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Stone Barrington #46
Turbulence
In the electrifying new thriller from #1 New York Times-bestselling author Stuart Woods, Stone Barrington finds himself pitted against both man and nature.
Stone Barrington and several friends are vacationing in Florida when an extreme weather event puts a damper on their trip. Even worse, the hurricane-force winds blow a powerful, noxious politician straight onto Stone's doorstep. Though they part ways before long, Stone soon learns that he hasn't seen the last of his new acquaintance. It turns out that this official has some shady associates who may have destructive plans afoot, and Stone needs an entrée to the inside to figure out their scheme. With the fate of nations at stake, Stone must summon all of his fearless daring to put an end to the audacious plot...but this time he may be in over his head.
Stone Barrington and several friends are vacationing in Florida when an extreme weather event puts a damper on their trip. Even worse, the hurricane-force winds blow a powerful, noxious politician straight onto Stone's doorstep. Though they part ways before long, Stone soon learns that he hasn't seen the last of his new acquaintance. It turns out that this official has some shady associates who may have destructive plans afoot, and Stone needs an entrée to the inside to figure out their scheme. With the fate of nations at stake, Stone must summon all of his fearless daring to put an end to the audacious plot...but this time he may be in over his head.
319 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 5, 2018
2425 people are currently reading
1173 people want to read
About the author
Stuart Woods
408 books3,221 followersStuart Woods was an American novelist best known for Chiefs and his long-running Stone Barrington series. A Georgia native, he initially pursued a career in advertising before relocating to England and Ireland, where he developed a passion for sailing. His love for the sport led him to write his first published work, Blue Water, Green Skipper, about his experiences in a transatlantic yacht race.
His debut novel, Chiefs, was inspired by a family story about his grandfather, a police chief. The book, a gripping crime saga spanning several decades, won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel and was later adapted into a television miniseries. It launched Woods' career as a novelist, leading to a prolific output of thrillers.
Woods' most famous creation, Stone Barrington, is a former NYPD detective turned high-profile lawyer who navigates elite circles while solving crimes. The series became a bestseller and remained a staple of his career, often featuring crossover characters from his other books, such as CIA operative Holly Barker and defense lawyer Ed Eagle.
Beyond writing, Woods was an experienced pilot and yachtsman. He maintained homes in Florida, Maine, and New Mexico, where he lived with his wife and their Labrador, Fred. His literary career spanned decades, with dozens of bestsellers to his name.
His debut novel, Chiefs, was inspired by a family story about his grandfather, a police chief. The book, a gripping crime saga spanning several decades, won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel and was later adapted into a television miniseries. It launched Woods' career as a novelist, leading to a prolific output of thrillers.
Woods' most famous creation, Stone Barrington, is a former NYPD detective turned high-profile lawyer who navigates elite circles while solving crimes. The series became a bestseller and remained a staple of his career, often featuring crossover characters from his other books, such as CIA operative Holly Barker and defense lawyer Ed Eagle.
Beyond writing, Woods was an experienced pilot and yachtsman. He maintained homes in Florida, Maine, and New Mexico, where he lived with his wife and their Labrador, Fred. His literary career spanned decades, with dozens of bestsellers to his name.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 348 reviews
June 26, 2018
A more passable effort than previous due to lack of sexual conquests by Stone and more a story of being chased by the individual being sought. 5 of 10 stars
June 15, 2018
3.5/5 stars .... much less boring womanizing crap, at least. Some of it was just absurdly far-fetched, but other parts were very believable. I think the idea of having the next Presidential candidate be the current president's right hand woman, is just ridiculous. Seriously. Overall, not bad though 😊
July 9, 2018
Why do I continue to read this series???? Have followed Stone since book one but the last 3-4 novels were really bad and this one beyond horrid. Too much chit-chat on details that were not important to the story line and as the story progressed it became weaker and weaker to the point of being laughable and so farfetched. Did I miss something; was this supposed to be a comedy?? Too much of the same-old-same old….enter Holly…exit Holly...enter another love interest. Move on Mr. Woods and let Stone grow up. As I’ve asked before…are you competing with Patterson on how many novels you can spit out in a relatively short period of time without any thought to content??? I am absolutely shocked that this book is/was on the NY Times and other sites in the top 10 list.
