Rainier

by K. Lucas

A mother rushing to rescue her only child.

A worried son desperately trying to get his parents out of harm’s way.

A geologist trying to save them all.

Thirty years after surviving a landslide that killed his entire community, Tim is a geologist with the US Geological Survey. When he realizes that Mt. Rainier is about to erupt, he is determined to warn everyone about the imminent danger, only to have his words fall on deaf ears.

Jordan is one of the few who takes the warning to heart. Worried for the safety of his elderly parents, he urges them to evacuate. However, they seem unconcerned – Mt. Rainier hasn’t erupted in hundreds of years after all, and it’s too far away to be dangerous.

After dropping her son off at school, 911 dispatcher Teresa goes to work, only to start receiving distressing calls about the eruption. Terrified and torn between helping many and running to save her only child, she soon finds that the decision has been made for her.

As deadly as lava, landslides, and constant ash raining down are, they're not the only threats. Opportunists are another... and millions of people driven insane by fear might be the biggest danger of all.


CONTENT WARNING:
This novel contains themes that some readers may find disturbing. For more information see the author's website.

Genres: Thriller, Audiobook

286 pages, Paperback

Published April 20, 2022

Reviews

[Kym Gamble · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story about Mt. Ranier exploding and the things people do to survive. It was a good book. Somewhat predictable but a good story nonetheless.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mt Rainier erupts and chaos ensues. There's a predictable cast of
cookie-cutter disaster story characters and a happy ending. Like a comic book story or a Lifetime movie. 2 5 stars rounded to 3.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the action around the volcano erupting and the description of what may happen if and when it does. Not sure how accurate the science was but I enjoyed every minute of the action. I was not a fan of the subplot with the “bad guys” but otherwise a good disaster book.

[Andy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had a lot of hope for this book was ultimately very disappointed. I absolutely love a good disaster story and live near Mt. Rainier Sobieski thought this would be a great choice. Unfortunately, despite the author living nearby as well, the book feels doesn't feel authentic.

I think the base story-line might make for an okay made-for-tv movie, but as a book it was not good.

First of all, at the very beginning there is a warning that even though she uses real places around Mt. Rainier, they won't be accurately described because the story is meant to be entertainment. That should have been my first red flag. Maybe if I didn't live nearby it wouldn't have bothered me as much, but it seemed like she put no effort at all into trying to describe the area. Especially when on only page 2 of chapter 1, she describes one of the main characters driving to the summit of Mt. Rainier. This is not even remotely possible. Some experienced climbers can reach the summit in a day, but most climbers take 2. The terrain is all glacier. A Google search could have told the author that. I get that she was trying to be entertaining, but the fact that people who otherwise know nothing about this mountain are now thinking that it's tame enough to drive to the summit is upsetting. People train for months to make the trek. From this point, I had very low expectations, but continued anyway. Sure enough, the author geographically mangled the rest of the book too, and it wasn't "entertaining."

After the problems with lack of even middle school level research, I had hope that at least the writing style would be good. But again, I was disappointed. She uses a lot of dialogue, but it doesn't sound like real people talking.

Additionally, there are too many characters with absolutely no real character. The only character that feels even slightly flushed out is Tim. Everyone else is just cookie cutter placed in the story and could easily be replaced by almost anyone else.

Finally, the absolutely horrible human trafficking side story is unnecessary. It comes out of almost nowhere and continues to get worse as it goes. The "sting operation" makes very little sense even in the context of this absurd storyline. And the fact that the kid who has been dragged around by Tim for the whole book is actually the son of his previous boss and the main trafficker is just too much. The story went from bad TV movie to bad soap opera in less than a paragraph.

Overall, this book is more like the first draft of a college freshman hoping to be an author one day. She brain dumped her story idea onto some pages and then paid a service to clean up her grammer and punctuation. She needs to taking some writing classes and involve herself with peer review of she wants to improve her writing. She has a great imagination, but she needs to put real work into taking the story from concept to polished prose. Self-publishing this without significant edits was a mistake.

[Lynda Stevens · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book paints a common situation in movies: a lone researcher or observer witnesses something, and recognises that Something Bad is about to happen. The trouble is, usually for political or financial reasons, no one wants to listen. We might lose business. We might lose tourists. We don't want to alarm people, or be seen to cry Wolf.

That idea has been explored in disaster movies where it could be anything from death by giant shark, asteroid, as well as death by volcano: here it's by volcano.

That did set up a raft of expectations, for this reader at least: I wanted more on the volcano, the subtle geological clues, the small but ominous signs, the build-up of suspense - but that didn't happen. No - in this book the hero Tim takes his instruments up the mountain and instantly divines that Mount Ranier is about to erupt. As in The Next Day.

At least the action and thrills soon start to come thick and fast, as the plume of smoke above the mountain and the earthquakes soon create mayhem for one mother and her child, and old couple and their conscientious son, the good volcanologist hero, and another child whom the volcanologist rescues.

Soon, smoke, lava, volcanic ash and muslides (lahars) start to rain down on a hapless people.

But even that is not the focus of the book. It is not so much about what Rainier might be capable of doing once the chips are down, and lahars is certainly one of the biggest concerns that current monitors of the volcano have; it's how the people react. And twixt certain acts of heroism here and there, things quickly degenerate into chaos. Especially where there are bad guys afoot, who might have their own reasons for instigating even more chaos, as they look to rape, pillage and kidnap.

In a way, this book reminds me of certain kinds of zombie apocalypse tales: there is always the sense that human behaviour can quickly degenerate into a far more degraded level of being: Mob rule at its finest.

The story defts brings the strands of each character's arc together into a satisfying enough conclusion. Overall it's a decent read for those who enjoy apocalyptic fiction. Volcano nerds, however, might be disappointed, other than that the landslide disaster the main character undergoes as a child is based on a true event.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Beckie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Interesting premise, poorly executed. No back story on any of the characters other than Tim, the volcanologist who got a mention in the short prologue. The story starts out like the author was watching Dante's Peak. No details on how he knew the volcano was going to erupt. As someone who does shelter duty for Hurricanes, I can't believe that there was such a lackluster disaster plan in place.

[Morgan Edwards · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this short fast moving read. The plot was good and wasn’t over complicated. The whole book read more like a movie script.

[Jeannine Dean · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book started off okay, if you can excuse the fact the author has the main character “drive to the summit” of Rainier. Show me the road that takes me there and I’ll show you Big Foot. 🙄 There was no character building, no build up of suspense of any kind, no descriptive setting for what the effects of Rainier erupting might actually be like, and no dialogue beyond what an elementary student might write.

Characters were cookie cutter and apparently the only redeemable people in all of Pierce County are the main characters in this book. Everyone else has so little brains they just follow mob mentality and are horrible human beings. And don’t get me started on the authorities response or lack thereof. I know it’d be a rough time, but three military guys and one Geologist just sit around and they leave literally one man to check in every survivor that comes to the Tacoma Dome! Really?

The final horrible cherry on top was the sub-plot of the bad guys. What a waste of time. In a terribly anticlimactic scene we have a swarm of cops that somehow show up just minutes after cell service is restored and save the day? But remember, they only had one guy checking people in at the Tacoma Dome, but there must’ve been all these cops just sitting around waiting for a text to swarm this compound? Oh, and that’s right after the undercover cop says they can’t blow his cover cuz the sting just isn’t ready. Let’s also not forget that as soon as cell service is restored, the roads must magically be open and it’s all over. Whew, all back to normal. Except now we find out the little kid hanging out with our main character is the son of the bad guy and the main characters boss? And the boss ignored warnings about the eruption to help further her husbands human trafficking ring? PLEASE, I just can’t take the stupidity. 🤦🏼‍♀️

I’m shocked my eyes aren’t stuck in odd positions from how many times they rolled up in my head while reading this.

[Sara Johnson]

Awful

Poorly written, shallow two dimensional characters, painful dialogue. I suspect it was written by a 5th grader. Please don't waste your time.

[Caroline Abel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was not what I was looking for. The writing was okay, it was the plot that I had a problem with.

