Customer Reviews

Saving Cascadia

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

In my opinion, in Saving Cascadia, John J. Nance has written another excellent thriller. As a professional geologist, I found his research on the Cascadia Subduction Zone to be authentic and believable. As a novelist who writes about some of the same subjects as John, both wildfire and earthquakes, I found Saving Cascadia to be a page turner - the kind you stay up with all night - fast-paced, suspenseful, brilliantly plotted, with realistically flawed characters thrown up against one challenge after another.

Linda Jacobs

This was the first book I have read by John J. Nance. The concept was interesting, but I couldn't help but comparing it to the old "Earthquake" movie: ruthless capitalist knows there is a problem and refuses to deal with it, as hero seismologist attempts to save his corner of the world while at the same time his own personal life is in disarray. Involved is a whole host of other characters with their own stories. The comparisons just were overwhelming to me. I kept thinking that the author was going to concentrate on the flying/helicoptor rescue bits of this novel, but it just wasn't to be.

Overall the book kept me interested and I felt it fairly well written. However, I just kept thinking the author was holding something back. If the book was more edgy I think it might have been better and far more interesting. **SPOILER** Everything just ties up entirely too nicely, and I think that is part of the problem.

If looking for a relatively interesting book to pass the time, this one might do it.

I found this novel to be entertaining. It's a nice change that John J. Nance doesn't write yet another air disaster but keeps it on the ground instead. Nance is a very skilled writer with a narrative that puts you in the middle of the story. A fast and sometimes emotional story that kept me entertained.

Recommended

This book was everything I used to love about Nance's books: action and mystery. It was difficult to put down. I'm happy he made this book, despite the fact that it deviates pretty far from his usual genre, because I feel like his last few books have been disappointing. Definitely a worthwhile read if you like aviation, geology, and engineering.

"Saving Cascadia" is a silly waste of reading time. Implausible plot, coupled with characters who don't seem quite capable of rational thought, mixed with the laughable personal "relationship" sub-plots, adds up to six hours subtracted from your life forever.

In the middle of the contrived crisis, characters confront each other over childhood slights, affairs (real or imagined), political intrigues and jarringly out-of-place "issues". Seems like they'd have more important things to talk about.

There is a twist bolted on at the end. Technically this book is pre-spoiled, but I won't give away the twist except indirectly: One of the characters purposely caused the death and destruction as a form of revenge because somehow this character knew there would be an earthquake in that location, at that time, in that way by being in exactly the right place to cause it all to happen. Revenge is a dish best served cold, but it's so much easier to serve it on Facebook.

Anyway, save yourself the time and read (or listen) to something else.

Nance is number one on my list of favorite authors but this novel is sub-par for him. First it is not an aviation thriller by any stretch, very little excitement, only one surprise, no fixed wing aircraft, and a nothing ending. I could go on and on but I think this short comment says it all!

We have enjoyed all of John J. Nance's books. Saving Cascadia was my least favorite. I felt the information regarding the earthquakes was too technical and repetitive. My husband and I are both pilots and that is why we first started purchasing his audio books. He is a great story teller and we usually rate them as 5 stars. This one was a little disappointing. My husband liked it more than I did and would probably rate it higher than 3 stars (my rating, his is 4 stars) We enjoy the flying sequences in his novels more than anything else, and I am sure that is why it did not live up to my expectations. It is still a good story.

John J. Nance's 17th book, Saving Cascadia, departs from the formula used in many of his earlier novels, which focused much of the action in airplanes. While fans of the genre may be disappointed in this new direction, they will still get some edge-of-their-seat flying time - just in helicopters rather than jetliners - combined with a ticking time-bomb in the form of an earthquake.

