8.4 (2012)

Read 8.4 (2012) Storyline:

The New Madrid Seismic Zone is 140 miles, stretching across five states. In 1811 and 1812 enormous earthquakes erupted along this zone, affecting 24 states, creating lakes in Tennessee and causing the Mississippi River to run backward. In Peter Hernon’s 8.4 the New Madrid awakens, threatening the country with systematic collapse in a chillingly plausible case of history repeating itself. It’s up to a team of scientists to stop the impending destruction, working against nature, time and a horrifying, human-made conspiracy.From Publishers WeeklyA cataclysmic moment in American history is about to repeat itself in this white-knuckle disaster thriller. Signs point to a contemporary recurrence of the devastating earthquakes that, in 1811 and 1812, ripped through the New Madrid Fault Zone, 140 miles of American heartland along the Mississippi River. Marina owner Lauren Mitchell discovers huge cracks in the Kentucky Lake Dam. Seismologist John Atkins, haunted by the tragic loss of his lover during the 1985 Mexico quake, witnesses abnormal animal activity on a visit to the University of Memphis. When beautiful West Coast seismologist Elizabeth Halloran supplies evidence that upcoming sunspots will trigger the New Madrid Fault, Atkins is still a little skeptical?until the first quake hits at Richter 8.4. After that, amid the chaos that engulfs the ruins of Memphis, the race is on to prevent the next quake in the sequence?if there is a sequence?with a daring and dangerous plan. No tale about science's dash to save civilization from nature would be complete without a contingent of pigheaded and skeptical bureaucrats foiling the protagonists' heroics; in this case a sycophantic group of earthquake experts naysay the probability of another big shake-up. Hernon (Earthly Remains) heightens the scuffle with a believable turf conflict between state authorities and the federal government. The scenes of devastation are both horrifying and awe-inspiring, and although at times Atkins is surprisingly naive about the impending quakes' telltale signs (hibernating frogs evacuating their winter habitats, for example), the characters are, for the most part, believable. The end result is a combination of science and thrills that compares favorably with the best of Michael Crichton, but with a decidedly warmer touch. Hernon's saga, with its meticulous seismic details and galvanizing descriptive immediacy, brings a human angle to the technology of natural disaster. Agent, Richard Pine. 75,000 first printing; $75,000 ad/promo; miniseries rights to NBC; foreign rights sold in Germany, Holland and Japan; audio rights to Simon & Schuster. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. From School Library JournalYA-When the New Madrid Fault Zone, which has produced three of the largest earthquakes on record in North America, begins to show signs of reawakening, geologist John Atkins and seismologist Elizabeth Holleran join forces with other experts to try to prevent another series of disasters. After two major earthquakes devastate the Midwest along the Mississippi riverbed, the team of specialists battles major fires, looting, aftershocks, and frenzied survivors in a breakneck race to prevent a third, even larger quake. Their answer is to detonate an atomic bomb in an old mine shaft, which will set off 5.0-6.0 quakes, but hopefully dissipate the stress building into a quake even larger than 8.4. In the frantic rush to vacate the mine tunnel, the team members battle not only mine fires, deadly gases, and falling shafts, but also one another. Afterward, what remains of the middle part of the United States begins the arduous task of cleaning up. The story is filled with facts about geology, tectonics, and physics, but the information never gets in the way of the action. The characters scurry through the endless challenges and serve more to join sequences of the novel together than to provide any meaningful relationship, although the two scientists fall in love during the melee. Offering lots of excitement and the inherent thrill typical of a survival story, the book will appeal to YAs who enjoy authors such as Michael Crichton and the team of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.Pam Johnson, Fairfax County Public Library, VA Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.