June 23, 2018
Fun, but vacuous. It cracks me up to read a review of a Stone Barrington book where someone says they read it in one day -- how could it take more?
In this romp, Holly skips off to see Stone at his new house in Florida and describes having to fight off a junior Senator's sexual advance. Meanwhile, the same Senator manages to get arms dealer Selwyn Owaki released from U.S. custody, putting him back into the potential sale of a nuclear weapon to the North Koreans. New jets, Stone gets a new bedmate, who is Lance Cabot's agent, Stone makes a new friend in the British royalty. Only one Bentley is destroyed: oops, sorry about the spoiler. :-)
In this romp, Holly skips off to see Stone at his new house in Florida and describes having to fight off a junior Senator's sexual advance. Meanwhile, the same Senator manages to get arms dealer Selwyn Owaki released from U.S. custody, putting him back into the potential sale of a nuclear weapon to the North Koreans. New jets, Stone gets a new bedmate, who is Lance Cabot's agent, Stone makes a new friend in the British royalty. Only one Bentley is destroyed: oops, sorry about the spoiler. :-)
March 25, 2025
Starts with a hurricane in Florida and ends in a fireball in England. 🤔🤔🤔
The plots are getting more and more absurd. Lance Cabot is making an appearance more and more. Meh.
Spy plot with Russians as the villain. How original.
Stone’s body count is only 2 in this one. The retread Holly and a CIA/model( because of course she is 🙄) Kelly. Kelly is also a thief. Stone attracts real winners.
Joe Box (Senator) is I guess the new enemy along with the arms dealer from the previous book Owaki.
Snooze 😴 seriously 😳 why do I bother 🤣🤣
The plots are getting more and more absurd. Lance Cabot is making an appearance more and more. Meh.
Spy plot with Russians as the villain. How original.
Stone’s body count is only 2 in this one. The retread Holly and a CIA/model( because of course she is 🙄) Kelly. Kelly is also a thief. Stone attracts real winners.
Joe Box (Senator) is I guess the new enemy along with the arms dealer from the previous book Owaki.
Snooze 😴 seriously 😳 why do I bother 🤣🤣
May 18, 2021
Great page turner.All Wood's novels are epic adventure.Poor man's 007
June 29, 2018
I asked myself why I continue to read this series and can honestly say that I have always liked the characters of Stone Barrington and Dino. I admit that I liked them more about 40 books ago...but every once in awhile the old Stone Barrington shines through. The one thing I can say for Stuart Wood's writing is that he doesn't waste space with descriptions and he has managed to cram the characters from what were his other four series into the Barrington series...so the reader will always meet some of the old gang. Probably the best addition to the series is "Bob", the dog.
October 28, 2018
ugh. i’ve really got to stop reading these books. jetting from house to house. cars and boats blown up and replaced same day. spending money. no plot no story.
July 6, 2018
I think these books write themselves as Stuart woods sleeps. Stone. Dino. Some random women. Ridiculous plot. What was the point of the hurricane? What was the point of Joe Box? Holly announces she’s running for President, then disappears from the book. Putin is referenced as uber wealthy, then no more mentions because some other dude is now President of Russia. Kim Jong Un is mentioned. I was waiting for a Kim and Kanye reference. I used to read them because they were amusing. Now I read them to find the one sentence where he uses the word ‘reckon’ (oh, it’s always there). And because it’s an easy afternoon read to help with my goodreads stretch goal!
June 10, 2018
Worst. Book. Ever.
June 11, 2018
Fun mystery and classic Stone Barrington style - a lot of flying, big purchases and lady companion. The ending could be better.
September 30, 2018
Typical Stone Barrington, if you have read one you have read them all. It is still a pleasant way to kill a long flight. Better than some of his more recant efforts.
