Rating: 
Summary: Excellent scientific thriller
Review: The first earthquake along the New Madrid fault registered a 7.1, the highest activity in over a century. Scientists flock to Memphis to conduct research, share their data, and asses the damage. Among the visitors is geologist Elizabeth Holleran and US Geological Survey disaster expert John Atkins. John quickly notices odd behavior and other natural phenomena that makes him conclude another quake is imminent. He is proven correct when the next quake hits 8.4. Wondering if history can repeat the series of quakes of 1811-12, John and Elizabeth believe another quake, of greater magnitude, will soon strike the beleaguered middle America, already devastated. Desperate yet divided, a team forms that will go inside the Earth to set off a nuclear explosion to stop the next quake. They enter a deep coal mine in a journey to relieve the underground pressure. However, a member of the team has his own agenda that calls for insuring no one, but he survives the dangerous trek. 8.4 is a 10+ on the action scale. The entertaining story line is filled with non-stop energy that interweaves scientific information into a well-written novel. The characters are overwhelmed by the main protagonist, the earth, but that takes nothing away from the exhilarating story line. Peter Hernon is clearly at the top of the science thrillers with a novel that is off the Richter Scale. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: A yawner.
Review: A formulaic disaster story that takes too long to build up to the Big Event. The main characters were bland and boring, and I lost interest early on. I then skipped to the end, and the payoff wasn't enough to justify sitting through the entire thing. (A better, more suspenseful earthquake-type novel would be Ken Follett's "The Hammer of Eden".)
Rating:
Summary: Superb!
Review: A roller-coaster ride of a book! Excellent! Non-stop action and fascinating detail about earthquakes make this book addictive. It is well-crafted plot and well written. Perhaps some of the characters are a bit shallow (you would like to know them a bit better), but on the whole, it is an excellent read. Not a summer read or light fancy, but a really good book.
Rating: 
Summary: Lame
Review: About the only thing that fits this novel is the word lame. You are asked to believe that a group of scientists are simply handed a nuclear bomb to set off an earthquake in hope that it will stop another earthquake?!#@$! The sole basis of their belief is that "We have just got to do something." Occasionally the President pops up on the scene for some unknown reason. The evil guy in the book is trying to stop them from exploding the bomb. He seems to be the only one with a brain. I think the real bomb was the one the author dropped on his audience.
Rating:
Summary: Ignore those other, negative, reviews, it's a ripper.
Review: After you've read all the other reviews, with all their nitpicking, give Hernon a read. You'll love it. To those other reviewers I say, "C'mon, get a life -- this is FICTION!!" Sure, I even spotted a misuse of the possessive "its" (in the book it's printed as "it's). But give the author his due, he's done a magnificent job of stringing together a whole bunch of boring factoids, so his plot really rocks. Short chapters, each one ending with a hook to throw you forward to the next scene; plenty of power-packed verbs and adjectives to add spice.
So there's little "romance!" Big deal. There's enough. I say you should cut Hernon plenty of slack for the way he's snapped up a little-known subject (the New Madrid Fault) and given it vivid credibility. I've been a "drive by" amateur geologist for many years. I've followed the San Andreas Fault nearly every inch of the way and gazed with awe at the site where New Madrid lit up with a triple play in 1811-1812, so this book hit me right square in the gut.
About my 5-star rating: I awarded five for "readability." On other grounds I might drop to four or four-and-a-half, but I guarantee you this: I can't wait for Peter Hernon's next novel.
Rating: 
Summary: A quick paced read
Review: although Hernon is a little too consumed with the technical aspect. Characters are cookie cutter types, plot a tad bit predictable. Good read for a slow day.
Rating: 
Summary: not a bad disaster book
Review: as disaster novels go, this one picks a disaster not too much touched upon, the new madrid fault zone. it's not as well known as california, though if you've taken any geology classes you know that this is the biggest, and has the most potential for destruction. some of the science seemed pretty good, some seemed pretty bad. the characters weren't all that great. the best thing about this book is drawing attention to the new madrid area.
Rating:
Summary: A Future Certainty but Current Expectations Lamentably Unmet
Review: As many reviewers note, Hernon's science is good, even quite riveting for a resident of the NMSZ. However, it is repeated throughout the book, paragraph cut and paste, as if readers didn't get the point the first time. Really now, that is insulting! 8.4 would be closer to that scale if some editor somewhere had noticed this first major fault. The second major fault is the lack of character developement which could have taken place in the space used by the reprised science paragraphs. I would have like to know more about the main characters' ability to keep out of the same sleeping bag as long as they did.... Thirdly, the pictures of destruction felt like print reviews of jerky CNN coverage. Up close and personal and then suddenly a long view of an atomic engineer parachuting in his orange suit into Memphis to save the day. The fourth fault: the "solution" of setting off a precise atomic blast stretches my suspension of disbelief, the very opposite of which Hernon is depending upon elsewhere, and thus, the ending becomes trite and indeed headed for a two-hour two-nighter in TVland. And did we really need a set of "villians" who were, perhaps correctly, opposing setting off A-bombs in unstable ground? Maybe so, since TV plots require black/white action. The saving grace - lamentably - for 8.4 is that it will happen. I have been trained by the Red Cross as a trauma-team specialist social worker, just for this probability. (I pray that I don't have to use my skills, let alone parachute into Memphis because I nearly got lost just driving through there during Thanksgiving.) The rest of the good news: Hernon gets all of us into thinking about earthquake insurance from Kansas to Illinois, thinking about "The Big One" not meaning California, and worrying about how prepared we are, how prepared we can really be, especially since blowing up the fault lines probably won't be among the solutions that will stop a second or third shake. Go ahead, folks, read 8.4 for its simulation value, but also make your plans in advance. And if you live in the NMSZ, consider moving.
Rating:
Summary: Lame
Review: Bad science, poor plotting and characterization, stilted dialog. Give this one a miss.
Rating:
Summary: 8.4 reads more like 4.8
Review: Basically, the idea of a major earthquake that rocks the Mid-West is an interesting while frightening concept and the author manages to pull off some of the exictment with ease. It's the characters that aren't as interesting and an outrageous love interest that shakes the reader more than the novel itself. Fortunately, the author's saving grace is his research on the history of the New Madrid Zone and his Clancy/Crichton-like knowledge of seismic engineering and nuclear weapons. Overall, not a bad story and one destined to become a prime-time mini-series.
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