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Aftershock
In the wake of a mammoth and lethal earthquake, a colorful cast of New Yorkers--including seismologist Sam Thorne, crime boss Domenico Rizzo, and fashion designer Matt Devon--struggles to carry on in spite of the disaster.
407 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published May 7, 1991
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
October 20, 2016
I enjoyed the main plot of the story and most of the characters. It's always interesting to read about natural disasters (real or imagined) and how people cope with what happens. There are two reasons I marked the score lower. The story gets bogged down by overly long descriptions of some actions and often too much backstory on characters that really isn't necessary to the plot. Also, a lot of the dialogue is "stiff".
February 11, 2008
According to scientists, a major earthquake is going to hit the east coast sometime before the year 2010; the probability, according to the late Dr. Robert Ketter, is "nearly 100%." And one of the largest ground faults in the East runs parallel to 125th Street in Manhattan. So what would happen if a major earthquake hit New York City?
Such is the subject of the meticulously-researched novel by broadcast journalist Chuck Scarborough, Aftershock. He posits an earthquake in NYC in 1994 (oops), and it's obvious from the writings about the earthquake and the structural damage it is likely to do to various buildings in New York that Scarborough spent a lot of time talking about this with Ketter. And had the earthquake and its aftereffects remained the stars of this novel, it really might have been, as Robert B. Parker blazons on the front, "surely the most compelling novel of natural disaster..." However, I get the feeling that, in the actual review, what followed that ellipsis was "...this week."
Scarborough is absolutely, completely, thoroughly, utterly incapable of any kind of characterization whatsoever. His cardboard cutouts meander around the playing field attempting to show emotion and failing miserably, even in the wake of a huge natural disaster. As well, there are more then enough plotlines and subplots here to carry a book easily three times this one's four-hundred-page length, but many of them are ended far too abruptly, are forgotten for hundreds of pages and then picked up again for a paragraph, and other similarly annoying things. Even the section separators don't work in any consistent way (for about a hundred pages, the double lines separate different stories in different parts of the city, but then they stop doing so and are thrown in at random, it seems). Worst of all is the writing style itself. A representative sample: "Brendan and Sam could see from the helicopter the Alwyn Court on fire." Uh huh. A sentence any more twisted would have debilitating arthritis.
Still, it managed to keep me reading, and I guess that's something. Poseidon Adventure, phone home.
Such is the subject of the meticulously-researched novel by broadcast journalist Chuck Scarborough, Aftershock. He posits an earthquake in NYC in 1994 (oops), and it's obvious from the writings about the earthquake and the structural damage it is likely to do to various buildings in New York that Scarborough spent a lot of time talking about this with Ketter. And had the earthquake and its aftereffects remained the stars of this novel, it really might have been, as Robert B. Parker blazons on the front, "surely the most compelling novel of natural disaster..." However, I get the feeling that, in the actual review, what followed that ellipsis was "...this week."
Scarborough is absolutely, completely, thoroughly, utterly incapable of any kind of characterization whatsoever. His cardboard cutouts meander around the playing field attempting to show emotion and failing miserably, even in the wake of a huge natural disaster. As well, there are more then enough plotlines and subplots here to carry a book easily three times this one's four-hundred-page length, but many of them are ended far too abruptly, are forgotten for hundreds of pages and then picked up again for a paragraph, and other similarly annoying things. Even the section separators don't work in any consistent way (for about a hundred pages, the double lines separate different stories in different parts of the city, but then they stop doing so and are thrown in at random, it seems). Worst of all is the writing style itself. A representative sample: "Brendan and Sam could see from the helicopter the Alwyn Court on fire." Uh huh. A sentence any more twisted would have debilitating arthritis.
Still, it managed to keep me reading, and I guess that's something. Poseidon Adventure, phone home.
July 31, 2008
I enjoyed this book.It's about a massive earthquake leveling NYC. It's like reading one of those old disaster flicks (The Towering inferno, or The Poseidon Adventure) which I've always been fond of.
The first part was a little slow, introducing characters, where they are when the earthquake hits etc.
The aftermath is much more exciting, focusing on different people, or groups and how they are rescued or survived.
It was slowish at times, getting into the cost and plans for rebuilding and the political side, but overall it was pretty good.
The first part was a little slow, introducing characters, where they are when the earthquake hits etc.
The aftermath is much more exciting, focusing on different people, or groups and how they are rescued or survived.
It was slowish at times, getting into the cost and plans for rebuilding and the political side, but overall it was pretty good.
February 7, 2022
I love the disaster books and this one kept me reading until the end I absolutely loved it was way better than the miniseries they released based on the book in 1999 they didn't use half the characters or half the storylines and the book kept me reading it kept me on the edge of my seat wondering who is going to live and who was going to die it was a really great book I would highly recommend it if you're a fan of disaster books like me
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August 26, 2021Sex and swearing.
May 9, 2025
Too many characters and side stories. By the time some of them were mentioned again, couldn’t remember who they were.
August 21, 2023
This book started off a bit slowly, mostly because the author introduced so many characters in the beginning. When he finally started to bring them together, and when the earthquake happened, the narrative picked up and by then I was reading as fast as I could to find out what happens to them! The reader rockets between sadness and joy, horror and relief. Perhaps because I'm a New Yorker from Long Island, I felt very much a part of this story very quickly. It brought back a lot of memories of 9/11, and how I felt watching the devastation on television from 900 miles away. New Yorkers are resilient and caring, especially when disaster (large or small) hits! I recommend this book highly.
October 28, 2013
It was pretty good. A few too many characters and stories going on at once. Sometimes hard to follow. I kept reading expecting to read something about the earthquake's impact on Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant and how that additionally made survival hard but the author never meantioned it. That was a HUGE ommission. Surely Indian Point would have significant damage perhaps almost as bad as Chernobyl and Fukushima making survival in NYC precarious plus rebuilding NYC with nuclear radiation would never happen.
Other than that, I read it in two days. Definitely a page turner.
Other than that, I read it in two days. Definitely a page turner.
February 27, 2013
This book came out in '91 and is supposed to be about an earthquake destroying Manhattan in '94. Kinda weird to be reading about that devastation after the 9/11 attack. Thought the story would be lame, but it wasn't bad.
April 23, 2013
The thing that strikes me about this book is how the people of New York pull together after the earthquake. In many ways it was a foretelling of what happened in the wake of 9/11. In my humble opinion Aftershock is in many ways to 9/11 what Futility was to the Titanic disaster.
May 18, 2008
Story of post-nuclear New York written by Chuck Scarborough, news anchor in New York. It was quite good and you could make connections to various local politicians.
September 8, 2010
Review of the 2nd reading coming soon.
June 19, 2014
very scary because this could really happen
February 11, 2015
It was a hard read - mechanically speaking. Word choice, sentence construction. Annoying after a while. Sprinkled in were some unbelievable actions - giving up a gun voluntarily?....
August 26, 2017
Good earthquake book.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews