Review:- Richard DOYLE – “Volcano”

Year Published: - 2006
Where the book was from:- Pensby Library
ISBN: - 9780099469353
Pages: - 693pp
Genre: - Disaster
Location:- The Maine Coast (and the Canary Islands)
How I came across it: - On the new books shelf
Rating: - ***** ***
One sentence summary:- Despite it’s title the ensuing tsunami is the real subject of this well researched disaster story.

Describe the plot without giving anything away:-
A volcanic eruption in the Canary Islands creates the potential threat of a tsunami all the way across the Atlantic but for most people seeing is believing and the inhabitants of Goodwill, Maine are no exception. All the usual events of a major weekend at Goodwill Sound are going ahead with potentially disastrous results. Meanwhile, across the Atlantic the volcano is getting more and more unstable.

General comments:-
I was a little disappointed. Had I come to this fresh I might have rated it higher but it didn’t have quite the relevance of ‘Flood’ which was something I could relate to personally from my Emergency Planning days.
Nevertheless the skill of story-telling was just as high and the depth of character delineation was probably even better. And one learns so much:-

Quotations:
It is a myth that warm seas are fertile. In fact it is cold seas that are full of life. The reasons warm Caribbean water is so clear is because it is empty of plankton, no food for the fish. Fish cluster round the coral reefs, not in the open sea.

AUTHOR Notes:-
See Richard Doyle -