The stories are the stuff of legend, and they are all true. In 1811 and 1812, three earthquakes measuring 8 on the Richter scale ruptured an area spanning twenty-four states and a third of the land mass of the United States. Lakes formed in Tennessee, church bells rang in Boston, and the mighty Mississippi ran backward. But today it is all a distant memory. Until the underground force reawakens. Kentucky farmers say animals are acting strange: cows butt each other with unheard-of aggression and a few hundred rats race across a road in broad daylight. In the Ozark Mountains, leaking subterranean gases flash bursts of red and green across the midnight sky. Suddenly the earth beneath a sleepy Tennessee town "liquefies" in a fountain of mud and foul-smelling water. A man and a woman, both seismologists, find themselves in a race against the clock to convince the world that their daring mission is the only way to stop the last monstrous earthquake to come. History is about to repeat itself. It's Mother Nature calling.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
A 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.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
YA-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.
Pam Johnson, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
At last, a factually based earthquake disaster book,
By
This review is from: 8.4 (Paperback)
Many readers will be unfamiliar with the New Madrid Seizmic Zone (unless they studied geology in college, as I did). This book's factually researched action will not only bring New Madrid's history and current threat to life, it will have readers checking maps to make sure *they* don't live in the New Madrid Zone. I couldn't put this book down. Note: the scientific facts presented in this novel might seem incomprehensible to the lay reader, but the information imparted not only educates but helps advance the plot.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ignore those other, negative, reviews, it's a ripper.,
This review is from: 8.4 (Hardcover)
After you've read all the other reviews, with all their nitpicking, give Hernon a read. You'll love it. To those other reviewers I say, "C'mon, get a life -- this is FICTION!!" Sure, I even spotted a misuse of the possessive "its" (in the book it's printed as "it's). But give the author his due, he's done a magnificent job of stringing together a whole bunch of boring factoids, so his plot really rocks. Short chapters, each one ending with a hook to throw you forward to the next scene; plenty of power-packed verbs and adjectives to add spice.
So there's little "romance!" Big deal. There's enough. I say you should cut Hernon plenty of slack for the way he's snapped up a little-known subject (the New Madrid Fault) and given it vivid credibility. I've been a "drive by" amateur geologist for many years. I've followed the San Andreas Fault nearly every inch of the way and gazed with awe at the site where New Madrid lit up with a triple play in 1811-1812, so this book hit me right square in the gut. About my 5-star rating: I awarded five for "readability." On other grounds I might drop to four or four-and-a-half, but I guarantee you this: I can't wait for Peter Hernon's next novel.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
8.4 has moments, but for this reviewer it's more like a 3.5,
By coachtim (Indiana, United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: 8.4 (Paperback)
I'd never heard of author Peter Hernon, but when I saw the subject matter of "8.4", and that it was on the clearance shelf for practically pennies, I gave the book a try. And, while I can't say that this is one of the top 500 books that I've read, it passes the mark. As one would guess from the title, this is a story about earthquakes. It particular, the "Mother of All Earthquakes" that being the one that seismologists have been predicting for years, the quake along the New Madrid Fault. I've been somewhat interested in this topic for some time now since I live in an area that might be affected by such a quake. And as people in this area know, the New Madrid Quake may be even more devastating that the San Francisco and Alaskan quakes that created such widespread damage in the last 100 years. And, if you too live along this faultline, you may not want to read this book because if Hernon is right about "the big one" you might choose to find a new address. Hernon has done a good job for the most part with his research and in some cases, the book reads like something out of Michael Crichton. Seriously limited though, is Hernon's character development and any "connection" that the reader might have with these characters. They're just not very interesting. I don't know if that flaw is by design or not, because the real star of the story, of course, is the quake or quakes. The book has suspenseful moments and even includes a little sabotage and deceit along the way. It's a very quick read and good for passing the time. In reality, though, this book will probably have only limited appeal to those readers who don't live in this area. For better books about the New Madrid faultline and the coming quake, I'd suggest "The Rift" by Walter Williams and "The New Madrid Run" by Michael Reisig (a superior, yet too short book, from an outstanding storyteller).
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
