February 28, 2011

Review: Boiling Point by K.L. Dionne

Boiling Point
Author: K.L. Dionne
Publisher: Jove
ISBN: 0515148806
Purchase Information:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository

*Novel provided by the author via GoodReads

For more information please visit K.L. Dionne's website.

Chaiten, a long-dormant volcano in Chile, fuses the destinies of two microbiologists, a celebrity scientist, and a Nobel Prize-winning scientist who waits for the one sign that his diabolical plan is about to be put into motion. For the Earth has become a pawn in the biggest gamble ever played with humanity's future-and Chaiten is about to blow.

Boiling Point by best selling author K.L. Dionne is an action packed thrill ride showcasing the intensity of which Mother Nature is capable of. But, along with being extremely dramatic and suspenseful, this novel is also quite thought evoking as the reader is made to weigh the moral and ethical issues surrounding global warming and pollution as the battle to save the planet rages.

As scientific novels go, I always enjoy the injection of actual data; however, sometimes this can serve to weigh a novel down. What I enjoyed most about this novel is that is was able to maintain a highly scientific outlook on volcanology while still making it accessible to all readers. Everything covered is very well discussed allowing the reader to glean the pertinent facts without having to force themselves to continue. This is greatly achieved through the wonderful, flowing writing style invoked by Dionne. This also serves to give a great sense of movement to the story eliciting great emotion and action as the danger of the situation around Chaiten mounts. As the story progresses so too does the wonderful dramatic flair as the characters are put into one suspense laden situation after another constantly gripping the reader and immersing them more fully in the story.

The cast of characters in this novel are a pretty eclectic bunch giving readers a wide range of personalities and belief systems to relate to that somehow makes the story all that more engaging. Each character is nicely developed with both attributes and flaws and their own moral and ethical codes relating to the planet and in some cases justice in general after one character decides to take matters into his own hands for the betterment of the planet. This allows for some great inner turmoil and conflict within the cast. Also, the battle for survival in the face of Mother Nature’s awesome power is its own matter that helped to really make these characters all the more real. The shifting point of views are flawless helping to delve the reader deeply into the varying minds of these interesting characters are they struggle through this cataclysmic disaster for their own reasons. This also helps to give insight not only into the characters’ minds, but into the bigger picture of the novel as well shaping a wonderful pro and con argument for ecoengineering.

Also, serving to make this story intriguing is the underlying mystery surrounding twenty-two tanker trucks driving into the middle of no where. The conspiracy behind this makes for some wonderful reading as the answers are slowly revealed leaving you to make your own conclusions. What at last everything is laid out for the reader, it once again begs the question how far should we go to save the planet? Is it the right of one at the risk of many to implement and untried method? And at what cost to the planet itself?

Overall, this was a wonderful novel that I truly enjoyed reading, of course this could because I’ve always been fascinated by volcanoes, but who hasn’t been at one point in time or another? With wonderful emotional appeal, gripping action and wonderful characters this is one author I will definitely be reading again!

My Rating: 4 out of 5 Scars

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