Maelstrom

September 24, 2001
This sequel to Canadian Watts's well-received debut novel, Starfish
(1999), delivers more of the same exciting hard SF adventure and imaginative plot. A killer tidal wave created by an explosion at an underwater geo-thermal power station has left the West Coast a shambles. No one knows what caused the explosion, not even the survivors, cyborg deep-sea divers Ken Lubin and Lenie Clarke. Lenie returns to land with only one thing on her mind: revenge for all the ills done to her in the past, especially the sexual abuse suffered at the hands of her father. In her misguided ramblings ashore, however, she unwittingly becomes a symbol to the refugees from the quake, a catalyst for protest and change. In the meantime, Achilles Desjardins, an agent of the Complex Systems Instability Response Agency (CSIRA), discovers that an insidious new soil microbe called Behemoth is poised to take over the planet. After tracing its origins to a geothermal generating station nearly 4,000 feet down at Channer Vent—the same station where Lenie worked—Desjardins finds that Lenie's route parallels Behemoth's expansion. And somehow Maelstrom, the multilayered innerspace once called the Net, has a hand in the movements of both. How Lenie and Behemoth are connected, and what each will become, is a long and tangled story full of intrigue, lies and high-tech diversions. Watts has a deft touch with the complex storyline, full of unique characters, both human and non-human, trapped in an all-too-possible future.

October 15, 2001
A massive tidal wave in the Pacific Northwest causes millions of deaths, yet one woman emerges from the ocean and begins an eerie journey of revenge and salvation. As scientists attempt to discover her identity and her motivation, people begin dying from unknown causes. This sequel to Starfish depicts a dystopic near-future, where cyberspace and real space interact and unique life forms emerge from the depths of the ocean to claim their place in the world. A good choice for most sf collections.

Copyright 2001 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from October 15, 2001
Everyone thought Lenie Clarke was killed by the earthquake produced by a nuclear explosion aimed at the geothermal power plant she had been monitoring (see " Starfish," 1999). Since the quake turned cities into abattoirs, no one notices someone crawl ashore 300 miles from the epicenter: Lenie, bent on finding her abusive father. The beach where she emerges is full of refugees blocked from America by a towering wall and hovering botflies, or robotic cameras, monitored by telecommuting peacekeepers such as Sou-Hon Perreault, who spots half-starved Lenie but can only watch, for Lenie barely acknowledges a botfly's attempts at contact. Eventually, Lenie is noticed by others, including the wild electronic environment called the Maelstrom, evolved from the Internet and populated by nearly conscious smart gels and self-evolving bits of code. No one yet knows that, besides emotional baggage, Lenie carries something with her from the ocean floor that could despoil every living species. Watts moves from the relentless pressure of " Starfish" to the frantic speed of chaos in action, never losing the tight focus on his fascinating characters in this excellent sequel to his debut novel.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2001, American Library Association.)