June 14, 2018
SUBJECT READER REVIEW WITH PLOT SPOILERS FOLLOWS:
'Turbulence' is a good read primarily because the Russians get involved and the action at the end of the book is compelling. 'Shoot First' was really Part I. Missing German Nuclear Device, and 'Turbulence' is Part II, and the conclusion of the caper. But not before Stone bids 'serious squeeze' Meg Harmon adieu and gets whipsawed just a little in discovering the attractive, capable and very compatible Kelly Smith, nee Katrine Schmidt. She's also DCI Lance Cabot's personal security emissary and a 14-year veteran of clandestine service jobs and there's the possibility that she sees Stone as her ticket out of the fast lane of the spy life. He's certainly not pushing her away, but didn't he and Holly Barker make some obscure plans for him to become First Husband if she ran for President? Stone probably knows the half-life of hotness and rolls with it.
In the mean time, the German Army nuclear cannon round is still missing and presumed the temporary possession of Selwyn Owaki, who just won't go away. When it finally dawns on Stone and Lance that Owaki can't be that rich, the possibility of a conspiracy hatches. Stuart Woods makes a thinly veiled suggestion that Vlad Putin's the richest man in the world, although he calls him Alexei Petrov in 'Turbulence.' So Petrov is the puppet-master of mostly Russian tycoons who loosely refer to themselves as the 'Eagle Consortium.' Owaki's hosting them at the former Kensington House in rural southern England, and the nuke is apparently on the auction block. Of course the UK government has finally gone to DEFCON ONE, but the PM's weapon of choice is Stone Barrington. So he and new Miss Congeniality head towards the English Channel, but they've got backup from the Special Air Services and MI6. In a hairy car-chases-helicopter scene, the chopper's got radar-evading paint, so Lance and the spooks can't see it--ohh, it's got the nuke onboard with planned delivery to a North Korean freighter in the English Channel.
In what has dawned as a glaring deficiency in his strategic planning, Woods is so fricking liberal that he refused to acknowledge the possibility of the US-DPRK Summit and cessation of hostilities, accompanied by Kim Jung Un's renunciation of his plans to become a nuclear Darth Vader. The alleged plot was for DPRK to reverse-engineer the guidance system on the shell, although I had the impression it was an old artillery shell for a 150mm cannon. Sorry, no guidance systems on the shells; they go however far the 'boom' takes 'em. Maybe we'll see a re-combobulation of the real storyline in the next book. Other than that slipsy, it was an entertaining read, with all the right mix of classy food, rides, places and people.
'Turbulence' is a good read primarily because the Russians get involved and the action at the end of the book is compelling. 'Shoot First' was really Part I. Missing German Nuclear Device, and 'Turbulence' is Part II, and the conclusion of the caper. But not before Stone bids 'serious squeeze' Meg Harmon adieu and gets whipsawed just a little in discovering the attractive, capable and very compatible Kelly Smith, nee Katrine Schmidt. She's also DCI Lance Cabot's personal security emissary and a 14-year veteran of clandestine service jobs and there's the possibility that she sees Stone as her ticket out of the fast lane of the spy life. He's certainly not pushing her away, but didn't he and Holly Barker make some obscure plans for him to become First Husband if she ran for President? Stone probably knows the half-life of hotness and rolls with it.
In the mean time, the German Army nuclear cannon round is still missing and presumed the temporary possession of Selwyn Owaki, who just won't go away. When it finally dawns on Stone and Lance that Owaki can't be that rich, the possibility of a conspiracy hatches. Stuart Woods makes a thinly veiled suggestion that Vlad Putin's the richest man in the world, although he calls him Alexei Petrov in 'Turbulence.' So Petrov is the puppet-master of mostly Russian tycoons who loosely refer to themselves as the 'Eagle Consortium.' Owaki's hosting them at the former Kensington House in rural southern England, and the nuke is apparently on the auction block. Of course the UK government has finally gone to DEFCON ONE, but the PM's weapon of choice is Stone Barrington. So he and new Miss Congeniality head towards the English Channel, but they've got backup from the Special Air Services and MI6. In a hairy car-chases-helicopter scene, the chopper's got radar-evading paint, so Lance and the spooks can't see it--ohh, it's got the nuke onboard with planned delivery to a North Korean freighter in the English Channel.
