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The Yellowstone Brief
Scientists estimate the massive pool of lava beneath Yellowstone National Park is the size of one of the Great Lakes. When the super volcano erupts it will end life in the United States for millions of people. It could very well be the end of the greatest nation the world has ever known. Daily, the national park rumbles making it apparent it will soon erupt. President Merrill stares at the Top Secret document. Does he accept this as the fate of the nation? Is there anything the most powerful country on earth can do to prevent such widespread destruction? He commissions one last study and is handed the Yellowstone Brief. Volcanologist David Wayne is still grieving over the loss of his wife and son when he accepts an assignment in a remote part of Mexico. FBI Special Agent Heather Martin jumps at the chance to leave her boring job in White Collar Crime to go into the field and investigate an organization suspected to be funded by terrorists. Soon Wayne and Martin are caught in the middle of the restless Yellowstone caldera. One must bring down the terrorists; the other must prevent a national disaster. Both must succeed or the nation will be lost forever.
- GenresThriller
258 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 17, 2014
75 people are currently reading
14 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 10, 2025
Review of the Yellowstone Brief
Excellent story. Full of intrigue and drama. Descriptions of the park were awe inspiring and enjoyable. I have visited the park and found it to be beautiful and inspiring. Camping is worth the trouble to set up tents, and food cooked on an open fire is better than any five star restaurant gourmet meal. Even the occasional bear does not detract from the experience. The author outdid himself by pointing out the beauty of the park while continuing to build the suspense and danger the characters were in. The identity of the traitor was not revealed until the very end. It was a total shock! I plan on reading the other books which are part of this story.
Excellent story. Full of intrigue and drama. Descriptions of the park were awe inspiring and enjoyable. I have visited the park and found it to be beautiful and inspiring. Camping is worth the trouble to set up tents, and food cooked on an open fire is better than any five star restaurant gourmet meal. Even the occasional bear does not detract from the experience. The author outdid himself by pointing out the beauty of the park while continuing to build the suspense and danger the characters were in. The identity of the traitor was not revealed until the very end. It was a total shock! I plan on reading the other books which are part of this story.
January 1, 2023
A good reac
This book kept my attention throughout. The characters did not seem to be cardboard but you really cared about them. The book should have had one more proofreading but this didn't distract too much.
This book kept my attention throughout. The characters did not seem to be cardboard but you really cared about them. The book should have had one more proofreading but this didn't distract too much.
June 28, 2023
riveting story!
Having grown up near Yellowstone I found the story locationaly factual.
There is always the danger of it happening again.
Having grown up near Yellowstone I found the story locationaly factual.
There is always the danger of it happening again.
April 15, 2015
Imagine you are thrown into a plan to divert the lava flow from an erupting volcano that threatens to destroy a nearby town by the Sea of Cortez in Mexico. However, you may be a leading volcanologist; you have no idea about how to begin a task that has never been done before. You find the military has a great need to implement a machine once thought never to exist to achieve this plan. Your head is spinning and just when you think you know the direction of this unimaginable task everyone you knew at the volcanic site is dead. You find a helicopter at the site, strap in, start the ignition to avoid being destroyed by the now erupting volcano; up, up you go flying high and away from the ensuing cloud of ash and gasses. Then terror strikes and you find yourself plummeting toward the ground. You crash in this hot, inimical terrain. If you are David Wayne the renowned volcanologist you know about all of this far too well.
In this grand book of suspense, it takes the reader to Mexico remote Alaska, Washington DC, Oregon and last but not least Yellowstone Park. David finds himself in the middle of more than an erupting volcano after he begins to sort things out. There are people from the FBI questioning him; there is a crooked man who is the CEO of something called Green Keepers who apparently has ties to terrorists. The President of the United States is involved. The cast of characters grows, and the plot thickens.
Everyone is scrambling to avert the biggest disaster to threaten the known world since man has been recording history. That global terror would be the impending eruption of Yellowstone Park. Yellowstone Park is a super volcano and appears to be ready to blow. Will David with the help of others orchestrate a plan to quell the eruption of a volcano so immense it could plunge the known world into the next ice age? Will he survive?
***
My Thoughts
In the author Larry Lavoie’s book, The Yellowstone Brief the reader is taken into the fascinating world of volcanology. After reading this book, though I had a thread of knowledge about the science, it was surely enhanced by the completion of this novel. The descriptions of the actual science and the fact that Yellow Stone Park is indeed a super volcano, which thankfully is not currently ready to blow, made this book all that more interesting.
The facts pertaining to the science weave into an interesting plot filled with believable characters. I found myself finishing one chapter and wondering as I read the following chapter what would become of the previous character(s). I felt the dilemma behind Mr David Wayne, Heather the FBI agent, Trick (a close friend of David’s), and the rest of the characters. The tragic situation that David the volcanologist went through at the Mexican volcanic site had me tensing up rooting for him to escape in time. There were many sections of this book that brought my emotions to the edge.
