Sea Change
2 journalers for this copy...
"There's a new terror under the sea..." says the tag-line on the cover, and I was sufficiently intrigued to order this paperback from Amazon. Not sure whether it's a monster tale or an ecological-disaster story, or perhaps something else entirely...
This story opens in nicely-done horror-movie fashion, with a couple of abalone divers (poachers, actually) stumbling into something strange in the water, "thin, ethereal strands of some material that looked almost like spider webs" - which he recognizes at once as "some kind of microorganism", but that doesn't help him when his skin begins to burn. His partner is too shocked by his appearance to be of much help, and is soon suffering the same symptoms himself...
Then we switch to the introductions of the primary characters (and won't get back to the hapless divers for some time). Our heroes include a "renegade oceanographer" who gets involved when a friend of his dies after examining strangely-mutilated sea lions, and an emergency-room doctor who has troubles of her own. [Yes, there's a romance. How did you guess?]
The investigation into the strange occurrences turns up a series of experiments that triggered the disaster, and the rest of the book focuses on the growing threat and the problems of trying to contain something invisible that moves so easily through water - and may not be limited to that.
I found some of the narrative a bit clunky, and the dialogue was sometimes a bit painful, but the general idea was a good one, and I liked the setting (Vancouver and the Washington state coastal area) and some of the plot complications. It'd make a dandy movie in the right hands.
Then we switch to the introductions of the primary characters (and won't get back to the hapless divers for some time). Our heroes include a "renegade oceanographer" who gets involved when a friend of his dies after examining strangely-mutilated sea lions, and an emergency-room doctor who has troubles of her own. [Yes, there's a romance. How did you guess?]
The investigation into the strange occurrences turns up a series of experiments that triggered the disaster, and the rest of the book focuses on the growing threat and the problems of trying to contain something invisible that moves so easily through water - and may not be limited to that.
I found some of the narrative a bit clunky, and the dialogue was sometimes a bit painful, but the general idea was a good one, and I liked the setting (Vancouver and the Washington state coastal area) and some of the plot complications. It'd make a dandy movie in the right hands.
Journal Entry 3 by GoryDetails at Boston Common in Boston, Massachusetts USA on Wednesday, April 3, 2013
I plan to leave this book somewhere on or near Boston Common at around noon; hope the finder enjoys it! (Later: I actually left it on a bench in the Public Gardens, just across Charles St. from the Common.)
*** Released as part of the 2013 April Chill-of-the-month read/release challenge, theme: Gaia's vengeance/nature. ***
*** Released as part of the 2013 April Chill-of-the-month read/release challenge, theme: Gaia's vengeance/nature. ***
Haven't read it yet. Or decided where I'll set it free