In what has dawned as a glaring deficiency in his strategic planning, Woods is so fricking liberal that he refused to acknowledge the possibility of the US-DPRK Summit and cessation of hostilities, accompanied by Kim Jung Un's renunciation of his plans to become a nuclear Darth Vader. The alleged plot was for DPRK to reverse-engineer the guidance system on the shell, although I had the impression it was an old artillery shell for a 150mm cannon. Sorry, no guidance systems on the shells; they go however far the 'boom' takes 'em. Maybe we'll see a re-combobulation of the real storyline in the next book. Other than that slipsy, it was an entertaining read, with all the right mix of classy food, rides, places and people.
June 16, 2018
#46 in the Stone Barrington series. Though I've still rated this 2018 series entry by author Woods at 4 stars for its fun look at life styles of the rich and famous, I was disappointed and almost down-rated it for it scarcity of plot. The first 175 pages read like a travelogue. Stone has lost 2 different bedmates for an indefinite period and at the cocktail where he lost the second, offers a lift to the woman who will next share his bed. Coincidently, she is a CIA agent assigned to Stone by Director Lance Cabot.
With trips to his Key West home, boat and yacht club, a ride in his jet to his NYC home, a plan to visit Santa Fe and his home in LA redirected by the CIA to his home in London, mention of his mansion in the English countryside, a trip to his home in Paris followed by a drive to Zurich and Lille, before settling down to the plot at a palatial mansion in England's West Country. Fun but too little meat.
Stone and friends, including Secretary of State Holly Barker, hunker down at his house in Key West, Fla. Joe Box, the junior senator from Florida, who two months earlier tried to assault Holly after a White House dinner, briefly takes shelter with Stone. Once the storm passes and Stone is able to leave the island in his private plane, the plot centers on the efforts of American and British authorities to arrest Selwyn Owaki, a notorious arms dealer with ties to Box. When an attempt involving Stone to nab Owaki at a London restaurant goes awry, Stone becomes a target for some powerful people and must go on the run
With trips to his Key West home, boat and yacht club, a ride in his jet to his NYC home, a plan to visit Santa Fe and his home in LA redirected by the CIA to his home in London, mention of his mansion in the English countryside, a trip to his home in Paris followed by a drive to Zurich and Lille, before settling down to the plot at a palatial mansion in England's West Country. Fun but too little meat.
Stone and friends, including Secretary of State Holly Barker, hunker down at his house in Key West, Fla. Joe Box, the junior senator from Florida, who two months earlier tried to assault Holly after a White House dinner, briefly takes shelter with Stone. Once the storm passes and Stone is able to leave the island in his private plane, the plot centers on the efforts of American and British authorities to arrest Selwyn Owaki, a notorious arms dealer with ties to Box. When an attempt involving Stone to nab Owaki at a London restaurant goes awry, Stone becomes a target for some powerful people and must go on the run
June 20, 2018
Exceedingly boring and stuffy. I wince every time Stone goes to England. I know I'm in for lame ass dinner parties and such. I think I'm done with this series. Seriously, we don't need a review on the food and wine at every event and such detail on types of planes and their equipment. No. One. Cares. I know it's fiction but the plot is so ridiculously unbelievable it's laughable.
September 6, 2018
An easy, light read with a lot of chasing going on as Stone and his current
girl friend skip and jump from one place to another. A very enjoyable read
with little substance as you see the life style of the ultra rich with their jets
and yachts. The characters are known and well developed throughout his
books.
girl friend skip and jump from one place to another. A very enjoyable read
with little substance as you see the life style of the ultra rich with their jets
and yachts. The characters are known and well developed throughout his
books.
June 11, 2018
For awhile I had give up on this series & then had binge read some of the new ones to catch up & enjoyed them. This one didn’t ever really grasp my attention from the get go & was very bland. Too much detail on stuff that didn’t even matter & then rushed high energy blips.
