a lot of perspectives throughout the book like the previous ones, but this might have had the most different POVs.
First of all we get to see the “bad guys” POV. Clayton Kingman returns. He escapes prison in the hurricane and heads to Rockport. He is the main reason I took my rating down. I was kinda bummed reading the description beforehand that he was going to be in this one again. I very much did not like him in book 1. He was 10 times worse in this book. He was just kind of a sick guy.
So we see his perspective throughout the book, but he doesn’t actually confront Parker and the others until closer to the end. So I was liking everything before then. Spoilers ahead: he kidnaps Jelly, Ella, and Miss Lopez. Shoots 3 people (they all live). Then takes just Jelly, and he’s planning to basically flee the country with her. It’s clean, but honestly just creepy. I’ll put more content at the end. So everything that happened with Kingman took my rating down.
Okay, Parker. I liked him in this book. I love his grandpa too. I feel like there was a lot more about Parker’s faith than in the previous books. I love to see that growth. He always learns great lessons throughout the stories.
Harley!! He is my favorite character! I just want to cry with everything that he has gone through in this series. But his character could be so relatable to other guys who’ve been a foster kid. And he grows sooo much! The end, ahh, it was so good! I love how Harley’s kinda smitten with Ella even though she’s like, I am so smarter than you.
Wilson grew a lot in this story too, but still has more to learn.
We didn’t see as much of Ella in this story. I liked her, but honestly sometimes she was a little annoying. Some of her interactions with Harley weren’t as good as in the previous books.
Okay, and Jelly. I was prepared to rant about her before I read the Epilogue. I’m still going to rant. First of all, there is a lot lighter faith content in her POV. More just questions and not answers. And then, whenever she’s around Scorza, all she does is call names and throw insults and threats at him. She kinda tries to be this tough girl. I wanted to suggest to her to try being nice, and they might make headway with him a LOT faster. She also is way overprotective of Parker, and Parker and Wilson talk about how they don’t like that. But then she actually wasn’t overreacting about Kingman, so it just makes Parker and Wilson look like the naive ones. Finally, I like how she has obviously grown by the epilogue, but I missed it! I feel like we didn’t get to see that progression at all. Like all of a sudden she decided to trust God. Which is good, of course. But how did she get there? I just would have loved to see more of that growth. The epilogue is so good because we kinda see the result of that growth.
Also, when she is kidnapped by Kingman, she didn’t really pray at all. Parker and all them were praying constantly, but I was just missing that from Jelly.
Miss Lopez is a great character. Not gonna lie, I like her better than Ella’s grandma. I hope she’s in the next book.
Well, now that I’m done ranting…I really did like this book, just not as much as the last one because of how things went with Kingman. Would still recommend it, and definitely this series as a whole! This is a very great, clean alternative to other YA books on the market. Can’t wait for book 5!!
⚠️ Content wise: The villain Clayton Kingman uses some language. He kidnaps Jelly and is preparing to run away with her as payback basically. He mentions maybe marrying her in the future. Jelly is totally grossed out, which I was too. It was still clean though and nothing happens to Jelly (besides her getting shot). Speaking of, multiple people are shot. No one dies, but I feel like there was more blood in this one.
There isn’t any romance, besides Jelly trying to get Miss Lopez and her dad together (I’m rooting for that too).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 6, 2025
6-stats (aka: it holds a special place in my heart)
Ok, so my favorite character made some great character development, and so did the others, the story was honest a little more intense than I thought it would be, but honestly that made it so much better! I honestly rly like Pez she's such a sweet character (I also hope she starts dating Jelly' dad in the next book) she cares so much for the kids and has such a good faith in God, Harley's character has growing so much since we first met him in Every Hidden Thing, Jelly I think is learning to not worry as much, and Parker is learning what it means to be a man of God and a great friend/brother/family member, and Willson is learning how to deal with fear, and i'm not quit sure what to say about Ella, she is growing as a character I just don't know what to say. The story was great all around, but I need to know what happened to the bad guy in Every Hidden thing.
