Ill Wind

Rating:
Summary: Oil-eating Bug Dissolves Plastic Characters
Review: The authors explore our society's dependence on petroleum-based products and the danger of relying on technological fixes for our every crisis. Also, they take a shot at the power mongers who would likely rise to the occasion given the circumstances. Unfortunately, the descriptions and characterizations aren't up to the ideas behind the story. There are too many characters whose motivations were unknown to me; more time should have been spent developing them--instead, I followed the antics of numerous characters with whom I never really got comfortable and, in the end, never really cared about

Rating:
Summary: Disaster thriller entertains and keeps up suspense/interest.
Review: The opening pages, wherein an oil tanker collides with one of the towers of the Golden Gate Bridge and spills tons of crude into the San Francisco Bay, are pure suspense and realistic action. Sadly the multiple stories that follow are standard disaster thriller filler. The novel is far from boring, it's just that it suffers from the same problems with contrivance and characterization that plague other 'cast of thousands' disaster epics. This is strictly for those that can't stop themselves from watching The Poseidon Adventure or The Towering Inferno whenever it pops up on cable.

Rating:
Summary: Disaster thriller entertains and keeps up suspense/interest.
Review: The opening pages, wherein an oil tanker collides with one of the towers of the Golden Gate Bridge and spills tons of crude into the San Francisco Bay, are pure suspense and realistic action. Sadly the multiple stories that follow are standard disaster thriller filler. The novel is far from boring, it's just that it suffers from the same problems with contrivance and characterization that plague other 'cast of thousands' disaster epics. This is strictly for those that can't stop themselves from watching The Poseidon Adventure or The Towering Inferno whenever it pops up on cable.

Rating:
Summary: Changed my outlook on life as we know it.
Review: This book created a very real sense of how dependent society is on oil and plastic. It paints a plausible scenario of how life as we know it would cease to exist if oil and plastics ceased to exist. Having immersed myself in the book, I gained a deeper appreciation for all the products that we take for granted which all originate from petrochemicals. The book is very descriptive and well written, although I found the use of expletives a bit excessive. All and all, though, a very intense novel