Reviewer Sarah Katz is the author of two novels and numerous short stories and free-verse poems. She is a creative writing instructor and mentor as well as the National Novel Writing Month Municipal Liaison for one of the Southern California regions. Sarah is also Avid reader, story teller, perpetual student and lover of learning. Sarah is a long-time resident of Southern California and owner of one silly, old orange cat. ISBN: 978-1-4415-0389-5
A Category 6 hurricane? Impossible says everyone. It can’t happen. Yet Kelly Delaney is convinced a Category 6 hurricane is not only a possibility, but an eminent reality.
Author: Arnaldo Ricciulli
ISBN: 978-1-4415-0389-5
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A Category 6 hurricane?
Impossible says everyone. It can’t happen. Yet Kelly Delaney is
convinced a Category 6 hurricane is not only a possibility, but an
eminent reality.
Labeled as a harbinger of a non-existent doom, Kelly in exacerbation quits her job and heads off to what she hopes will be a receptive audience . . .
A way to defuse hurricanes? Not possible say many. Not allowable say an elite few. Daniel Mayhew, a brilliant weather researcher, has conceived a miraculous method of defusing hurricanes. If his system works thousands of lives and billions in property damage will be saved.
Dejected but not defeated Daniel quits his job and returns home . . .
When the story opens Daniel’s project is shot down both by Kelly for environmental reasons and by General Lowe, Daniel’s boss, for private reasons. On his own, keeping Kelly’s environmental objections in mind Daniel re-invents his hurricane de-fuser and dubs it Sub-Zero.
With bright expectation for success Daniel darts off to present the new Sub-Zero project to the powers-that-be. With near unanimous acceptance of the project Daniel finds himself soaring and sinking all at the same time. Sub-Zero is haled as a possible miracle and on the straight path to completion while Daniel’s personal life is falling to pieces around him. His family accuses him of stealing. The government accuses him of embezzling. And Kelly? Well, mutual attraction or not, that’s not going so great either.
In the shadow of End-of-Time prophesies Arnaldo Ricciulli’s Hurricane 2012 weaves the lives of Kelly and Daniel together as they race against time, violent weather and powerful adversaries to stop the most destructive hurricane the world has yet to experience.
I loved the plot of this book. It’s bright, hopeful, informative and suspenseful. Unfortunately, this book is also sadly underwritten. In the writing world the key phrase writers should live by is “Show! Don’t Tell!” This book does not show the reader what is happening. The prose does not draw the reader in and envelope him in the actions and emotions of the characters. The reader sits and is told what the author wants him to hear almost as if he is giving a lecture.
The characters are somewhat flat and two-dimensional. The subplots are predictable and rather cliché-ish. The conflict is diminished by a lack of skilled writing craftsmanship.
In spite of all of that I was riveted to the page and couldn’t wait to see what happened next. This writer has a great story and an even greater potential. I for one would love to see Mr. Ricciulli develop his talent and give Hurricane 2012 the polished writing it so richly deserves.