She Treads Softly: Worst Case Scenario

Tuesday, August 13, 2024

Worst Case Scenario

Worst Case Scenario by T.J. Newman
8/13/24; 336 pages
Little, Brown and Company

Worst Case Scenario by T.J. Newman is a very highly recommended adrenaline-packed, heart-stopping, nail-biting thriller that starts out at a lightning-fast pace and doesn't let up until the end. WOW! This is an un-put-downable, must-read thriller!

A pilot suffers a widow-maker heart attack at 35,000 feet sending a commercial airliner filled with passengers crashing into a nuclear power plant in the small town of Waketa, Minnesota. This catastrophic accident is a national crisis that has global implications. "Ordinary people—power plant employees, firefighters, teachers, families, neighbors, and friends— are thrust into an extraordinary situation as they face the ultimate test of their lives. It will take the combined courage, ingenuity, and determination of a brave few to save not only their community and loved ones, but the fate of humanity at large."

This is the best thriller of the year. The writing is perfect, the pace is fast, the action non-stop, and the fear and terror is palpable. There is a large cast of characters but the focus is on preventing the potential spread of radioactive material across the Midwest. All the characters are working together on different parts of the complex disaster.

Chapters start with a countdown to disaster, starting at 16 hours and 38 minutes and heading to 0. The point-of-view alternates between various characters dealing with different situations. Every part and situation of the crisis is equally compelling. Every character is portrayed realistically. Just like Newman's novels Falling and Drowning, Worst Case Scenario will make an excellent movie.

For those who love thrillers: read Worst Case Scenario! Thanks to Little, Brown and Company for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.