Review: Basically a Syfy Movie of the Week in Book Form
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 10 7, 2013
This is an unremarkable but reasonably well told narrative premised on a large earthquake in San Francisco. We follow various people as they wend their way through the post-quake chaos. Their stories, not surprisingly, interconnect in various ways. The writing is competent and does not get in the way of the drama inherent in the situation.At the end, however, the reader is left with something of a "so what?" feeling. We already know that if an earthquake hit SF, it would be bad. Some people would die, some wouldn't. There is nothing about the book that goes beyond that rather pedestrian observation. For that reason, I compare it to the disaster-of-the-week movie. One might watch it to pass the time, but for no other reason. This book is perfect for reading at an airport while waiting for a plane, or in a dentist's office waiting for an appointment. Two days later all the details and characters will dim; a week later all memory of the book will be gone with no sense of loss.