The first half was good, great action, good suspense building, but the last half is dragging. There were also some other problems with the book, particularly the villain. I could not figure out his motives for being a villain. There didn't seem to be any payoff for doing the bad things he did. He was just in there to provide an antagonist. It totally broke my suspension of disbelief. ( )

Ok story. Way too technical. Lots of repetition. Only gets exciting in the last 20 pages or so. ( )

Kearsten says: When a huge earthquake strikes the Midwest, devastating the towns and cities of St. Louis, etc., geologists race to prevent the possibility of another, even bigger earthquake. Very fast-paced and exciting, though the characters and their 'relationships' were treated with much less care than the plot (they're pretty wooden)... ( )

When a huge earthquake strikes the Midwest, devastating the towns and cities of St. Louis, etc., geologists race to prevent the possibility of another, even bigger earthquake. Very fast-paced and exciting, though the characters and their "relationships" were treated with much less care than the plot (they're pretty wooden)... ( )

Peter Hernon's earthquake-story entry, 8.4, is certainly a good way to pass a day or two - or more, if you read casually.

As with many books of its type, 8.4 is set "tomorrow," although the basic premise of 8.4 could, indeed, actually happen tomorrow, and with little or no warning. Most people know of the famous San Andreas fault, a tectonic fault that, despite its notoriety, has produced few damaging earthquakes in modern times. But most people don't know of another fault system, one buried under the American heartland. Called the New Madrid Seismic Zone, or NMSZ for short, this fault system last ripped open in 1811 and 1812, producing a series of temblors - the largest of which topped out at an estimated 8.4, broke windows in Philadelphia, and rang church bells in New York. Two other major quakes created untold havoc on the Mississippi River Valley - for a month, the mighty Mississippi ran backwards.

It could happen again. And, in 8.4, it does.

Hernon explores - with relative realism, although certainly a fair dose of dramatic license - the effects that would likely be seen when, not if, the New Madrid fault system wakes back up. This time, though, there's a new factor: humans might be able to do something about the problem. Enter seismologist John Atkins, who not only knows what the fault system might have in store for the region after the first big quake strikes, but also has an idea on how to stop it.

Admittedly, Hernon takes a great deal of dramatic license with his science, but this is not predominantly a science-related book. This is an action story about earthquakes, the people stuck in them, and a plan to defuse the situation. People reading this book shouldn't expect spot-on analyses of plate tectonics or earthquake dynamics. Truthfully, the entire sequence of earthquake events is based on a largely-discredited hypothetical link between sunspot activity and earthquakes. This book isn't about hard science. Rather, this book promises - and delivers - a human-centered thrill ride that is more than worth the read.

-BrowncoatLibrarian ( )