Search - The Rift

This is the review for "The Rift" I posted on Amazon:
The paperback version of "The Rift" weighs in at 932 pages, and the earthquake doesn't begin until page 172. Even though I kept waiting for the earthquake and anticipating it for 171 pages, I enjoyed the character development in these pages and thought the buildup, while excessive, was worth my time. Nevertheless, I think Mr. Williams' editors should have insisted on cutting story lines.

[spoiler ahead] For example, Charlie's (the commodities trader) storyline went nowhere. I understand that Mr. Williams wanted to show us what happens to someone who just can't wrap his head around a disaster of this scale. It was instructive, perhaps, but did not advance the overall story and didn't connect in any way. Likewise, the St. Louis Arch story line could have been completely redacted. It was interesting in its own, but served only to bulk up the otherwise lengthy book and slow down the story. What happened to our likeable, heroic, and interesting park ranger? Where'd she go? Did she survive? We'll never know. Although the character of the President of the United States was well-written and interesting, he was also extraneous and served to slow down the action. [end spoilers]

Williams introduced each section with an account of the great New Madrid quake of 1911. About halfway through, I started skipping these accounts. They just bogged down the story and most of them weren't relevant or helpful.

Despite the book's shortcomings, the main "Nick/Jason" storyline is skilllfully paced, compelling and interesting. The pre-millennialist preacher and the kluxer sheriff story lines fold in nicely and create enormous suspense. General Frazetta is a delight. Williams' antagonists are multi-faceted - one can sympathize with most of them even though they are vile.

There are a couple of enormously surprising moments, which are well worth the prolix. I highly recommend this epic, despite its shortcomings.

Fun apocalypse fiction--the New Madrid fault lets one rip and the entire US is plunged into chaos.

At first, I thought I was reading the plot for another disaster movie. Too many characters, too many subplots. Then it all clicked. It became riveting and suspenseful. Although the book is very long (over 900 pages), once I got over the initial introduction of characters, I was hooked. A very good read.

One of my favorite apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic books, along with The Stand, Swan Song, New Madrid Run, Plague Year, Mother of Storms, and Earth Abides. This is a fine read about different groups of people surviving and coping after major earthquakes hit the Mississippi River basin. It deals with the ideas that I like best in a PA novel: "What what you do to survive in the face of a breakdown in society?"

Tedious, overlong development of characters without, for some odd reason, rendering any of them credible or worthy of sympathy. By the time I got to the earthquake itself, I was hoping they'd all be wiped out so I could finally close the book: but ALAS! there were still almost FIVE HUNDRED PAGES left to read!