Review: Ark Storm by Linda Davies

SUMMARY FROM NETGALLEY.COM:

The Ark Storm is coming—a catastrophic weather event that will unleash massive floods and wreak more damage on California than the feared “Big One.” One man wants to profit from it. Another wants to harness it to wage jihad on American soil. One woman stands in their way: Dr. Gwen Boudain, a brave and brilliant meteorologist.
When Boudain notices that her climate readings are off the charts, she turns to Gabriel Messenger for research funding. Messenger’s company is working on a program that ionizes water molecules to bring rain on command. Meanwhile, Wall Street suits notice that someone is placing six-month bets on the prospect of an utter apocalypse and begin to investigate. Standing in the shadows is journalist Dan Jacobsen, a former Navy SEAL. War hardened, cynical, and handsome, Jacobsen is a man with his own hidden agenda.
Linda Davies's Ark Storm brings together the worlds of finance, scientific innovation, and terrorism in a fast-paced thrill ride that will leave readers gasping.

MY TAKE:
Living in the Philippines, I've seen my fair share of strong typhoons.

In Ark Storm, Dr. Gwen Boudain's findings show that a major ARk storm may be on the way. However, the warning signs to this storm are damaging her equipment so she turns to Gabriel Messenger and his company. Messenger and his company agree to fund her project, but what's in it for them?

There are plenty of characters in the book so it's hard to sum up the plot in a few sentences. The major elements have to do, however, with devastating weather, politics, terrorism, insider trading, and espionage, of a sort.

Prior to this book, I had never heard of an ARk storm. There's plenty of explanations in the book, but because of my relatively short attention span, I only remember bits and pieces, just enough to follow what happened in the book. It does seem intense, though, and after Typhoon Haiyan, I don't think storms of these magnitude are highly unlikely to recur again.

Most of the book's chapters were pretty short and started with a location and/or a date. I thought the chapters were a little too short, but they gave the effect of cut scenes in movies and made the action seem to flow faster.

The characters were okay for me, but I didn't find them as memorable as the action that takes place in the book. Everything centers around the ARk storm, from the terrorist plot to the insider trading. It's the kind of thing you see in big-budget Hollywood movies. With good film editing and screenplay writing, this could be an interesting thriller-disaster-action movie, although it's heavier on the action, I think, than the other stuff.

Thanks to NetGalley and Forge Books for the e-ARC. Publication date of Ark Storm is on August 19, 2014.

THE GOOD:

1. There's plenty of action on both the East Coast and West Coast.
2. The science seems solid.
3. The premise of weather as a weapon for terrorism is interesting. 

THE BAD:

1. The science can feel a little overwhelming sometimes. 

READ IT IF:

1. You are fascinated by natural phenomenon.
2. You like thrillers.
3. You live in California. 

RATING:


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