An offbeat and unyielding undersea adventure that bubbles with tension.
In Willson’s thriller, set about 30 years in the future, the crew of a highly advanced submarine battles for survival on the ocean floor as the world above teeters on the brink of nuclear annihilation.
The HMS Bancroft’s Capt. Kel Williams knows every inch of the submarine she commands, because she helped design it. This intimate knowledge is put to the test when she and the crew are sent on a mission to the bottom of the Mariana Trench to investigate the presence of an untapped source of biomass, which holds the potential to cure diseases and form the foundation of new crops. Every nation on the war-torn planet wants it, and the Bancroft races to collect it before it falls into the hands of an alliance of Chinese and Russian communists. As villainous pursuers rapidly close in topside, Kel makes a command decision to take the Bancroft deeper into the trench’s vast network of undersea caverns. There, Kel and the crew realize there’s no easy way out. They’re unable to back out the way they entered, and they can’t use a high-powered torpedo to create a new escape route for fear of collapsing the caverns. Out of options, Kel orders the crew to dive even deeper. Willson ratchets up the danger the deeper they go, and as the super-sophisticated Bancroft begins to strain under the enormous pressures, new threats to the crew’s integrity spring up. Close-quarter violence breaks out, described in sometimes-brutal detail. In the prologue, Willson also unexpectedly introduces a pair of celestial entities who oversee and comment on the proceedings, known as “the Builders.” One, named Willow, has a vested interest in the tiny humans fighting for survival at the bottom of the ocean, but her fellow god, Helios, fumes over her steadfast devotion: “What do you see in this pale blue dot of yours?” Will Kel and the Bancroft escape? Will the Builders intervene? Will the planet survive? Willson takes obvious delight in keeping his readers guessing as the novel goes on.
An offbeat and unyielding undersea adventure that bubbles with tension.Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2024
ISBN: 9781958800126
Page Count: 392
Publisher: WideAsleep Publishing
Review Posted Online: April 25, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
Fast-moving fun and a highly creative plot.
Bloody murder spoils folks’ fun while megafauna return from extinction.
What a glorious way to spend a honeymoon: Mark and Olivia Gunnerson go backpacking through the vast Erebus Resort in the mountains of Colorado, where scientists have “de-extincted” species like the woolly mammoth and other Pleistocene megafauna. Just watch the peaceful beasts at their watering holes. Behold the giant armadillos, and the indricothere that make mammoths look like dwarfs. The scientists have removed genes for aggression in these re-creations, so humans will be safe unless they’re accidentally stepped on. And yet, someone doesn’t want the newlyweds camping there, made evident by their disappearance without a trace, save only a copious amount of blood outside their tent. Colorado Bureau of Investigation Agent in Charge Frankie Cash takes the case. What happened to Mark and Olivia, and why? The park has no predators, so humans must be responsible. But where are the bodies? A doctor suggests that due to the amount of blood found, the victims may have—gasp!—been decapitated. The matter gathers national attention, and things only get worse as more people die. The late groom’s aggrieved billionaire father demands immediate answers, and of course he interferes with the investigation: “You’ll see me now, you son of a bitch, and tell me what the fuck you’re doing to find my son!” And speaking of F-bombs, surely it is possible to write a thriller with fewer—maybe use one or two to establish a character and then move on to more creative language? Anyway, the investigators are doing a lot. The action seldom lets up, and readers will feel the mounting tension and excitement. The setting itself is a scientific wonder, and it must tie into the murders somehow. Meanwhile, Hollywood is filming an action movie in the park, and the pièce de résistance will be the spectacular explosion of a train. But wouldn’t you know, Preston has other plans. Imagine Jurassic Park with the timeline brought forward to the Pleistocene, and you have the Erebus Resort. Science, imagination, storytelling, and action are all here.
Fast-moving fun and a highly creative plot.Pub Date: April 23, 2024
ISBN: 9780765317704
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Forge
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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