The Rift

Walter Williams, known to sci-fi fans for space adventures, in THE RIFT has reached the heights of a novelist who should be remembered in the same category as Theodore Sturgeon, Octavia Butler, Ursula K. LeGuin, Kurt Vonnegut and others who have gained the respect of literary critics--because he deserves it. Based loosely on Mark Twain's classic, HUCKLEBERRY FINN, Williams gives us a modern, polluted Mississippi River jammed with broken refineries and broken dams, and the growing trust between a Black engineer and a White boy as they seek to escape downriver after another massive earthquake tears apart the states in the New Madrid fault region. There are many thrilling chapters with outstanding descriptions of the wreckage and its perils, but the novel is praised for its many-dimensional characters, not only the protagonists but the supporting cast, their inner and family problems, the fanaticism of the racist and violent militias and radio Christians, some of whom are as lethal as the earthquake, and the need of people for each other. All the characters, even those who commit evil, are portrayed with empathy as well as moral judgment. I've been reading sci-fi since age 13, will turn 96 next month, and I long ago placed this novel within the top ten sci-fi novels I've ever read. I've reread it at least three times. Although written for adult readers it's a great novel for teenagers, too. Don't miss this book!

This book needs editing. The writer jumps all over the place. If you need adventure try Another book.

I love this book. At the age of three, 'way back in 1939, my parents brought me to Reelfoot Lake in the heart of the New Madrid fault country. I've never forgetten the eerieness of that experience and look for books about the historical earthquake or sci-fi projections of future ones. Most, like Hernon's 8.4, aren't any better written than a Robin Cook, but THE RIFT is different. It's literature!I am sure it's no accident that the plot is far more than a disaster novel. It's a picaresque travel-tale and its structure parallels the greatest of all American novels, HUCKLEBERRY FINN, with a rebellious white boy and an intelligent black man confronting dangers and weirded-out characters on the Mississippi and along its banks, and finding great depths of resourcefulness in themselves, as well as friendship and trust. And you get a delicious sci-fi disaster story on top of all that! Who could resist?I've lived in the South about half my life and found the characters entirely believable. Like Mark Twain, Williams shows us the murderous underside of fundamentalist religion, yet at the same time doesn't demonize the preacher and his surprisingly creative wife. Murderous fanatics they turn out to be, but a lot more likeable than the Ku Kluxers and the drugged-out Militia creep from Detroit. (I've lived in the Detroit area, too, and that little piece of smarm could be patterned after a few racist haters and baiters who got in the news.) Yet even he is not without a soul. Williams understands the politics of the American lumpenproletariat, the reasons for resentment and their unfortunate tendency to blame everyone but their genuine enemies. So you get a political analysis, too.Samuel Clemens, I am sure, must have read this novel in Heaven about as many times as I've read it down here.

The New Madrid Fault lies in the south central part of the United States right on the Mississippi River. It is very real and very ominous last heard from in 1811-1812 in an 8.9 earthquake. So "The Rift" is not an apocalyptic fantasy, but a meticulously researched epic of what could happen tomorrow. You well may ask why isn't the earthquake of 1812 a part of every American child's history book as famous as the Chicago Fire or the San Francisco earthquake of 1906? The answer is how lightly populated the area was at that time; the number of people who could report on the catastrophe were few, so at present day we have little documentation.Mr. Williams has done an awesome job of investigation from everything concerning an earthquake to nuclear reactor plants. Every chapter is interwoven with contemporary accounts of the 1812 earthquake. We read what transpired over miles and miles of countryside, and then the author shows us what the same devastation would be like if that "countryside" had the City of Memphis sitting on it as it does today. I learned a little about the Richter scale: an 8.5 is not just a "little" stronger than an 8.3, but a thousand times stronger. An 8.9 (the top of the scale) is just short of affecting the entire planet. For comparison purposes the San Francisco quake registered 8.25 on the Richter scale.To bring us a story and give us a human's eye view of such mass destruction, Mr. Williams gives us a cross-section of characters, most of whom were sharply defined and realistic. From Jason, a young teenager who is Kalifornia Kool but displaced by his parent's divorce to Cabell's Mound, Missouri to Nick, an unemployed weapons engineer recently separated from his wife. (For some reason, I pictured Nick as Bryant Gumbel in the middle of the earthquake.) The hustling dealmaker Charlie struck me as the most poignant. He only existed in the cyberworld of suppose; when the earthquake hit, all he could think to do was dial 911 on his cell phone."The Rift" is a monumental work in all senses of the word, but unlike many worthy tomes, highly readable and entertaining. Grade A

I'd equate this book to the likes of Stephen King's "The Stand" or McCammon's "Swang Song" The story, which is hardly supernatural deals with a very possible earthquake that tears through the middle of the country. The New Madrid fault is very real, and the last time it errupted was back between 1811-1812. 8.9 on the richter scale. Literaly liquifide solid earth. It knocked down forests, and changed the course of mighty rivers, in this case the Mississipi river. "The Rift" takes place in modern day America (today). The story follows the lives of 5 integral characters.Omar Paxton, card carrying member of the KKK, has been voted sheriff of small Lousiana town. Omar's hatred of all that is not white anglo saxon protestant ignites after the quake hits and he is cut off from the government. He takes his hatred so far as to imprison all of black people of the town in quasi-concentration like camps. Rev. Noble Frankland. Fanatical Christian who forsees the coming of the Tribulation aka: Judgement Day. His visions become all to real to him as he mistakes the quake and its aftershocks as the start of the 2nd coming. He is the flip side of Omar Paxton, as he imprisons all that do not kowtow to his sermons or his warped views on Christianity. Jason Adams. The son of divorced parents. He and his New Age flaky mother have just moved to the Mississipi Valley. Yearning to pull away from his wacked out mother and move back to California and his hands-off parenting father. Jason is pulled into a nightmare no child should ever go through as he witnesses his mothers death to flooding brought on by the quake. He is practically orphaned as his father tries to push him on a distant relative aunt in N.Y.Nick Ruford. A unemployeed African-American engineer traveling to Lousiana to present a birthday gift to his daughter before she takes off to school in France. He and a friend are caught in the quake. Nick goes from one tense situation to another as his traveling companion is mistaken for a looter and killed, to getting caught in a ravaging flood of the Mississipi. He is saved by Jason, but only to fall into more dangerous ground elsewhere in the story. General Jessica Frazetta. Heads the Army Corps Of Engineers. She fights against the time, the quake, and a emotionally and mentally impaired President Of The United States. Up against insurmountable odds as she deals with coordination a an enormous relief effort, to say nothing about helping contain a critically damaged nuclear reactor.This is a fantastic piece of fiction, that depending on wheither the New Madrid fault ever slips, could become a piece of non-fiction. I give this book the highest recommendations for summer reading.

This book was incredible. I was impressed with the thought that went into this book. It not only dealt with the concequences of a major disaster in the USA but also the impact it would have on other countries waiting to exploit a weakness in America. The characters were very believable and you develop a fondness for Nick and Jason. The story could be right out of the headlines were this to take place today. The sheriff as a member of the KKK, the concentration camps, the crazy preacher with the end of world teachings, the General and her problems with directing this massive relief effort all these people seemed so real it was hard not to believe this could not happen. To top it all off the "New Madrid Fault" is a real geological fault that has shifted before. The last time in 1811-1812 and could bring this book from fiction to non-fiction in a heartbeat. A very, very good read.