Thursday, June 21, 2012

Mother Of Storms-John Barnes

Mother Of Storms


John Barnes

Tor, June 5 2012, $17.99

ISBN: 9780765332516



In 2028, the Siberian Commonwealth releases missiles on the ocean floor as part of a preemptive campaign to annex the Alaska Free State. The United Nations world government reacts in kind by deploying anti-matter weapons to destroy the Siberian Commonwealth missile sites. However, a horrendous second order effect occurs when billions of tons of methane is released from the ocean floor that heats the atmosphere to unrecorded temperatures in a Greenhouse Effect and leads to hurricanes off the scale with millions dead and coastlines eradicated.



While many struggles with the apocalyptic devastation; some see opportunity. USA President Brittany Lynn Hardshaw and her top advisor Harris Diem believe America can return to being the superpower it once was, but that means ignoring international catastrophe. Ultimate capitalists GateTech CEO John Klieg and his assistant Glinda Gray know they can make a fortune from the present and even more from future disasters. While meteorologists struggle with reporting the radically changed weather patterns and reporters investigate, earth’s only real hope to survive resides in space where astronaut Louie Tynan prefers to remain but works on a lunar landing to keep the sun’s rays from the planet until the orb can cool down.



This is a reprint of a 1994 thriller that holds up nicely as the Defense Department recognizes climate change as a major threat to national security. The cast is solid while the super-hurricane is the eye of the exciting storyline. Fast-paced even while rotating perspective, fans will relish this engaging novel; with part of the fun being able to rate how well John Barnes predicted scientific and technology advancements and new theories at the half way point between his original release and the date the world turned greenhouse.



Harriet Klausner

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