Earthsound

Originally published in 1975, Earthsound is an almost impossibly good short read in the same vein as the kind of thriller written by writers like Michael Crichton and Peter Benchley, but is ultimately more realistic and infinitely less Hollywood-sy than those books. That said, it comes across as informed and particularly well-researched novel, which ratchets up the suspense of its narrative with every expression of the author's keen ear for everyday detail, making a truly scary story in the end because it all seems so real. Earthsound is the story of one lone man attuned to an increasingly perceptible rumbling from the tectonic plates below, and in typical heroic fashion, persists in his belief of an immanent disaster, despite the chuckles of his peers who believe he is losing his mind. Harry Vail is veteran geologist who has purposely chosen to build a home in a peaceful and austerely populated Rhode Island town chosen also for its lack of seismic faultlines. Soon Harry falls off his rocker, literally (a ladder actually), and his resultant concussion aligns his senses with the first tremors that are otherwise undetectable and unnoticed by everybody else. His wife, who displays a prescient and uncanny intuition during a droll parlor game thinks that archetypical and malevolent supernatural forces are causing the strange occurrences which Harry link to the earthsounds he hears. The signs become somewhat inescapable that a major event is underway. People and animals die mysterious deaths, windows shatter, foundation walls crack slowly, and other well-placed events lead the reader blindly down a cryptic and suspenseful path. The small town sleepiness is burst by a rapid-fire burst of unthinkable events that drive the novel to its conclusion. While the premise and idea of Earthsound sounds a bit like a movie you may have seen, Herzog's terse writing and reluctance to depict scenes of unrelentingly saccharine drama make this a great read. I have recently discovered Arthur Herzog's novels, and find that his ideas are ahead of their time. He uses meticulous research that he apparently undertakes himself, and he manages to identify the unintended occasional flipsides of human nature. In doing this he writes novels with perceptive plots and wholly believable characters- a real rarity in both science and popular fiction.