The Wave-Tom Miller

The Wave
Tom Miller
Sherman Asher Publishing, Apr 27 2010, $18.95
www.shermanasher.com
ISBN: 9781890932381

The earthquake was 6.8, but though it seemed impossible, a massive 20-foot tsunami wave followed devastating the Big Island of Hawaii killing many in Honolulu and elsewhere. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center failed to send out the alarm on time partly due to human error and mostly the inability to predict this could have happened with a relatively low level earthquake.

Soon after that disaster, marine biologist Dr. Scott Richardson is studying undersea activity to try to learn what caused the landslide that led to the tsunami. He asks his former Navy SEAL buddy Chuck Palmer to help as he needs an experienced diver covering his back. Angry at his wife for concealing a critical truth in their relationship, he leaves Malibu for Hawaii. As the pair of former SEALs, with the help of others, explores the ocean floor around Hawaii, what they find frightens them and their cohorts. However, thugs perhaps working for the Governor want them stopped as tourism is how the islands survive.

This is an exhilarating thriller that extrapolates scientific data on undersea earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, and tsunamis to paint an incredible action-packed tale. The story line is fast-paced from the moment the first wave struck and never slows down as the mega tsunami is coming. Although the hitmen subplot adds suspense, it feels inanely out of place in comparison to the strong scientific fact-finding as increasingly a monster tsunami caused by earthquakes and volcanoes frighten the scientists on the project as that would devastate the Pacific Rim including the American West Coast.

Harriet Klausner