Arnaldo Ricciulli

Hurricane uses the end of the Mayan calendar as a backdrop for a disaster thriller. Daniel Mayhew has a theory for bringing tropical depressions under control before they become hurricanes. Meanwhile Kelly Delany has a theory that global warming will create the need for a new class of hurricane: category six. Kelly and Daniel if they work together along with the navy might be able save lives and prevent devastation. Unfortunately for them, General Lowe is standing in their way as a member of the "Lucky Thirteen."

Hurricane is an odd book. It has an interesting pair of lead characters with believable families and plausible back stories. Likewise Florida feels like Florida; it is both a setting and a supporting character.

What it lacks though is a firm footing in the disaster genre. It reads like a hybrid of a speculative fiction, a disaster story and spy novel (Cussler, Clancy, Flemming). The typical book has three parts : introduction of the characters and the possible disaster, the disaster itself and the fall out from it. Things are exacerbated by human nature: officials slow to move, so-called experts cutting corners, and so forth.

In Hurricane the human nature aspect is replaced by the "Lucky Thirteen" acting for reasons never fully established. They act like the villains who Dirk Pitt or James Bond go after novel without the heroes to come and take them down in a one on one fire fight. With the focus turned from the danger of the storm to the "Lucky Thirteen" the category six storm ends up being an empty threat.

My final reaction to Hurricane is mixed. I like the main characters and off the wall solution to the hurricane threat. I don't think "Lucky Thirteen" were fleshed out enough to be a successful foil to Daniel and Kelly. Instead they end up taking away precious plot development time from the novel. It would have been more interesting and more thrilling if Daniel and Kelly fail early on to call into doubt their solution when the huge storm is barreling down on Florida.

I received the book from the author to review. I have since released it via BookCrossing.… (meer)

Daniel Mayhew is a brilliant weather researcher who has a proposal to dissipate hurricanes before they hit shore. Kelly Delaney is trying to warn everyone of the impending arrival of a category six hurricane, but her voice falls on deaf ears. Unfortunately, they have to contend with the Lucky Thirteen, a nasty group consisting of major oil companies and corrupt politicians who use the mass chaos generated by such disasters to increase their unending wealth.

The premise of this book is about global warming and I believe Arnaldo Ricciulli makes the reader aware of what is happening to our planet.

The tension builds throughout the story and I enjoyed the character development.… (meer)