Twister

by Jack M. Bickham

Not to be confused with the 1996 movie; Bickham's "Twister" is a fictional book written in the mid 70's and somewhat based on a true to life tornado.

Genres: Fiction

397 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Pseudonyms:
Jeff Clinton, John Miles, Arthur Williams

Reviews

[Joyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel is set in 1975 and involves a massive severe storm front that spawned over 150 tornadoes starting in Kansas and moving east across the United States. There is a lot of technical data involving weather bulletins and analysis of weather patterns that were too tedious for me at times. What saved the book for me was the human drama it included---telling the stories of some of the victims, both those who survived and those who didn't, the stories of people who were working at the weather centers, the mayor of a town who had become deeply depressed over the town's refusal to spend money on improvements, and his wife who is trying to find her own identity.

[MaryEllen Holbrook · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, this was written in 1976 and has nothing to do with the movie from the 1990s. In my opinion, the movie was better; not to say this book wasn’t entertaining. There were a few spots where I rolled my eyes at the obvious ‘man tries to write from woman’s perspective when clearly just needs excuse to sexualize any female under the age of 6’ cliches. The weather stuff was nice and theatrically suspenseful, but by the end I also found myself wondering how many times the author might’ve hit the bong or dropped some acid during a lightning storm.

[Leah · Rating 2 out of 5]

kinda cheesy, kinda too long, overuse of the adverb "huskily," but not bad for a book i found at a book sale and ended up paying about a quarter for.