TSUNAMI

by Gordon Gumpertz

Deep in the mid-Pacific, an ancient undersea volcano comes to life. Leading scientists predict the volcano will subside and go dormant, but seismologist Dr. Leilani Sanches is alarmed. Her advanced computer model shows the volcano will build to a monster explosion and trigger a tsunami massive enough to wipe out the Southern California coast.Her theory is fiercely opposed by a jealous scientific establishment and powerful special interests who think a tsunami scare will hurt business. Her efforts to warn the public are blocked.Coast Guard Commander Dave Steel believes she is right and becomes her ally in a race against time. Leilani and Dave meet the violence of nature and the violence of their enemies head on, and put their lives on the line in a frantic struggle to move five million people away from the coast before disaster strikes. REVIEWS"TSUNAMI starts with a bang and the reader is off on a 300 page wild adventure. I could not put it down. I know this is a cliché, but I have to say it anyway. TSUNAMI is a page turner."Simon Barrett, Online Book Reviews"I loved this book. If you want to be entertained, intrigued, and enthralled by the dual plot of nature versus man, and greed versus the good of man, then you will love it, too."Stephanie Boyd, Armchair Interviews(Writers Digest 101 Best Websites)"Gordon Gumpertz takes us on this thrilling journey of seismography and volcanology and of parallel lives that unexpectedly intersect. From sabotage to smuggling, as well as a little romance, it's all included in this contemporary page turner."Kate Greenwood, TCM Reviews"It takes a special writing skill to bring these types of events to life on the written page, and Gordon Gumpertz does an excellent job of making me feel as though I am RIGHT there in the thick of things! This book is fantastic."Bookshipper.blogspot.com"TSUNAMI reads like a made for TV movie and rises above the typical natural disaster story by providing memorable and believable characters. I thoroughly enjoyed TSUNAMI and would definitely watch it if it was ever turned into a miniseries."Sarah Sammis, Puss Reboots Online With an authentic grasp of his subject, Gordon Gumpertz weaves together scientific and social truths throughout this action-packed adventure novel. Given the book's drama and realism, TSUNAMI may call for a genre of its own – scientific thriller.Susan Haley, Fascinating Authors

Genres: Fiction

300 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 25, 2008

About the author

Gordon Gumpertz, author of action/adventure novels Tsunami, Red Hot Sky, and Life's Blood, began writing fiction after wrapping up a successful advertising career. He headed a Los Angeles ad agency that served Procter & Gamble, Honda Motors, Blue Shield, Mitsui Bank, Quaker State Oil, and Kawasaki, and handled a blue chip list of national and regional clients in fast food, banking, insurance, fashion, and food manufacturing.
In addition to serving as agency president, Gordon kept his hand in as a copywriter and guided the creative campaigns of many of the agency's clients. He was also active in advertising industry affairs, serving as president of the Western States Advertising Agencies Association, and on the Board of Governors of the American Advertising Agencies Association.
Gordon is a third generation Californian. He was born in San Diego and raised in Oxnard,
CA where his father was a grower and shipper of California vegetables. After a four-year stint in the army he finished his studies at UCLA, graduating with a BA in Sociology. He learned to fly at Santa Monica airport, became instrument rated, and has enjoyed hundreds of hours of cross country flying, including trips to New York, and La Paz in Baja California.
Gordon has a son, a daughter, and two grandchildren. He and his wife Jenny live in Palm Desert, California, and will celebrate their 40th anniversary next year. His favorite pastimes are reading, traveling, cruising, tennis, and hiking, as a member of the Sierra Club.
While doing research for his novels, all of which have underlying natural disaster themes, he became interested in earth science and started blogging on natural disasters and other earth science subjects. He posts a weekly blog on tsunamis, volcanoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, fires, droughts, meteor strikes, rogue waves, plate tectonics, and related topics at www.tsunaminaturaldisasteer.com.
Gordon is a member of the Palm Springs Writers Guild. In addition to his adventure novels, he writes short stories that have won gold and silver awards in national and regional competitions. He is presently working on his fourth novel, and hopes to write several more before they finally put him out to pasture.

Reviews

[Jayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nearer a 4.5 than a 5 but I loved it so...

I took a chance with this one as I liked the blurb. First published in 2008, I came across it a couple of weeks back on Kindle Unlimited. Summer is good reading time for me, and I hadn’t read a juicy disaster book for a while.

