Description
Wave is a thriller that really is too compelling to put down before you finish reading it. The moral conflicts, unlikely heroics, and emergency responses of everyday people are played out against a tsunami disaster that is all too likely. It opens your eyes to disturbing possibilities. Best of all, besides the fact that it is extraordinarily well written is that the science is believable. That counts a lot for this geology major!
— Karenne Snow Author, naturalist, geologist, and Community Relations Manager for Barnes & Noble, Marlton, NJ
It’s a beautiful spring morning on Long Beach Island, and thousands of LBI residents are beginning their daily routines, oblivious to the horror that will soon rise from the sea.
High overhead, aboard a 747 bound for the U.S. capital, a terrorist’s plot has gone awry. The plane nosedives into the Atlantic and a smuggled nuclear device detonates, creating a massive undersea landslide. Within minutes a tsunami is born, and a series of formidable waves begins moving toward the Jersey shore. By the time the tsunami makes landfall, the most destructive of its waves will reach a height of nearly 30 feet, with enough power to devastate every structure in its path. The people of LBI are sitting ducks, with only one bridge to the mainland and less than three hours to evacuate.
In this taut thriller, Wil Mara achieves a remarkable balance of science, storytelling, and characterization. The result is a compelling story that grabs the reader from the first page and never lets go. From the disgraced mayor with a unique chance for redemption, to the young lovers from opposite sides of the track, to the working mom desperate to find her young sons, the lives and emotions of Mara’s protagonists play out vividly against the looming disaster.
2005 | 312 pp/hardcover
