Eruption

October 17, 2011
Better known for his leisurely, lengthy alternate history series (Days of Infamy; The War That Came Early), Turtledove tries his hand at disaster carnography, but a promising premise is disappointingly squandered on a male-centric revenge fantasy with a soap-opera plot. A chance encounter in Yellowstone Park brings divorced cop Colin Ferguson a second chance at love and also the knowledge that the Yellowstone caldera, one of Earth’s few supervolcanoes, may be about to erupt. When the inevitable Plinian paroxysm comes, Colin’s friends and family are scattered across the U.S., ideally placed for a story of treks and tragedies. Inexplicably, the plot loses momentum at this point. The deaths of millions take place offstage, the foregrounded economic effects are more inconveniences than apocalypses, and Turtledove pays more attention to developing humiliating fates for Colin’s promiscuous daughter and faithless ex-wife than to putting a human face on the epic, world-altering disaster. Agent: Russell Galen.

December 1, 2011
Turtledove offers a realistic but not terribly gripping depiction of the desperate slog life would become if a beloved national landmark became the epicenter of a devastating natural disaster. During a solo vacation to Yellowstone, recently divorced California police lieutenant Colin Ferguson encounters seismologist Kelly Birnbaum, who conveniently informs him just how bad it would be if the park's caldera were to blow. Given the book's title, this clumsy bit of exposition hardly counts as foreshadowing. Turtledove's sparse descriptive powers are just not up to infusing the actual moment of the eruption with the thrills that today's action-movie fans have come to expect. Of course, that is not his purpose; rather, it is to rather glumly lay out the effects of said eruption over the next couple of years. Clouds of ash lower temperatures, bury the nation's breadbasket and prevent travel and delivery of desperately needed supplies. Colin's older son, a guitarist in a small-time indie band, becomes stranded in snow-choked Maine; his bitchy daughter Vanessa complains her way through various emergency shelters; and life continues just fine for the youngest, perennial Santa Barbara undergraduate Marshall. Meanwhile, Colin looks for (and doesn't find) a serial killer, while Kelly's academic specialty becomes terribly, terribly relevant. As Colin and Kelly fall in love, Colin's ex-wife Louise faces karmic justice that has nothing to do with the catastrophe. None of it hangs together terribly well or inspires much emotional commitment from the reader. The novel doesn't so much conclude as vaguely trail off at a convenient stopping point; that and Turtledove's penchant for series suggest sequels are in the offing.

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November 15, 2011

The supervolcano beneath Yellowstone National Park has lain dormant for over 600,000 years, the many geysers--including Old Faithful--and hot springs the only evidence of its continued activity. When Los Angeles police lieutenant Colin Ferguson, vacationing after a recent divorce, meets geologist Kelly Birnbaum during an unexpected quake in the park, their mutual attraction takes second place to their growing suspicion that the Yellowstone volcano is preparing for an eruption that could spell disaster not only for the United States but also for the planet's fragile environment. VERDICT The premiere voice of alternate history, Turtledove (Guns of the South) depicts an all-too-real potential future in this page-turner that combines powerful storytelling with convincing characters. A good choice for fans of disaster fiction.

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