Ultimatum

February 9, 2009
Glass's debut, an anxiety-inducing thriller about global warming, effectively taps a hot topic and handles it with flair. In 2032, vast regions of America's coast—Florida, Texas, California—are underwater. Catastrophic hurricanes regularly sweep through the South. Much of the West has been without rainfall for years, as wildfires rage. More than 25 million people face relocation to higher ground, where new cities must be created. The newly elected U.S. president, Joe Benton, frustrated with the failed Kyoto Treaty process, proposes radical solutions worldwide, with devastating economic consequences. When the earth's greatest polluter, China, won't go along with the deal and escalates the argument to the nuclear level, the narrative shifts into overdrive. A contrived conclusion and passages belaboring the machinations of government and its various bureaucrats are the only weaknesses in what is otherwise a compelling tale of environmental doom.