P.S. Even if you're not a Christian or even believe in that kind of stuff, I still recommend this series, Christianity may be a main character but it's no different than reading Percy Jackson and the Olympians and not believing in greek mythology.
Edit: This is also a great book for ppl who like the Found Family trope.
Reread #1: my first review still holds true to this day. Also, Wilson is absolutely hilarious (I also think he may or may not have a bit of a crush of Jelly...). Parker's dad is absolutely one of my fav book characters, and that will never change. Honestly? We need a re make of this series from the adults POVs (Parker's parents, Jelly's dad, Officer Greenwood, Pez, and maybe even Grams...)
Ok, so my favorite character made some great character development, and so did the others, the story was honest a little more intense than I thought it would be, but honestly that made it so much better! I honestly rly like Pez she's such a sweet character (I also hope she starts dating Jelly' dad in the next book) she cares so much for the kids and has such a good faith in God, Harley's character has growing so much since we first met him in Every Hidden Thing, Jelly I think is learning to not worry as much, and Parker is learning what it means to be a man of God and a great friend/brother/family member, and Willson is learning how to deal with fear, and i'm not quit sure what to say about Ella, she is growing as a character I just don't know what to say. The story was great all around, but I need to know what happened to the bad guy in Every Hidden thing.
P.S. Even if you're not a Christian or even believe in that kind of stuff, I still recommend this series, Christianity may be a main character but it's no different than reading Percy Jackson and the Olympians and not believing in greek mythology.
Edit: This is also a great book for ppl who like the Found Family trope.
Reread #1: my first review still holds true to this day. Also, Wilson is absolutely hilarious (I also think he may or may not have a bit of a crush of Jelly...). Parker's dad is absolutely one of my fav book characters, and that will never change. Honestly? We need a re make of this series from the adults POVs (Parker's parents, Jelly's dad, Officer Greenwood, Pez, and maybe even Grams...)
February 19, 2024
Okay, I'm finally done with this book and I don't know how to feel...
What I love about this book is how it's somewhat like an aftermath to the first book ""Escape from the Everglades." Two characters are brought back, and honestly, that just added some great depth. I also feel like the characters developed again, which was awesome to see. And there's one character who becomes a Christian at the end (saving you from spoilers by not mentioning who :D), and I love how it was a slow, gradual process leading up to that point, which began in book 3. I dislike it in Christian fiction when they make someone a Christian right away as that doesn't have often nor all the time. This was super realistic, so I could back up their conversion 100%!
I was also super happy that this book was strictly a thriller. There was no mystery as it focused on the antagonist getting revenge on Parker after what happened in the first book. Because of this, it definitely gave all that same somewhat scary vibe in the "Code of Silence" trilogy; something that I longed for Shoemaker to do for a while. To me, it got pretty intense towards the end, especially with Kingman *actually* shooting people and the things he did to Jelly. Because of that, I'd recommend this book for those 15 and older...it gets pretty intense.
I will say that my biggest pet peeve is with Jelly and Ella. If you read it, you'll see how they're trying to "protect" the boys goes a bit far at times and it's like they have this mentality that they can't think for themselves. Like, the girls are the only ones who have the right answer. That got on my nerves a lot and frustrated me haha, but others may not mind.
Nevertheless, this was yet another great book by Tim Shoemaker! I'm sad that this series is about to end, but I'm ready for the fifth and final book.
What I love about this book is how it's somewhat like an aftermath to the first book ""Escape from the Everglades." Two characters are brought back, and honestly, that just added some great depth. I also feel like the characters developed again, which was awesome to see. And there's one character who becomes a Christian at the end (saving you from spoilers by not mentioning who :D), and I love how it was a slow, gradual process leading up to that point, which began in book 3. I dislike it in Christian fiction when they make someone a Christian right away as that doesn't have often nor all the time. This was super realistic, so I could back up their conversion 100%!
