Without Warning

December 1, 2008
Two powerful novels explore the plight of isolated survivors of global disaster.
Without Warning
John Birmingham
. Del Rey
, $26 (528p) ISBN 978-0-345-50289-6

Australian author Birmingham (Axis of Time
) explores an unusual and intriguing scenario: immediately before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, an unknown radiation engulfs the North American continent from Canada to Mexico, destroying all animal and human life. Suddenly the U.S. is reduced to Alaska, Hawaii and part of Washington State, along with several million citizens overseas. Birmingham concentrates on several small groups of survivors—a Seattle city engineer struggling against an army takeover, a yacht carrying survivors to Australia, a spy hunting a Muslim fanatic in the midst of a French civil war—and contemplates how various countries would react to the power vacuum. This well-thought-out alternate history will appeal to fans of hard SF and techno-thrillers.

November 1, 2008
Birmingham (Final Impact, 2007, etc.) begins a new apocalyptic science-fiction trilogy.

In 2003, as U.S. forces gather to invade Iraq, a teardrop-shaped field engulfs most of the continental United States, Canada, Mexico and Cuba. Inside the field, animals and people are reduced to puddles of goo. After this desperately hard-to-swallow event, the author follows the adventures of a select group of individuals. In Seattle, the only U.S. metropolis outside the zone of death, city engineer James Kipper struggles to maintain order and essential services against terrified rioters and a threatened army coup. In Hawaii, Admiral James Ritchie marshals the largest surviving concentration of American naval power against —what? In Guantanamo, General Tusk Musso finds himself cooperating with what 's left of Cuba 's army. At Coalition headquarters in Qatar, army journalist Bret Melton struggles to understand what 's happened and fears what might come. In Paris, secret agent and assassin Caitlin Monroe wakes, bewildered, in a hospital, to find that her jihadi-terrorist target has vanished and she has developed a brain tumor. In the Pacific, Pete Holder 's cheerful band of smugglers board the vast, opulent, now-deserted yacht of Aussie golf legend Greg Norman and wonder how to keep what they 've grabbed while surviving attacks by pirates and renegade Peruvians. The situation deteriorates rapidly: Israel unleashes its nukes; France succumbs to a fifth-column –inspired civil war; Britain barricades itself; and what 's left of America considers how to choose a new chief executive and survive with dignity —but above all, survive. The implicit assumption is that humanity 's worst instincts will surface.

Narrated with crisp, fluid expertise, Birmingham 's ultrabloody and violent yarn exerts a dreadful, morbid fascination. Three volumes of this should satisfy the most avid cravings.

(COPYRIGHT (2008) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

December 15, 2008
As the world waits for the U.S. invasion of Iraq, a massive high-energy wave washes over an area that reaches from Canada to Mexico, destroying all life in its wake. Suddenly, the world must do without its greatest power. A few fringe survivors rise to the occasion as many people succumb to panic in a world seemingly gone mad. The author of the "Axis of Time" trilogy ("Weapons of Choice"; "Designated Targets"; "Final Impact") brings his sf thriller technique to a mainstream technothriller that should have broad appeal outside the sf crowd. A good addition to most thriller and sf collections.

Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2009
Birminghams acclaimed Axis of Time trilogy, an alternate history of World War II, now seems a mere warm-up for this blockbuster set on the eve of the second Gulf War. On March 14, 2003, as coalition forces ready their assault on Iraq, a massive energy wave envelops the continental U.S. and portions of Canada and Mexico. Quickly dubbed the Disappearance by baffled onlookers, the wave mysteriously obliterates all life forms, human and animal, within its shimmering borders. As politicians and scientists try to make sense of the anomaly, some foreign observers, including Iraqis, start celebrating, while others descend into chaos. Birmingham follows the volatile developments through the eyes of an American general in Guantnamo Bay, near the waves perimeter; a city engineer in Seattle, the only major U.S. city left unscathed; and an American secret operative fending off assassins on the streets of Paris. While Birminghams shocking premise may unnerve some American readers, a story line replete with full-throttle action should appeal to Anglophones everywhere.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)