On a bitterly cold December day, a huge storm hits the north of Britain, sending mountainous seas barrelling south along the coast as flood indicators run off the scale.
Experts sound the alarm immediately, because when the waves reach the Thames Estuary a vast wall of water will be unleashed on the heart of London.
The great city faces total destruction and the lives of millions of people are in grave danger.
But those people are going about their daily lives as normal, believing the mighty Thames Barrier will protect them from any threat posed by the river.
The terrifying scale of the impending disaster becomes clear when the storm hurls a ship into an oil refinery in Essex, setting off an explosion the size of Hiroshima which ignites a wall of fire on top of the giant waves now speeding towards the capital.
Countless Londoners are about to be heroes or victims.
Because if the Thames Barrier can’t save them, what will?
*****
Why readers are gripped by
“A tour de force …pure drama.”
“For pure, sustained action it is terrific.”
“I am a big fan of disaster movies such as Armageddon, Deep Impact, Volcano, Dante's Peak and so on … But this book takes it to a new level.”
“Astonishingly detailed and vivid.”
“A great London flood tale.”
“The mind boggles how much research and modelling must have been carried out to achieve the levels of realism attained here.”
“Reads almost like a report of actual events … I loved it.”
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Richard "Dickie" Doyle (September 1824 –11 December 1883) was a notable illustrator of the Victorian era. His work frequently appeared, amongst other places, in Punch magazine; he drew the cover of the first issue, and designed the magazine's masthead, a design that was used for over a century.
Born at 17 Cambridge Terrace, London, one of seven children of Irish cartoonist John Doyle (known as 'H.B'), a noted political caricaturist, two of his brothers, James and Charles, were also artists. The young Doyle had no formal art training other than his father's studio, but from an early age displayed a gifted ability to depict scenes of the fantastic and grotesque. Throughout his life he was fascinated by fairy tales. He produced his first complete illustrated book, Home for the Holidays, when he was 12; it was published posthumously in 1887.
He joined the staff of Punch in 1843 aged 19, remaining there for seven years. His iconic cover for the Punch magazine was used for many years after his death.
He produced 11 books of his own between 1840 and 1887, his last five being published posthumously, as well as illustrating many for other authors including Thackeray, Mark Lemon and Ruskin.
He exhibited regularly at the Grosvenour Galleries and also at the Royal Academy in 1868 and 1871.
He was the uncle of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes stories.
I so enjoyed this book, it was so well written and the source material was excellent, It’s made me think how our protocols are not acceptable in the event of a flood in London, too many agencies moving in different directions, not listening to each other, Politicians not coming together and not overriding political difference to save the people of London. The thought of the damage is almost beyond comprehension, the human and damage would be in the thousands and billions. London could not be put back together within 10 years meaning business would look elsewhere to do there billion pound business. Deaths would be confining after the flood due to illnesses from the sludge and silt and sewage that has covered London, A very well thought out scenario, 5 stars .excellent read