I was also super happy that this book was strictly a thriller. There was no mystery as it focused on the antagonist getting revenge on Parker after what happened in the first book. Because of this, it definitely gave all that same somewhat scary vibe in the "Code of Silence" trilogy; something that I longed for Shoemaker to do for a while. To me, it got pretty intense towards the end, especially with Kingman *actually* shooting people and the things he did to Jelly. Because of that, I'd recommend this book for those 15 and older...it gets pretty intense.
I will say that my biggest pet peeve is with Jelly and Ella. If you read it, you'll see how they're trying to "protect" the boys goes a bit far at times and it's like they have this mentality that they can't think for themselves. Like, the girls are the only ones who have the right answer. That got on my nerves a lot and frustrated me haha, but others may not mind.
Nevertheless, this was yet another great book by Tim Shoemaker! I'm sad that this series is about to end, but I'm ready for the fifth and final book.
November 9, 2023
Wow! What a ride. These High Water novels keep getting more and more intense. I agree with the age rating of 12. There are some situations that I do not think are appropriate for younger readers but my new teen with gobble this up! i have a few minor complaints of wording/phrasing but overall I appreciate this book. The early teen age bracket has so few good books to choose from , especially Christian ones. Thanks Tim Shoemaker for adding novels that are clean and show healthy family dynamics to this bracket. Love the faith content in these novels!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange of an honest review.
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange of an honest review.
July 13, 2025
Ok, I think the last review I did on this series was for book three, where I was irritated with Jelly and Ella, welp, I've forgiven them, and OH MY GOODNESS, Harley, Parker and Wilson together is absolute trouble, chaos, and endless fun🤭 Definitely would recommend this series for an enjoyable, clean read!
November 12, 2024
I just finished reading it after excitedly waiting for this new installment of the series to come out! I'm just wishing that Parker could start to like Jelly or that Ella and Harley would get together. I love this series
August 8, 2024
My favorite book so far in the series!! The way the characters are consistent with their personalities, and the continual development through all the books is written superb. This book brings all of the main characters together, and does it with depth and Christian growth. I don’t know how a series can get better and better with each book, but this one does!! Highly recommend!! (I can’t wait to read book #5!)
Favorite Characters:
Harley
Ella
Favorite Characters:
Harley
Ella
March 24, 2024
Best one of the series!
A hurricane, a pirate, and a frenzy of gators—a brilliant hat trick of plot twist components. Teens and their parents will love this Christian-based thriller. Read it together to generate a robust discussion about families, loyalty, risk-taking, and trust in God. Be aware of some age-appropriate violence.
A hurricane, a pirate, and a frenzy of gators—a brilliant hat trick of plot twist components. Teens and their parents will love this Christian-based thriller. Read it together to generate a robust discussion about families, loyalty, risk-taking, and trust in God. Be aware of some age-appropriate violence.
July 13, 2024
This Series Just Keeps Getting Better!
Most series go downhill after the first couple of books, but Tim Shoemaker's just keep getting better! The Second Storm was so gripping, both in action and characters, with the creepiest bad guy ever! Parker and his friends are pushed to their limit...and then some. Kind of like my bed time while reading The Second Storm! I absolutely recommend this book!
Most series go downhill after the first couple of books, but Tim Shoemaker's just keep getting better! The Second Storm was so gripping, both in action and characters, with the creepiest bad guy ever! Parker and his friends are pushed to their limit...and then some. Kind of like my bed time while reading The Second Storm! I absolutely recommend this book!
April 4, 2024
This is my ultimate favorite book in the world! I know, I say that alot, but this book really was the best! The suspense in this book was WAY off the chart! I was literually biting my nails cuase of the high, amazing mystery! Hats of to Tim Shoemaker!
February 6, 2024
Tim’s books never fail to amaze me or keep me intrigued at every bend!
August 12, 2025
Tense continuation of the High Water series. Kept me turning the pages.
August 18, 2025
Just as good as any book in the series up until this point!
September 6, 2025
*see my review for book one*
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