Meltdown

Rating:
Summary: Gripping story, well told with frightening implications
Review: As a (retired) submariner with some arctic experience, I particularly enjoyed the scientific and military details woven into a very exciting fictional drama -- if only some of my own tedious tours were as harrowing and evocative! James Powlik is a writer who can certain pull his weight in the high-tech genre but with a sensitivity for the environment, the plight of native peoples, and a relish for good-old-fashioned romance that few, if any, of his rivals possess. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting but shallow
Review: Carol Harmon, a beautiful and brilliant marine biologist conducting research in the Canadian Arctic discovers ominous signs of massive radiation poisoning emanating from points unknown. Strangely stricken blue whales are the first clue. Two divers Harmon sends to investigate sustain horrific radiation poisoning, only confirming the danger. Essentially alone at the top of the world, she calls her ex-husband, ex-USN officer Brock Garner, for help. Garner, himself conducting some research of his own in the Antarctic, travels pole to pole to help Harmon track down the source of the mysterious radiation slick and perhaps devise a way to stop it.

Compelling? Sure, at first. So much so, that it's easy to look past the book's pedestrian prose and cardboard characters. Unfortunately, the novel fails because the characters never really do anything to solve the mystery. Though Harmon and Garner and brilliant and surrounded by a supporting cast of geniuses, they never actually discover for themselves the source of the unexplained radiation slick. Instead, they follow the trail to a mysterious polar oil-rig that doubles as a covert intelligence guard post. There, they meet a USN officer who "solves" the mystery by telling the heroes where the radiation is coming from. (Why the ominous Commander Krail couldn't tell all when he first met Garner early in the book is the biggest mystery of all). Until then, Harmon and crew steam around the Arctic sharing with each other (and us) all that they know about radiation, nuclear weapons, the environment and marine biology. A story about the world being saved by a motley band of geniuses who are both brilliant and clueless at the same time could have been a great page-turner. Instead, Powlick seems to buy into his characters' intelligence, even as their smarts seem to get them nowhere. In short, Powlick spends so much time trying to convince us that his characters are brilliant that he doesn't actually make them very smart.

This becomes plainly obvious early in the book when Powlick reveals how little he credits his own readers - the way he tells the history of nuclear weapons as if none of his readers had ever watched a Discovery Channel or History Channel documentary is just one example. For another, there's the story of a homey Ukrainian village that the character Zyubov had last seen in the mid 1980's. The chapter ends with the stunning revelation that the berg was destroyed by Chernobyl, as if readers couldn't make the connection themselves (radiation...Ukraine...1980's.....hmmmm). All marine biology are referred to by their scientific names (the blue whales are repeatedly called Balaenoptera, a move meant to be correct even as the bland prose do little to convey size and mass of the earth's single largest life-forms) Even the choice of supporting characters' names - Wigner, Groves and Teller - seems excessively arch for an inside joke (the real Wigner discovered how substances used to suck-up radiation produced in sustained chain reactions frequently release that energy as heat; Groves was the General in charge of the "Manhattan Project" - Paul Newman played him in "Fat Man, Little Boy"; Teller invented the H-Bomb). There's even a chopper pilot named Tibbits, but his helicopter is not nicknamed "Enola Gay". Even the glossary at the book's end - once used but now long abandoned by authors of techno-thrillers - shows how out of touch it is; much of the terminology seems unnecessary, as if they were used simply because doing so justified the glossary. But nothing highlights how poor a story this is than the threadbare plot. Once the heroes learn the source of the radiation, an ambitious plan is put into motion to contain it. Powlick drops a bombshell with a subplot involving sabotage that isn't so much a surprise twist as it is simply incongruous. There's a de-facto villain, who seems to have been created simply for a short and unexciting bout of mortal combat in deep-sea diving suits lifted straight out of James Cameron's "The Abyss". Very little in this story seems original and none seems worth reading. Imagine "Smilla" without those darkly appealing characters and the heroine's icy narrative and you've got an idea of how much a waste of time this story is.

Rating:
Summary: SLOW THAW
Review: In reading fellow reviewers' thoughts on this novel, I thought mayb e I missed something along the way. Nevertheless, "Meltdown" is not the enthralling book "Sea Change" was, at least to me. "Meltdown" is overburdened with technological narrative. Powlik is obviously a brilliant man, and brings this expertise expertly into his novels. However, for the average Joe like me, I don't want such indepth explanation. It merely serves to distract me from the plot of the story and more importantly, the characters.
While Powlik has done well with his main characters (Carol, Brock, Sergei, and Junko), I can only call Charon and Krail derivatives of hundreds of other suspense/thriller novels. The inclusion of Victor is certainly ethnically powerful, but his involvement merely serves as "politically correct," instead of powerful characterization.
By the time the novel gets cooking, and that's not until the last third, it has merely limped along to get there. The romance between Carol and Brock is a pleasant surprise, considering all they went through in "Sea Change." However, Sergei's romance with Junko is manipulative and the resolution of such is rather "mean."
But, if you like a lot of technological background, you won't be disappointed, but I cannot recommend this book on a higher level.