June 28, 2018
A hurricane and an unexpected visit from a pernicious politician dampen Stone Barrington’s sojourn in Key West. But the intrepid lawyer soon finds himself enmeshed in the hunt for a missing nuclear weapon and in a plot to capture terrorist Selwyn Owaki.
Part of the fun with the Stone Barrington tales is watching him mire himself in some dangerous and difficult situation and then discovering how he manages to extricate himself. In this, the forty-sixth outing for the venerable hero, all the requisite characters make an appearance, the action is non-stop, and the antics are predictable. Nevertheless, it’s a quick, pleasant read sure to satisfy fans of the series.
Part of the fun with the Stone Barrington tales is watching him mire himself in some dangerous and difficult situation and then discovering how he manages to extricate himself. In this, the forty-sixth outing for the venerable hero, all the requisite characters make an appearance, the action is non-stop, and the antics are predictable. Nevertheless, it’s a quick, pleasant read sure to satisfy fans of the series.
September 9, 2018
I especially wanted to read this book because I, as well as Stone, experienced Hurricane Irma first hand. The descriptions were quite accurate, although Stone was in Key West and I was farther north and less hard hit. However, once the author finished that in the first few chapters, it was off to a typical Stone Barrington book with jets, fancy meals, beautiful women, and danger. This time a Russian illegal arms dealer was involved. It did drag a bit toward the latter half, but it still ended up with a solid three star rating. As I’ve said before, as long as Stuart writes ‘em, I’ll read ‘em.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 3, 2021
So I bought this out of a discount stack at a discount grocery. I've never read Woods book before. Woods' pacing is great, but for me - it's hard to get behind the overly affluent successful attorney who just happens to be dating persons directly connected to the CIA, and who conveniently has access to the latest multimillion dollar aircraft, the most expensive yachts, multiple million dollar spreads near to every iconic world metropolis. The love for Ian Fleming's books was that James Bond was more/less a working class hero, with a specific set of honed skills. I want to like Stone Barrington, but my life experiences frame him as a "Just World Philosophy" type of fellow, and I have a difficult time relating. Life is hard, but not for Stone.
June 14, 2019
The usual fluff, but I can’t give them up yet as they are a good escape. This was somewhat of a continuation from the previous book, with a different lady love for Stone going from Key West and the hurricane over to his house in England. Of course, Stone saves the day in the end.
June 15, 2018
The Stone Barrington story formula lives on.
Read
June 17, 2018The newest Stone novel.
This book started out well for me, I enjoyed having Holly show up and the hurricane storyline. Great mention Hurricane Harvey. But it quickly went over my head, or my I care what happens scale.
This book started out well for me, I enjoyed having Holly show up and the hurricane storyline. Great mention Hurricane Harvey. But it quickly went over my head, or my I care what happens scale.
July 13, 2018
Overall, these books are in a rut and seemingly want to compete against Patterson’s Bookshots for lack of substance. The plot lacks development and the characters are totally unbelievable. The whole ending involving jets firing missiles at a helo and then shooting it down with gunfire is incredible and not everyone in the world belongs to an intelligence agency... overall this one was a disappointment but at least it didn’t take much of my time to finish.
September 3, 2018
A fun popcorn read. Not as much womanizing, some nice chase scenes, and a hurricane. Good way to end the summer.
Read
October 25, 2018DNF
June 9, 2018
Another great Stone Barrington book.
January 17, 2025
I love the series. Stone is a gentleman lawyer. It's always fun to read. Planning to continue reading this series.
August 11, 2018
He wrote another book in the series. Will he ever be done?
June 11, 2018
(2). This whole Stone Barrington thing has become a good news, bad news situation for me. The stories have gotten weaker, everything is on repeat and the fact that Woods feels he has to be a mini Patterson and release one every three months has not helped. The good news is that I still have no problem investing 4 hours or so into reading them. It is a very comfortable experience that I wished was just a tiny bit more enjoyable. The next one is another Teddy Fay book, those tend to be a little better. Rock on Stuart!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 348 reviews