Thrillers, Disasters & Accidents - Fiction

Saving Cascadia

Name: Saving Cascadia
Author: John J. Nance
ISBN: 9780743279673

by John J. Nance

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Overview

A few hundred years ago, Cascadia Island didn't even exist. Like the Washington seacoast, it was rock submerged beneath the Pacific. A massive earthquake changed that, exploding the rock upward, making it land -- unstable land, according to seismologist Dr. Doug Lam.

Lam has spent years researching the Cascadia Subduction Zone. He published a theory that the unrelieved tectonic strain beneath the idyllic landscape of Cascadia Island could be triggered with modern construction processes -- with catastrophic results. The paper was disregarded, even ridiculed, by his peers and by megawealthy developer Mick Walker, who stands to earn millions from the construction of a luxury resort on Cascadia. The elegant casino, hotel, and convention center will reap millions for him even if the tiny island only lasts for a short time...

When a series of earthquakes begins to shake the Northwest Corridor, Doug's worst fears are confirmed. In an attempt to convince Walker to evacuate Cascadia immediately, Doug hurries to join guests arriving for the resort's grand opening. As the tremors wreak havoc across the Northwest coastal area, the military is left with too few resources to assist the people on Cascadia. Convinced that the island will be in ruins within hours, Doug reluctantly calls upon his girlfriend, Jennifer Lindstrom, president of Nightingale Aviation -- a major medical transport helicopter company -- for help.

With snow falling, visibility dropping, and winds increasing, Doug embarks on an impossible mission with Jennifer and Nightingale's helicopters to evacuate over three hundred people, while smaller earthquakes continue to herald the approach of a catastrophic tsunami.

John J. Nance hurtles readers along a nail-biting quest to rescue hundreds of stranded vacationers and resort staff. Meticulously researched, and with the signature authenticity only a veteran pilot could provide, Saving Cascadia is a hair-raising thriller of awesome magnitude.

About the Author, John J. Nance

John J. Nance, aviation analyst for ABC News and a familiar face on Good Morning America, is the author of seventeen books, including Fire Flight, Skyhook, Turbulence, and Headwind. Two of his novels, Pandora's Clock and Medusa's Child, have been made into highly successful television miniseries. A lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, Nance is a decorated pilot veteran of Vietnam and Operations Desert Storm/Desert Shield. He lives in University Place, Washington.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly

In this spookily timely new thriller by Nance (Pandora's Clock; Skyhook), human fiddling with nature triggers a series of earthquakes that may result in a 100-foot tsunami aimed at the heart of Seattle. Wealthy developer Mick Walker has sunk a hundred million dollars into a world-class resort on tiny Cascadia Island. What Mick should have known and refuses to believe is that his island is situated directly over a massive fault line. Seismologist Dr. Doug Lam attempted to halt the building of the resort, predicting that the pile drivers and explosives used in the construction could trigger a major earthquake and the resulting tsunami. As Mick and hundreds of his friends and supporters pour onto the island to celebrate the grand opening, the earthquakes begin. Dr. Lam's girlfriend, Jennifer Lindstrom, chief pilot and president of a helicopter business, supplies the aviation angle that all of Nance's books are built upon. Her skill and courage prove pivotal as the earthquake disaster begins to unfold. Nance, an expert in many areas, has written a previous nonfiction book on earthquake concerns (On Shaky Ground), and he builds suspense to a fever pitch in this all-too-credible nail-biter. Agents, Amy Berkower and Simon Lipskar at Writers House. 6-city author tour. (Mar.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Dr. Doug Lam of the U.S. Geological Survey warns that as Cascadia Island rests on a major fault, building a resort there is crazy. But will real estate mogul Mick Walker listen? A seven-city author tour. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

The prolific retired Air Force officer, a top aviation-thriller writer and often hugely entertaining (see Medusa's Child, 1997), charges up his latest white-knuckler with earthquakes and helicopters. Guilt-ridden engineer and whistleblower Diane Lacombe, daughter of California State Senator Ralph Lacombe, has a CD that proves her company, Chadwick and Noble, is at fault in green-lighting Mick Walker's big, new $100-million casino, hotel, and convention center on Cascadia Island off the Washington coast. Hey, it's being built on a seismic fault absolutely certain to collapse under the weight of the new structures now about to open. Some time ago, Seattle seismologist Doug Lam of the US Geological Survey declared there was a massive potential earthquake deep within Cascadia Island's small, rocky mass. But someone's ransacked Diane's apartment and she's on the run with her incriminating CD. Planning to fly guests to Cascadia is Seattle's Jennifer Lindsrom, president of Nightingale Aviation, a major helicopter company she inherited from her father-and she has a medivac company attached to Nightingale. Aside from her MBA, Jennifer's a graduate nurse, a helpful skill with a medivac service named after Florence Nightingale. The first 5.1 tremor begins 26 kilometers beneath the ocean floor 39 miles offshore, travels to Puget Sound and the Cascade Mountains, and causes a tiny shift in the ground in Seattle. The first big quake hits the port town of Bellingham during fog too soupy for rescue helicopters to land. Then the ferry to Cascadia starts sinking with a hundred inaugural guests aboard. Part of the hotel collapses, and so do other buildings as a series of cataclysmic quakes threatens tospread through the Northwest. Cascadia Island is about to sink, with a 70-foot tsunami coming that will wash everything away, back up the Columbia River for six months, kill thousands, and knock out several port cities and towns. Unless-and there's one distant chance to alter this course of events-unless Doug can . . . but you know enough already. Nance does it again, thrill upon thrill. Author tour. Agents: Amy Berkower & Simon Lipskar/Writers House