Seismologist Dr. Doug Lam has spent years researching his theory of Resonant Amplication: the idea that continuous small resonances sent into a "locked zone" can eventually trigger the big one for the Pacific Northwest, an earthquake larger than any the region has seen since the Alaska earthquake of 1964 or the largest tsunami to hit the region which was triggered by a massive earthquake in 1700. For 300 years, seismic activity has been building up in the Quilieute Quiet Zone, just waiting for the trigger to release another magnitude 9+ earthquake.

All someone needs to do to trigger that major catastrophe is to "pull the plug" on the pent-up seismic activity, and construction of Cascadia Island's new casino resort may have done just that. Now Doug has to figure out a way to stop the devastating tsunami he knows could take many lives at any moment and save the woman he loves.

Saving Cascadia has all the requisite features of an eco-thriller: a discredited scientist, impending natural disaster, politicians who refuse to see the truth, conflict between family members and a heroine on the run from unknown bad guys. Rather than allowing this novel to become just another formulaic thriller, Nance uses his significant scientific knowledge to raise the bar for the rest of the genre.

Having completed extensive research for his 1988 book on earthquakes, On Shaky Ground, Nance is dealing with familiar subject matter in this offering. Solid research is a prerequisite for any author who wishes to add a true psychological thrill to their adventure tale. Presenting a scenario that has the potential to happen creates greater tension and engages the reader's imagination more quickly. Here Nance handles the earthquake research with confidence, providing enough context to create credibility without bogging down the pacing with too much background.

Where Saving Cascadia does fall flat is in the romance between Doug and Jennifer Lindstrom (pilot and CEO of Nightingale Aviation). The relationship felt forced, as if it was added purely to create additional tension, but only succeeded in hindering the exact tension it was meant to enhance. Since there seemed to be little spark there, Jennifer's supposed jealousy felt contrived and distracted from the action spinning quickly out of control.

Nance displayed a much more able hand in the relationship between Jennifer and her father, Sven. The complex psychological mess swirling between them rings true and aids in fleshing out both their characters, while also ratcheting up the price-tag on the natural disaster when their conflict threatens to hinder rescue operations. The believability of these characters creates a stronger emotional bond for the reader, pulling them deeper into Nance's world.

Unlike many fast-paced thrillers, the surprise twist in Saving Cascadia came completely out of left field, taking this reader by surprise. In hindsight the clues were present, but so well integrated into the plot that they didn't stand out like a beacon in a lighthouse.

John J. Nance has built an impressive body of work since first publishing in 1990: 13 fiction and 5 non-fiction. A licenced commercial pilot, veteran of the US Air Force, internationally recognized air safety analyst and advocate, author and public speaker, he folds all this technical knowledge into his writing. Saving Cascadia, released at the end of January 2006 in mass market paperback, and the soon to be released Orbit (March 2006) are his newest works.

See the review at Curled Up with a Good Book - [...]

There was a time when John J. Nance was THE best at writing, scary and all too possible air flight disaster thrillers.

Apparently, the good old days are gone. If you are expecting this book to be about disasters in the air (in the same style as the wonderful Medusa's Child) - you will be sorely disappointed.

This *thriller* is set mainly on the island of Cascadia. Think Club Med - owned by a man who will do about anything for money. Of course, things are not what they seem and all kinds of weird natural disasters are going to happen to Cascadia.

Apparently airline disaster plots are no longer to be.

Sounds promising? - its not.

This book is long winded and none of the characters are particularly believeable. The plot is full of holes and frankly, the whole thing bored me.

I wish Nance would go back to writing airline thrillers. Until then, I will no longer be a reader.

I won't repeat the comments by other reviewers who gave this book a 1 star rating, but I agree completely with them.

I was enjoying the action and story until the massive weird jolt of the story in Chapter 41. One character changed so drastically there that I went back to see if there were two authors for this book and that maybe Nance took a vacation while an intern wrote that chapter.

I am truly surprised that his editor didn't force a change, or maybe she did and the mitigated result was the disaster that is Chapter 41.

Anyway, Chapters 1 - 40 were exciting, fast-paced and enjoyable.