Well, the novel didn’t disappoint. All the corny tropes were there. And I mean ALL of them. This is cornier than a mega-bucket of salty n sweet. A young, brilliant scientist with a theory no one will listen to apart from a handsome, rugged Coast Guard and his FBI agent pal, on the hunt for evil gun runners. A jealous scientific establishment run by clowns. Nefarious corporations wanting to block news of potential danger to protect their financial interests. Ordinary people being heroic (and some not so.) A race against some nasty criminals intent on flooding the US with new and deadly weapons. And of course, the Wave, or series of waves, waiting to wreak havoc on the Californian coast. All that is missing is a cute animal who survives against all the odds. (Spoiler) There is a parrot, but it dies so don’t get attached to it.

At this point some people will be rolling their eyes and saying, “I’ll pass,” but that would be a mistake. The author knows their stuff about tsunamis but doesn’t beat the reader around the head with knowledge. The characters are likeable, energetic and have good chemistry. There’s even a nod to the indigenous people of Hawaii for knowing their shit when everyone else is running around like headless chickens.

I can forgive the silly bit at the end, telling what happens to the survivors, because this was F-U-N. Yes, there’s a serious message but basically this is a great adventure in the time-honoured tradition of catastrophe fiction, a chewy, satisfying page-turner.

[Jim Misko · Rating 4 out of 5]

First off, I've known Gordon Gumpertz for siz years but had never read his works. I bought all three of his novels and while the catastrophe novel is not my genre, I wanted to see what kept him writing.

I read the book straight through in five days. the characters and story and Gordon's deep research, were enough to keep me interested and enjoying every days read.

The story arc is known to all of us but it held my interest, piqued my curiosity and when I closed the book I had enjoyed a good read. I'm 50 pages into his next one now, and enjoying it ever bit as much.

His characters are real to me yet. I'd like to meet them in real life somewhere--I'd buy them a drink and enjoy the conversation.

If you like catastrophe books, you'll love this one.

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 5 out of 5]

California is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, a geologically active area of subduction zones, volcanoes, earthquakes and with the Pacific Ocean there: tsunamis. A tsunami is a huge wave of water created by a massive displacement of water by earth movement. California does get hit by tsunamis but so far not the massive three wave monster that Gordon Gumpertz sets upon southern California in his very entertaining natural disaster novel Tsunami.

The most recent tsunami to hit California was back on November 15, 2006. It reached from Santa Cruz up to Crescent City (a place that has been hit by a number of tsunamis). Destructive earthquakes and tsunamis are a risk of living in California. The USC Tsunami Research Center has a downloadable paper (PDF) on the risk of tsunamis both distant and local to California. It reads like the blue print for Gumpertz's book.

The California in Gumpertz's novel is simplified and altered in a number of ways for dramatic license. There is no mention of the Channel Islands (which traditionally get the worst hit for distant tsunamis in southern California) and Camp Pendelton has been scrapped to make way for a new massive housing development. There are other fictional towns up and down the coast where more of the drama of the tsunami plays out.

In ways reminiscent of Condominium, the developers' greed puts into play many of the things that ultimately lead to losses of life and property at the end of the novel. To make them even worse, they are also importing guns through their shipping company.

In the middle of all of this is Leilani Sanches a geologist who has been studying an usually and potentially violent volcano deep below the Pacific Ocean. If her scenario is correct, a devastating 100 to 200 foot tsunami (roughly ten times taller than the largest tsunami waves on record for hitting California) could hit "from Santa Barbara to San Diego" with Oceanside to Los Angeles getting the worst of it.

But that's the fun of a disaster novel. The human drama of a normal sized disaster gets pushed beyond the boundaries of the expected to entertain while slyly educating about the true risks. Tsunami reads like a made for TV movie miniseries back when disasters were such popular topics. I was reminded of Earthquake! (which also takes out Los Angeles) and of course the mini series version of Condominium that started Barbara Eden.

Tsunami rises above the typical natural disaster story by providing memorable and believable characters. The characters demonstrate their individuality with lots of showing and very little telling. They act in understandable ways (both rationally and irrationally) and come to their senses in a human timescale, rather than a dramatic one.

I thoroughly enjoyed Tsunami and would definitely stop to watch it if it ever was turned into a miniseries.

[Bill · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love disaster books. This has all of the right elements. The smart scientist who is trying to arouse the population. Business people who are trying to stop the alert for their own greedy reasons. But the story is not well written. There is too much detail on irrelevant things. For example the description of everything the hero and heroine had to eat in a restaurant. (I thought there was some significance to all of this detail. Maybe the couple was going to be poisoned.) Some detail is important to set the background of the story, but this book goes overboard and it detracts from the story. The tsunami doesn't start until the book is 80% done, which is way too late. There is a second plot line involving gun running which detracts from the main show.

[Susan Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exciting read with deadly outcomes.

The main plot is obvious, but several smaller ones wove together to develop a great story with many different outcomes. I like that there are both several good as well as bad guys. Nice ending.

[for-much-deliberation ...]

Scientists observing undersea volcanoes and stuff, sounds exciting