I got this book because I was looking for disaster books to read. This one has an interesting premise and decent reviews. What if Rainier, a North American volcano that is due to erupt, well, erupted?

I'll start with Tim. His story is the first of the book and it begins on a grim note with the death of his entire family in a mudslide when he was 3. This whole opening scene sat wrong with me. Not because I'm squeamish of character death but because K Lucas set it up wrong. We get more perspective and relation to Tim's sister than we do him. We expect her to come out of it and it's not. I can move past that, because plot twists happen and it's relatively small. But I couldn't help but feel disappointed we get Tim out of it instead of his sister.

But then we get into Tim's story. He becomes a geologist because of course he does, and he spends his life trying to prevent tragedy from befalling anybody else. But when he gets readings from Rainier that indicate an eruption is coming, nobody listens to him. This is where my background in geology may be a hindrance because I'm of two minds here: 1) His superiors are absolutely right in hesitating because it is explicitly stated in the text that Tim is the only one getting these readings and 2) the fact that they don't want to warn ANYONE in authority, not the governor or even local mayors is really stupid. But none of that matters because Tim goes absolutely nuclear and takes his readings to the public without any delay. This is a problem because it causes panic, and also because people will lose trust in the USGS if geologists go off the rails like this. Two days later and what do you know? Rainier erupts.

Tim's story doesn't end there, of course. He spends the book trying to help people and it's okay.

Now on to Teresa. She's a normal woman. Everything about her character feels REAL and I like that. I think it's completely ridiculous that she doesn't know how to get around if it's not on the highway considering this is the path between her house, her work, and her school. I don't know anybody who doesn't know their way around their own home towns but I've never lived in a big metro area either.

Jordan's story goes from 0-100 in the span of a paragraph. He hears Tim's warning and tries to get his parents out by lying to them on where they're going and leaving their dog behind. He continually makes stupid choices throughout the whole story and seems to learn nothing as he goes. His dad dies first, then his mom. He rescues a bunch of people who in turn Rob him.

And this is the crux of the story's issue: it focuses too much on the nasty people taking advantage of a crappy situation. It's around the halfway mark that the story completely derails from one about a volcano eruption and instead delves into that of human trafficking (??!). It makes the bureaucrats look completely incompetent, craps all over the fact that systems already exist to take care of the people in the event of an eruption of Rainier, doesn't include the science of what is happening despite the fact that the main protagonist is a GEOLOGIST, and highlights way too much the dark psyche that exists in some people. It literally makes everyone except two of the protagonists look absolutely heinous. Even Jordan spends the book lying to his parents, abandoning their dog, putting himself and the literal children he finds himself responsible for in deadly situations, and eventually he murders a guy in front of said children with results in one of those kids getting kidnapped by human traffickers.

So yeah. I can't say I'll be reading it again. I liked the premise, but it started off on the wrong foot and went downhill from there.

[C.A. Bryers · Rating 3 out of 5]

RAINIER was a strange book. There were things I liked about it, and things I didn't.

I'll start with the positives: K. Lucas has skill as a writer. The story is easy to follow despite jumping around from different groups of characters, and I never thought "I should just listen to something else." Kudos for that, because I've had that thought with a lot of books recently, and books that were a lot deeper and more skillfully written. Now, let's get onto the negatives, which are several, but not deal-breaking. By the reviews, people are enjoying it, and that's great.

The setup of the story is straight-forward: Tim (who had a traumatic past with natural disasters) is now a volcanologist and he's convinced a mountain is going to explode, whereas everybody else doesn't. So, essentially, it's the beginning of the Pierce Brosnan flick, Dante's Peak. But where Pierce's character had some restraint with his belief and understood the nuances of the politics involved in his job (and issuing an eruption alert), Tim runs around like a kid throwing a tantrum. Before even meeting with his boss, he's threatening the receptionist that he'll run to the media if he doesn't get in to see her. And...that's Tim. His entire character. Nothing else.

That's another thing that struck me as odd about this book. There were zero character descriptions for anyone. There was a girl named Felicity with black hair, but that's all I caught. And Tim's evidence that the mountain's going to blow is...scary numbers. That's it, which tells me little to no research was undertaken to give the illusion of realism to the proceedings, or to make the basis for Tim's beliefs plausible. Just ride the snake.

