Customer Reviews

Mount Doomsday

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Donald Berman is a doctor with over forty years of experience who has expertise as a military flight surgeon, a senior aviation medical examiner, and holds a commercial pilot license with instrument, multi-engine, seaplane and helicopter ratings. He has published numerous medical articles and texts on medical environmental protection and regulatory compliance and one novel. He has a passion for archaeology, history, the earth sciences, and the interplay between technology and Mother Earth.

Mount Lassen, a gorgeous peak located south of Mt. St. Helens in the Cascades, shows signs of imminent eruption. Richard Burrell, a prominent newsman whose wife, Lee is a professor of geology, is sent over to investigate. Lee accompanies him, and her Geiger counter meter shoots to the active side. Unbeknownst to park rangers, a family is trapped in their overturned camper just off of the road. The feds and a naive president conspire to keep the story under wraps. In the meantime, Dr. Berman regales his fixated readers with historical versions of major volcanos that have erupted throughout history to set a menacing and terrifying tone to an already viscerally anguished situation, which ratchets up when a leak is discovered in a nearby nuclear plant that is no doubt creating the radioactive lava:

"Charlie stepped over to the edge of the pool to look at the rods. He expected to see them all stacked neatly, but to his surprise a number of them were broken and lying in pieces at the bottom of the pool. 'Did you know that some of these rods are broken?' he asked rather casually.

Malone came right over to see what he was talking about. His face turned ashen when he saw the broken rods lying in disarray on the floor of the pool. 'Sorry, fellas, but those rods should not be there. We will have to leave the area immediately.'"

Berman does an excellent job of both setting up a scientific chain of events, aided by historical analysis, and creating the present day human story of Mount Lassen. Not content with the simple tales of volcanic horror, he affixes an environmental shocker to his story. His message is that we will always have volcanic eruptions, and our rush to create nuclear power plants on tectonic plates is sheer insanity and/or stupidity. Berman has a point, of course, and doesn't hesitate to create a plausible scenario which should scare anyone living on the West Coast. MOUNT DOOMSDAY is a riveting tale, and Dr. Berman should keep at it until maybe someone will listen to his wisdom and experience. He'd be mighty handy in an emergency! And he can write...what a guy. His characters are human, intelligent, and flawed. The story is timely.

Shelley Glodowski
Senior Reviewer

I read the Book, Mount Doomsday, and was very impressed with it. I loved the way the author blended the present story with historical facts that explained the underlying geographical issues. This book could predict a future headline story on CNN. It was very interesting

I couldn't put this book down once I started and I am looking forward to the sequel.

This was a very entertaining and informative story. The author has a wonderful style that is easy to enjoy. I thought the science was very well presented: accurate, but not techo-babble. My only quibble with the story was that at times there seemed to be just about every possible sub-plot woven into what was already a full story. Not enough to just let the volcano plot stand on its own, but also faulty government, corrupt big business (naturally), faulty nuclear facilities, TV ratings war, assorted relationship drama, etc...

And the Bergeron family! Beyond a doubt, the most unlucky people in modern fiction. Bob, Jan, Ryan, Lisa, and puppy Sasha have the worst luck of any folks I have ever read. Do not be near them; you will be destroyed.

And my burning thought at the end of the story: what happened to Sasha????

I found Dr. Donald A. Berman's novel, Mount Doomsday, to be an easy, entertaining read. The story of a radioactive volcano erupting in present-day time is interwoven with short chapters about the earth's volcanic history as viewed from the inhabitants affected by volcanic disasters. I found this effect to be successful in building up to the conclusion of the story. This is an entertaining, exciting story that is definitely worth reading!

Don Berman has constructed a page turner on par with Dan Brown's "Da Vinci Code." The weaving storyline and the suspense driven plot create an exhilarating journey for any reader. Berman has shed light on the gloomy possibility of a disaster stemming from both natural and man-made events. The recent disaster in New Orleans has demonstrated just how dead on Berman was in predicting the shortcomings of modern engineering when nature decides not to cooperate. This disaster story is incredible because the scenario it presents is a real possibility. Berman did a great job of researching a couple of thousand years of volcanic disasters in order to make his fictional story come to life and make the possible seem inevitable. Nearly unfathomable volcanic disasters have occurred in the past, Berman is asking his readers to think; why couldn't it happen now? By tying man-made nuclear technology in with mother nature's fury, Berman has devised the ultimate disaster/horror story. This makes the scenarios of the Cold War seem like child's play. Any reader is going wonder why nobody had ever thought of this before. There could not be a worse fate awaiting humankind than the one Berman imagined in this book. The scary part is, this book is as much science as it is science-fiction.

I heard about the book, Mount Doomsday, on the Howard Stern show and I consider it a must read.

Alan Kornman
Orlando, FL

Having written two novels myself, I was excited about reading one from another Florida author. Don Berman has a meticulously researched fast paced engaging story about a radioactive volcanic eruption and presents a scenario that is as captivating as the title. It is a fast paced,provocative read and I recommend it wholeheartedly.

David Thomas, MD JD