Speed the Dawn

January 1, 2018
Powerful, unrelenting action drives Donlay’s eighth adventure novel featuring wealthy environmentalist Donovan Nash (after 2017’s Seconds to Midnight). When a meteor breaks up over Monterey, Calif., large fragments fall into the sea, creating a tsunami, and onto land, setting off massive fires. Donovan is trapped at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, where looters soon try to kill him. Donovan’s wife, Pentagon consultant Dr. Lauren McKenna, is flying toward the coast in a small plane, which is struck by debris from the meteor. After making a forced landing, Lauren works hard to persuade the authorities to follow her suggestions for saving the day. Meanwhile, a strengthening hurricane threatens to destroy everything from Monterey to San Francisco. In his efforts to heighten and maintain tension with one over-the-top development after another, Donlay plays havoc with the suspension of disbelief. He also lards the narrative with distracting exposition. Still, few thriller fans will be able to resist the breakneck pace. Agent: Kimberley Cameron, Kimberley Cameron Associates.

January 1, 2018
Natural disasters are sometimes at the core of Donlay's action-packed Donovan Nash novels, and this disaster is a doozy. When a meteor approaching Earth collides with satellites and space debris, the planet avoids a catastrophic full meteor strike, but pieces of it and the matter with which it collides rain down on the western U.S., particularly the Monterey peninsula. With very little warning, tsunamis batter the coast, and raging fires devour whole communities. Nash, founder of the scientific research organization Eco-Watch, is at the Monterey Bay Aquarium when the first tsunami hits, and he takes off, along with the girlfriend of a late colleague, to find William VanGelder, the man who was like a father to him. Meanwhile, Donovan's wife, Dr. Lauren McKenna, an earth-science consultant with the Defense Intelligence Agency, is coordinating with the Pentagon, Homeland Security, and local officials to try to minimize damage as a tropical storm poses another threat. As Donovan deals with fires and vengeful biker looters, Lauren comes up with a daring plan that could doom her husband. Nonstop action with a scientific base from the reliably readable Donlay.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)