Reap the Wind


Fiction - Thriller - Environmental
244 Pages
Reviewed on 02/26/2024
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Author Biography

Joel Burcat is a novelist and retired environmental lawyer living in Harrisburg, Pa. In February 2024, Sunbury Press published his climate change-action/adventure thriller, REAP THE WIND. His previous novels, DRINK TO EVERY BEAST, AMID RAGE, and STRANGE FIRE have been award-winning environmental thrillers. His previous books dealt with environmental issues such as “midnight dumping”, coal mining, and fracking.

Burcat’s legal career spanned 40 years, including time as an Assistant Attorney General with PaDER (dealing mostly with coal strip mining sites), and many years in private practice as an environmental lawyer. He was selected as the 2019 Lawyer of the Year in Environmental Litigation (for Central Pa.) by Best Lawyers in America He edited multiple editions of two award-winning non-fiction works on environmental and oil and gas law.

He was a Gold Medal Winner from Readers’ Favorite for Environmental Fiction, a Finalist of the Next Gen Indie Book Awards, and a winner of the PennWriters Annual Writing Contest. STRANGE FIRE was a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Week. Burcat is active with the International Thriller Writers Association and PennWriters.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Alma Boucher for Readers' Favorite

In Joel Burcat's Reap the Wind, an unexpected shift in weather affects Josh Goldberg and his fiancée Kiesha. Josh, an environmental lawyer from a prestigious Philadelphia law firm, wanted to join his pregnant girlfriend who is in a Cincinnati hospital. Due to a hurricane that had engulfed the region, air travel was impossible, but when Josh heard that Kiesha’s doctor was none other than her ex-boyfriend, he hired an old Lincoln Continental from a friend for his journey. Josh was accompanied on this dangerous road trip by his boss, Diane, and best friend, Geoff. The tension increased due to Geoff's addiction, while Diane used the trip as a chance to take advantage of the situation and further her agenda.

I got a glimpse of the climate change issue in Reap the Wind. Joel Burcat brought together love, sacrifice, friendship, and hazardous weather in an exhilarating ride. I was unable to put this book down once I started reading it. The suspense had me on the edge of my seat throughout this exciting story. With every turn of the page, the twists and turns led me down a path of surprises. The situations that Josh, Geoff, and Diane faced exceeded my expectations and were thoroughly explained. The characters were believable and well-developed. Josh’s character drove the plot and raised the stakes because he was a brave, courageous man with flaws who cared deeply about Keisha. Reap the Wind is a fantastic work of environmental fiction, and the issues of climate change and environmental law give the story much depth.