Rating:
Summary: SLOW THAW
Review: In reading fellow reviewers' thoughts on this novel, I thought mayb e I missed something along the way. Nevertheless, "Meltdown" is not the enthralling book "Sea Change" was, at least to me. "Meltdown" is overburdened with technological narrative. Powlik is obviously a brilliant man, and brings this expertise expertly into his novels. However, for the average Joe like me, I don't want such indepth explanation. It merely serves to distract me from the plot of the story and more importantly, the characters.
While Powlik has done well with his main characters (Carol, Brock, Sergei, and Junko), I can only call Charon and Krail derivatives of hundreds of other suspense/thriller novels. The inclusion of Victor is certainly ethnically powerful, but his involvement merely serves as "politically correct," instead of powerful characterization.
By the time the novel gets cooking, and that's not until the last third, it has merely limped along to get there. The romance between Carol and Brock is a pleasant surprise, considering all they went through in "Sea Change." However, Sergei's romance with Junko is manipulative and the resolution of such is rather "mean."
But, if you like a lot of technological background, you won't be disappointed, but I cannot recommend this book on a higher level.

Rating:
Summary: A let-down with a long half-life
Review: James Powlik's novel "Meltdown" showed promise as being a simulation of what could occur in the case of a serious radioactive waste spill. As well as the affect it would have on the environment, and what would be needed to clean it up. The "story" given to this is unfortunately rather dry, with shallow, forced characters that do little to improve it's readability.

Nearly all of the novel is spent in scientific explanation, which can be interesting if that's what you're looking for. Indeed, Dr. Powlik's knowledge of marine organisms is excellent, and the lengthy descriptions and conversations give ample information to understand what's going on. However, once that understanding is attained, the lack of a clear climax added to a fragmented conflict makes this book feel more like a re-enacted documentary than a novel.

The protagonists would be far more interesting if they had not been so heavily dressed-up. Several are described to us as beautiful, incredibly brilliant and almost super-human in their resourcefulness. A hero who has everything going for them is not nearly as exciting as someone ordinary who does something extraordinary. Relationships seem very forced, and since the majority of the book is spent in explaining the science behind the story, little space remains for character development.

The "villians" are chiefly non-human, being comprised of the radioactive isotopes and the ever-present Murphy's Law. This gives readers little to grasp onto as opposition. Even Scott Krail (the laughably ominous Naval officer in charge of keeping the waste depository a secret) and Matt Charon (a shallow saboteur character who appears at one point to muck up the plans) offer hardly anything for us to feel unsettled over. They're both re-used models: the military man who covers up everything seemingly just for the sake of covering it up, and the angst-ridden terrorist.

Something which I found odd was how the novel actually reads as though it were written during the Cold War with the Soviet Union. The arms-race period belief that the Soviets had incredibly advanced military technology is alive and well in this story. I actually had to check the copyright date a few times while reading. The ficticious Russian "Scorpion" submarine which supposedly had weapons, sensors, powerplants, and noise-reduction technology far beyond that of the West makes no sense at all. It reminds me of the novel "Firefox" in which the Soviets supposedly create an airplane which can read thoughts and fly faster than Mach 4. Anyone who knows about Soviet submarine technology knows that "advanced" actually means "hastily assembled, and dangerously unreliable." The author makes an attempt to say that the "Scorpion" was a prototype and it's loss was so embarrassing that the Soviets abandoned the project completely. Why this prevented them from using this amazing technology anywhere else is a complete mystery. One of the characters even makes a reference to the Tom Clancy-created submarine "Red October" as if it were real, though it may have been used simply as a comparative term.

The resolution the protagonists exercise seems mind-bogglingly impossible to succeed, and when it does, it seems to do so only to avoid the depressing ending of a massive ecological disaster. There are aspects of the science which some of us will have to take Dr. Powlik's word for, but common sense seems to work against the bold plans our heroes create for cleaning up the spill. (Somehow filling up an underwater crevasse with boulders doesn't seem like it would make a watertight seal.)

Well-understood microbiological science doesn't make up for the book's poor characters, slow action and unconvincing plot. The mysterious treatment of real life events which are publicly well known gives little credit to the reader, especially for a book which is unlikely to be picked up by someone who isn't at least somewhat knowledgable of nuclear disasters and/or undersea science.

This tome needs a "Mildly Contaminated" label.

Rating:
Summary: A let-down with a long half-life
Review: James Powlik's novel "Meltdown" showed promise as being a simulation of what could occur in the case of a serious radioactive waste spill. As well as the affect it would have on the environment, and what would be needed to clean it up. The "story" given to this is unfortunately rather dry, with shallow, forced characters that do little to improve it's readability.

