The Dam

by Robert Byrne

Book by Byrne, Robert

Genres: Fiction, Thriller

302 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Robert Byrne is the author of seven novels, five collections of humorous quotations, seven books on billiards, two anthologies, and an expose of frauds in the literary world. One of his novels, Thrill, was made into NBC’s Monday Night Movie, which aired for the first time on May 20, 1996. Four of his novels were selections of Reader’s Digest Condensed Books and published in many languages. His style is widely praised for its clarity and wit. Byrne’s Standard Book of Pool and Billiards, published in 1978 and expanded in 1998, has sold over 500,000 copies. -byrne.org

Reviews

[Philip Pietrowski, · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent book. Some of the computer references were dated and that was pretty charming.

[Vidya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hope a movie will be made on this someday!

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Considering how long it's been since I've read the condensed version, I'm quite surprised at how much difference I noticed. Maybe I should re-read the condensed one again, just to be sure!

[Cade · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the best dam book I've ever read! The plot was simple but moved briskly. It got an extra star for being about an engineering topic and for making a genuine effort to actually be tethered to some semblance of reality in the engineering aspects. In particular he out a lot of effort into giving nuance to and humanizing some characters, especially the dam's designer. The author is at pains to show that in complex matters like this, just because a catastrophe happens doesn't mean there's an evil villain, even if the press is sure to make one.

[Diane Wachter · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Dam, Robert Byrne, RDC-M #3, 1981, 6/84. A novel about an inexperienced engineer pitting himself against his senior engineer collegues in the construction of a dam. Okay.

[Michael Kato]

Enjoyable reading. Keeps you thinking and guessing all the way through.