Like with Tim, there's a lot of absent or pedestrian character psychology here, as in people don't tend to have the reactions you'd expect until later on in the book. We're introduced to Theresa, a 911 dispatcher and single mother, who, when mounting evidence that the volcano is going to erupt, decides to trust someone else to go get her kid from school so she can keep her job. The problem with that is, she's painted as a great mother, and yet even a decent mother wouldn't think twice. Go get the kid.

There are other stories that intersect, and ultimately it isn't about what you'd think it is. While it starts off as Dante's Peak, the eruption becomes an afterthought a third of the way into the story, and then the story becomes something else. No buildup to an annihilating pyroclastic flow--it just becomes about the characters and their struggles.

...and struggles aplenty they have, because RAINIER's locations seem to be populated by 99% denizens from the seventh circle of Hell. Apart from the main characters, everybody's awful, everybody turns into animals, more or less, and that's not even counting the circle of villains in the book. Who hurt you, K. Lucas?

So, those are the problems in an otherwise reasonably entertaining book. I'm not sure if I'd pick up another book by this author immediately, but down the road once some skills are honed a little more, sure. All the basic building blocks are there, the pacing is brisk and carries you through the story like a breeze, and I'm a sucker for disaster stories. Keep at it, K. Lucas.

[Al LaFleche · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an easy, fast read. 2/3 of it was very good, in a traditional disaster movie like EARTHQUAKE, INDEPENDENCE DAY or 2012. A scientist tries to warn people of impending doom but is ignored. Of course, he’s right. A cast of likeable characters deals with the ash, floods, lava and general destruction in the area of Tacoma WA. they are looking to find family and safety while cities, infrastructure, society and order crumble around them.
The last third falters badly. A subplot involving a murderous gang opens up. They try to use the chaos to make a big score in their preferred illicit endeavor, almost like they saw it coming. The conclusion stretches the suspension of disbelief beyond breaking involving several characters, one of whom could not be seen in this part. The denouement takes this a step further to the detriment of my enjoyment.
This is the second novel I’ve read involving an eruption of Mt. Rainier. Max Brooks’ DEVOLUTION with its angry and hungry Sasquatch tribe/family was truer to its plot and more rewarding.

[Jackie Welcel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good book a great story about unexpected Volcano activity in the U.S. The main characters were all interesting and it has their separate experiences with the activity going on at Mt. Rainier. It is kind of wild to see how the public reacts to the wild, unexpected events but it really captured what would probably happen. I liked how the book wrapped up all the different paths the characters were on. This book was a solid 5 star for me until the last chapter. With no specific spoilers, there was one character's surprise relations revealed that just seemed too much for me to believe. It might all make sense to other readers but it took a star away for me. If you like a good action book, especially with what could really happen this is a great choice! I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Shorewalker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I selected this book for starters because of the title and the fact that I live in the greater northwest. Surprised that I found that she was a local author and that I had a signed copy! I should not have been surprised as I found that the author accurately described places with which I was familiar.

Okay, lets get to the book. While it does show the authors in the early stages of learning to produce a novel I was pleased with how she tied all the various (and there are some of these) characters and setting together as the tale progresses.

I actually enjoyed the book and found myself turning page after page to learn of the next stage of the quest of the characters.

I would look forward to finding another effort from K. Lucas.

[Linda J · Rating 4 out of 5]

It didn't take long for evil to rear it's ugly face in this book. While it was sometimes difficult remembering all the characters, it was easy to root for the good guys - mostly - though there were a few surprises. You will be rooting for Tim, the geologist who tried to warn everyone of impending doom, but was ignored; Teresa, as she does everything to find her son, Luke; Jordan, who lost his parents, tragically, but did so much to help others, and finally - someone who helps them in the end. I won't say who that was because I don't want to spoil the ending for anyone.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Deanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love natural disaster movies. When I saw an ad for this on fb and looked at the "look inside" feature on amazon. I 1-clicked it so fast it wasn't even funny.