Nearly all of the novel is spent in scientific explanation, which can be interesting if that's what you're looking for. Indeed, Dr. Powlik's knowledge of marine organisms is excellent, and the lengthy descriptions and conversations give ample information to understand what's going on. However, once that understanding is attained, the lack of a clear climax added to a fragmented conflict makes this book feel more like a re-enacted documentary than a novel.

The protagonists would be far more interesting if they had not been so heavily dressed-up. Several are described to us as beautiful, incredibly brilliant and almost super-human in their resourcefulness. A hero who has everything going for them is not nearly as exciting as someone ordinary who does something extraordinary. Relationships seem very forced, and since the majority of the book is spent in explaining the science behind the story, little space remains for character development.

The "villians" are chiefly non-human, being comprised of the radioactive isotopes and the ever-present Murphy's Law. This gives readers little to grasp onto as opposition. Even Scott Krail (the laughably ominous Naval officer in charge of keeping the waste depository a secret) and Matt Charon (a shallow saboteur character who appears at one point to muck up the plans) offer hardly anything for us to feel unsettled over. They're both re-used models: the military man who covers up everything seemingly just for the sake of covering it up, and the angst-ridden terrorist.

Something which I found odd was how the novel actually reads as though it were written during the Cold War with the Soviet Union. The arms-race period belief that the Soviets had incredibly advanced military technology is alive and well in this story. I actually had to check the copyright date a few times while reading. The ficticious Russian "Scorpion" submarine which supposedly had weapons, sensors, powerplants, and noise-reduction technology far beyond that of the West makes no sense at all. It reminds me of the novel "Firefox" in which the Soviets supposedly create an airplane which can read thoughts and fly faster than Mach 4. Anyone who knows about Soviet submarine technology knows that "advanced" actually means "hastily assembled, and dangerously unreliable." The author makes an attempt to say that the "Scorpion" was a prototype and it's loss was so embarrassing that the Soviets abandoned the project completely. Why this prevented them from using this amazing technology anywhere else is a complete mystery. One of the characters even makes a reference to the Tom Clancy-created submarine "Red October" as if it were real, though it may have been used simply as a comparative term.

The resolution the protagonists exercise seems mind-bogglingly impossible to succeed, and when it does, it seems to do so only to avoid the depressing ending of a massive ecological disaster. There are aspects of the science which some of us will have to take Dr. Powlik's word for, but common sense seems to work against the bold plans our heroes create for cleaning up the spill. (Somehow filling up an underwater crevasse with boulders doesn't seem like it would make a watertight seal.)

Well-understood microbiological science doesn't make up for the book's poor characters, slow action and unconvincing plot. The mysterious treatment of real life events which are publicly well known gives little credit to the reader, especially for a book which is unlikely to be picked up by someone who isn't at least somewhat knowledgable of nuclear disasters and/or undersea science.

This tome needs a "Mildly Contaminated" label.

Rating:
Summary: Meltdown by James Pawlick - author did not do homework
Review: The premise of this book was good and should have resulted in a real page turner. This, for me, was not the case. I found the writing extremely boring . I kept turning pages hoping to find improvement. NO SUCH LUCK. This book is easily one of the worst I've read in recent years.

Rating:
Summary: Almost as entertaining as 'Sea Change'
Review: Unlike some of the other reviewers who actually *know* about the glaring errors that James Powlik has littered 'Meltdown' with, I simply did NOT excell in Nuclear Physics, so any and all of those mistakes simply passed me by, as they probably would the vast number of folks who are entirely unaware what a radioactive isotope can and cannot do to the human body. What did *not* pass me by was a fun story.

Mistakes notwithstanding, I still found 'Meltdown' to be an exciting example of the action/adventure novels that are suddenly showing up over the past few years. It wasn't long ago when if you wanted a novel in this particular genre, you had pretty much Clive Cussler to choose from, and that was about it (as far as what was worth reading...) but TODAY, things are a bit different (thank HEAVENS). You can pick from Cussler, Du Brul, Matthew Reilly, James Rollins, James Byron Huggins and now you can add James Powlik to that growing list of authors to watch for. While I personally did not find 'Meltdown' to be as thought-provoking and overall entertaining as I did his 1st novel ('Sea Change'), I DID find it to be full of a lot of what I personally look for when I open up a book like this: FUN. It allowed me to temporarily forget my problems for a short while and there are a few places where you need to check your believability meter before progressing, but that's all in good fun as long as the storyline is just plain FUN -- which this one definitely IS.

IF you happen to pick apart novels based upon factual errors within a novel such as street locations, how radioactive material affects the human body, well you may want to skip 'Meltdown'...b-u-u-u-t if you can put all that aside and concentrate on the story as a whole, you will find yourself wrapped within a very entertaining scenario that bristles with action and suspense. While not as action-packed as a story by Matthew Reilly (which is virtually IMPOSSIBLE for ANY novelist to pull off) I found myself rushing through this book enjoying virtually everything -- mistakes included.