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Summary: Holy Cow! (I live in Midwest)
Review: In light of what recently happened to Turkey, this book is not only good fiction but also interesting reading for anyone living in the Midwest.About 12 years ago, Cincinnati OH (USA) had a relatively minor earthquake which, from my office window, had visible effects such as the service station sign across the road from my office building swaying back and forth. In this book, Walter J. Williams concentrated mostly on St. Louis and the lower Mississippi, but I can imagine his earthquake's effects in this area. I certainly wouldn't advocate trying to use this book as a guide to earthquake-proof living in the Midwest. But as a resident of Cincinnati, I find a good writer's fictional description of such a disaster very interesting. For what it's worth, the news reports from Turkey do tend to agree with his fictional descriptions of what major metropolitan areas such as St. Louis and Chicago might go through in a major earthquake. Transportation, electricity, and water totally knocked out, and a country with severe problems trying to deal with refugees - that's what he writes about, and what we are seeing on television. Someday, if not tomorrow, maybe the next day or maybe one hundred years from now, the New Madrid fault will let loose again.
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Summary: The big one comes to Mississippi
Review: I loved this book! The author is on top of his craft as he creates a world and destroys it with the greatest earthquake in history. It's a great story that carried me along for days. The characters are believable and vividly drawn. The action is unrelenting as quake after quake scrambles the countryside and people try to make sense of the world where nothing can be taken for granted, not even the solidity of the earth under their feet. This could be the blockbuster movie for the 2001 summer season. You can just imagine the special effects showing the ground oscillating with seismic waves.
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Summary: An Excellent Read about the End of the Hearland of America
Review: Earthquakes, Floods, White Supremecy! OH MY! This was a very good book. I didn't like the begining all that well, and I slipped just a bit, but when the quake hit and the action began, the book kept you going, hitting you with suspense. I actually felt like I was on the river in the middle of the flood. I do think the book is just a tad bit too long, however, but this is still a good book.
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Summary: Near future geophysical thriller
Review: I found The Rift absolutely enthralling -- this is a science fiction novel written like a bestseller, with a near-future setting that's all too believable. Living not far from the events described (I recognized a number of the smaller towns, such as Cape Girardeau and Golconda), I know all too well how poor the state of preparedness in this area is. In fact, many people live in denial and become angry if you try to point out that Southern Illinois is earthquake country.
Rating: 
Summary: Too big of a Rift
Review: I liked this book, but it needed to be about 300 pages less, it got really boring and monotonous at times. Also as far as "end of the world" or "disaster" novels go, this one just doesnt cut it as exciting and character driven.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting read
Review: I decided to read this bood since I live in the region depicted in the book. I thought the book was quite interesting but was a little dissapointed with the author getting some, though minor, details wrong about the geography (ex. misnammed Smithland KY as "Smithfield"). Some parts of the story were a little outside the realm of belief but,overall, exciting.
Some criticize the near 200 pages of character development at the first but, I thought, the author made good use of it later in the book.
Although I gave it three stars, I do recommend it as a good read.
Rating:
Summary: kept me riveted
Review: I have to say that this book kept me riveted all the way. I had it read in 2 days. Couldn't leave it alone. Had to find out what happened. Everyone living in the Mississippi Valley should read this book just to have an idea what would happen when there are Major earthquakes because there is never just one. There many, many big aftershocks. The excerpts from 1811 earthquake victims were great. Learned so much about different types of earthquakes.
Rating: 
Summary: A Page Turning Disaster Story
Review: In 1811 an earthquake of the magnitude 8.0 on the Richter scale (and some say as high as 8.7) ripped through the New Madrid Fault in the Midwest making the Mississippi River run backward and devastating the landscape. Luckily, very few people lived in the affected areas at the time.
Circa 2000's, with the Mississippi River controlled by the Army Corps of Engineers and urban infrastructure dotting key ports on the Mississippi, an 8.9 magnitude earthquake hits. Goodbye St. Louis. Goodbye Memphis. Goodbye hundreds of thousands of souls along the fault line. And good luck to the survivors. And thus Walter Jon Williams spins his tale of survival after the worst natural disaster in US history.
This novel follows the stories of many characters caught in the aftermath of this devastating earthquake. Without detailing every storyline in the book - of which there are several - the most compelling characters are Jason Adams, a know it all bratty white teenager who happens to be on high ground when the earthquake hits and the river floods. He soon runs into Nick Ruford, a conscientious but out of work black man on his way to rescue his family, who Jason happens upon as he's floating along the swollen Mississippi on his neighbor's boat that he fortuitously grabs hold of, The Retired and Gone Fishing. Nick, clinging precariously to a tree and looking like something out of a horror movie is rescued by Jason. These two very different characters form a duo that takes them through much of the devastation and into some rather harrowing events. Indeed, they encounter most of the characters and tie the storyline together. And why mention race? Because Williams uses these two characters to explore racial relations and their ethnicity plays a rather key role in the events.
For example, we have the crazy Brother Frankland, a religious fanatic who had been preaching "the end is near" and lo and behold here it is, so he thinks. He attempts to set up a fascist religious camp in a remote area cut off by the earthquake. Then we have the racist KKK sheriff Omar Paxon. As blacks and whites fleeing devastated areas are cut off in his Louisiana Parish, you can only imagine the terrors that ensue. General Jessica Frazzeta, of the Army Corps of Engineers is another compelling character as she tries to regain control of Mississippi river, protect a nuclear power plant from creating yet another disaster, and help survivors.
There are two drawbacks to the book. The first hundred pages or so are a bit difficult to get through and somewhat tedious, as various characters are introduced. Once the earthquake hits, however, the novel becomes a real page turner. I could hardly put it down. Secondly, some of the characters seem a little bit like caricatures. But knowing how strange the world and people are, maybe they aren't.
While a rather long novel (700 plus pages in paperback) it's hard to put down and keeps you anxiously turning the pages once it takes off.
Rating: 
Summary: Stolen idea
Review: This novel is basically an expanded rip-off of Allan Danzig's short story "The Great Nebraska Sea," which was written in 1963. Williams could have done a lot more with a lot less. If length hath merit, Williams' novel hath no other.
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Summary: SOMETIMES MORE IS LESS
Review: Big and expansive, THE RIFT is a voluminous work to say the least, and one must give Walter J. Williams credit for undertaking such a vast enterprise. While it is an entertaining and interesting read, it's a case of more is less. Shaving off a couple hundred pages would have made it more enthralling. The inclusion of all the reports of the past earthquake are redundant and I ended up skipping them. Also the prologue with the Indians is a nice contrast, but it could have been left out too.
Williams populates his cast with a lot of interesting characters, including Jason and Nick, the mismatched pair who parallel Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn; the KuKlux klan sheriff Omar Patton; the hysterically insane Rev. Frankland; the slimy Micah Knox; General Jessica Frazetta; and the nuclear plant operator Larry. However, Williams introduces several characters that we never really get to find resolution with, most noticeably the trader Charlie Johns who plays a big role in the first portion of the book and then is suddenly gone. We know his fate, but it comes so unceremoniously, it's a letdown. Likewise, the young ranger at the Golden Arch.
Williams is ambitious, and some of his scenes are well written and exciting. However, it is far less involving than say something like Robert McCammon's awesome SWAN SONG or Stephen King's THE STAND.
If you want a book to spend a few weeks with, THE RIFT might be for you, but if you want a quicker read, avoid.
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