I loved this book. I have to say that I wish there had been more lead up to the eruption before it happened. But there were enough other things going on that it kind of made up for it. I loved reading this book and all the characters. The struggle to survive in this disaster and get back to their loved ones. It was an amazing read.

If natural disasters are your jam, I highly recommend giving this book a try. You won't be disappointed.

[Liz Burke · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the first page this story sucks you in. You want to keep turning pages to keep up with all the action. When Mount Rainier erupts no one is prepared. Only one man tries to warn the public but his bosses goes behind him and says he is over reacting. And then everything goes out the window with people just trying to avoid all the disasters and get to safety including avoiding getting caught up by the bad guys. Then is a wonderful story that holds you until the very end. I look forward to more from this author.

I received a free copy of this story for an honest review.

[Matt Egan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun disaster novel with a twist

Rainier is about the eruption of Mt. Rainier and the chaos that follows. The best and worst of humanity are on full display in this book. Some risk life and limb, some use the chaos to do unthinkable things. The plot is good, characters and dialog believable and containing a surprise group of antagonists, whose illicit activities take advantage of the pandemonium to do far worse than stealing supplies. Recommended reading for those who enjoy stories of survival and anyone interested in a fun, fast paced thriller! 4/5 stars!

[Not Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

In keeping with scaring the crap out of myself while flying, I thought a book about Rainier erupting would be a good in flight option this trip.
It fell so flat.
I knew it was less about the eruption and more about the people's reaction to it but even that just was not good. The writing felt elementary and it was hard to care about the characters. Even the "bad" people were just meh. Very disappointing, it was a good idea.

[Dolores Guillen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disaster Movie in the making

What started as a cry for help keeps rolling like the volcano. This will make a great movie. I was reading and viewing it in my mind. Also I wish the government would let the citizens know and warn them ahead of time so they have the choice to evacuate early.

[Shari · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was so tropey and cliched. I love a good apocalyptical disaster novel, but this was like bad fast food. Volcano erupts and we have insane amounts of ash in the air but we have a helicopter flying. Nope.

Then throw in the bad, cliched side story of human trafficking in the middle of a disaster… no. There are other disaster novels, go read those. Wholly unsatisfying. 2.5 stars rounded up.

[Burma Turner · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved The Neighbors by this author and was looking forward to reading this book. It was ok, but not great. I could not really care about any of the characters and I skimmed through a lot of the book. I will still be looking forward to reading more from this author.

[KerryO · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a timely read. Good and evil. It is always interesting to know the choices some people make and how they will attempt to justify these choices. The ending of the book gave me the chills! I received an ARC from Book Sirens and the opinions expressed are my own.

[janet c seaberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun read

Great character development. There were very few editing errors. A fun reminder that in the PNW we do have quite a few dormant volcanos that we watch closely. Very fun to read.

[Hope Bennett · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not usually one to leave a bad review. The book could have been so good but fell short. The author lives near Mt. Rainier but apparently did not look at a map for placement of towns. Also the way the military responds to a natural disaster was not accurate. I think 3 stars is generous.

[Sandi Dalton · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved it

I was a bit sad to read the last of this book. Something different from the norm. A couple of twists at the end tied everything up neatly. I will look for more from K. Lucas

[Cheryl Collins · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointed- the disaster and panic were expected, but the bad guy operation just didn’t fit the book, especially when most of the characters wound up in bad guys plot and the disaster part of the book just vanished.

[janis burtch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story fast pace action.

I liked how the people tried to help save others in a disaster working together to survive.I liked that the story keep me guessing what would happen next with a few surprises along the way.Enjoyed not full of sex or swearing .

[Michele Reinhart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strong 3 1/2

This was an okay read. It was character driven with almost no science. For the most part, the behaviors were accurate and plausible. I give it 3 1/2 stars. It's like reading a very simple book, it doesn't require a lot of concentration, but still enjoyable.

[Kathy Elliott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exciting

Read in one sitting! Probably reasonable in depicting humans in a panic, out for only themselves in utter fear. A few people managed to hang on and help! A satisfying ending!
A reminder, know your area's disaster potential and where to go if one strikes!