The entire episode with Heather and the ruthless terrorists, the impending doom and suspense experienced when you read about the shaking from the earthquakes in Yellowstone contributed to the excitement and tension felt throughout. All of the environmental changes that scream to the reader DANGER! The danger indeed was over the next hill sort of speak. Everywhere they turned it lurked in the shadows. The action sequences have the reader on the edge of their seat, tensing up and thinking how horrible it would be to find themselves in the same situation.
I find when the writing can transport the reader into the shoes of the characters to feel their fright, and wonder what they would do in their situation, it is excellent writing. This book did just that.
Would I recommend this book? Yes, I would. It is well done and well worth the read.
Five stars!
Arwin
In this grand book of suspense, it takes the reader to Mexico remote Alaska, Washington DC, Oregon and last but not least Yellowstone Park. David finds himself in the middle of more than an erupting volcano after he begins to sort things out. There are people from the FBI questioning him; there is a crooked man who is the CEO of something called Green Keepers who apparently has ties to terrorists. The President of the United States is involved. The cast of characters grows, and the plot thickens.
Everyone is scrambling to avert the biggest disaster to threaten the known world since man has been recording history. That global terror would be the impending eruption of Yellowstone Park. Yellowstone Park is a super volcano and appears to be ready to blow. Will David with the help of others orchestrate a plan to quell the eruption of a volcano so immense it could plunge the known world into the next ice age? Will he survive?
***
My Thoughts
In the author Larry Lavoie’s book, The Yellowstone Brief the reader is taken into the fascinating world of volcanology. After reading this book, though I had a thread of knowledge about the science, it was surely enhanced by the completion of this novel. The descriptions of the actual science and the fact that Yellow Stone Park is indeed a super volcano, which thankfully is not currently ready to blow, made this book all that more interesting.
The facts pertaining to the science weave into an interesting plot filled with believable characters. I found myself finishing one chapter and wondering as I read the following chapter what would become of the previous character(s). I felt the dilemma behind Mr David Wayne, Heather the FBI agent, Trick (a close friend of David’s), and the rest of the characters. The tragic situation that David the volcanologist went through at the Mexican volcanic site had me tensing up rooting for him to escape in time. There were many sections of this book that brought my emotions to the edge.
The entire episode with Heather and the ruthless terrorists, the impending doom and suspense experienced when you read about the shaking from the earthquakes in Yellowstone contributed to the excitement and tension felt throughout. All of the environmental changes that scream to the reader DANGER! The danger indeed was over the next hill sort of speak. Everywhere they turned it lurked in the shadows. The action sequences have the reader on the edge of their seat, tensing up and thinking how horrible it would be to find themselves in the same situation.
I find when the writing can transport the reader into the shoes of the characters to feel their fright, and wonder what they would do in their situation, it is excellent writing. This book did just that.
Would I recommend this book? Yes, I would. It is well done and well worth the read.
Five stars!
Arwin
May 9, 2021
I just couldn't finish this. There were so many threads with political bias which wasn't what I was expecting. (I had read Escaping Yellowstone by the same author and liked it.) I gave it 100 pages before deciding not to waste my time when there are so many choices on my TBR list.
March 5, 2015
This book throws a lot of science at the reader. That would be fine if not for the endless facts about the science of volcanos. Reading the book made me feel as if I read a textbook. That also made the book drag quite slowly in the beginning. It picked up about midway, but the characters were not all fleshed out properly and some of the dialogue seemed a bit stilted at times stiff and unbelievable. Those were the things I didn't like about this book, so I couldn't find myself giving it a five star rating.
The plot was interesting but highly improbable even though I would guess that volcanoes the size of the one in question in yellow stone could indeed cause chaos in the world if it ever did erupt.
Anyway I didn't want to give anything less than a five star rating, however, this book just didn't do it for me. I like a book that can drag me into the characters lives and make me feel as if I'm there right alongside of them as they go through their paces. Unfortunately, this book didn't do this for me so I give it three stars. I also feel that three stars in this case is a bit generous.
The plot was interesting but highly improbable even though I would guess that volcanoes the size of the one in question in yellow stone could indeed cause chaos in the world if it ever did erupt.
Anyway I didn't want to give anything less than a five star rating, however, this book just didn't do it for me. I like a book that can drag me into the characters lives and make me feel as if I'm there right alongside of them as they go through their paces. Unfortunately, this book didn't do this for me so I give it three stars. I also feel that three stars in this case is a bit generous.
February 26, 2016
Gripping
Another fest of mother nature and the best and worst of mankind. I just wanted to carry on reading this book.
Another fest of mother nature and the best and worst of mankind. I just wanted to carry on reading this book.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews