The International Nuclear Event Scale has seven levels.
Level 1: Anomaly
Level 2: Incident
Level 3: Serious incident
Level 4: Accident with local consequences
Level 5: Accident with wider consequences
Level 6: Serious accident
Level 7: Major accident
There are only two INES level 7s on record: Fukushima and Chernobyl. There has never been a level 8.
Yet.
Dear TJ Newman,
I enjoyed your previous books, Falling and Drowning, so I was keen to read your latest release, Worst Case Scenario.
On Good Friday, a Coastal Airways, Boeing seven-fifty-seven crashes into the Clover Hill Nuclear Power Plant just outside the small town of Waketa, Minnesota. The pilot had a widowmaker heart attack while the co-pilot was in the toilet and the crew were unable to save the plane. The impact of the plane damaged storage for spent fuel rods and all of a sudden there’s a possible nuclear catastrophe about to occur.
The staff of Clover Hill and the few emergency services available from Waketa have less than 17 hours to avert disaster – an extinction level event which would make large swathes of the midwest uninhabitable for decades and decades, that would impact food supply globally and make millions homeless, jobless and landless.
Steve Tostig is the Fire Chief at Clover Hill. His wife died sixteen months earlier of cancer. He is raising his now-11-year-old son, Matt, alone and realises he’s doing a bad job of it. Neither have dealt with their loss or their grief.
Ethan Rosen is the Plant Manager at Clover Hill. Years before he and Dr Jocelyn (Joss) Vance were lovers. But Joss wanted to save the world and Ethan wanted a family. Ethan is now happily married with children. Joss is back in town, having become disheartened from tilting at windmills, her efforts to get legislative and regulatory change to improve safety at nuclear plants having failed. She’s now the regional NEST (Nuclear Emergency Support Team) representative. Both of them work together to identify the risks, troubleshoot solutions and generally try and save the day.
Dani Allen is a local Waketa firefighter, a single mother raising a young daughter. On the way to the plant, Engine 42 comes across a crashed minivan perched precariously on a bridge, the wing of the downed plane on fire virtually on top of it. Inside the minivan, is 5-year-old Connor and his dying father. Connor’s mother and elder sister died instantly when the wing impacted their van. Even though Engine 42 has been ordered to Clover Hill, Dani and her crew cannot leave the little boy. They are his last hope of survival. It’s going to take every bit of ingenuity they all have to rescue him.
The story covers the “smaller” story of the attempts to rescue Connor and the “bigger” story of team at Clover Hill’s attempts to save – well everything.
Here’s a warning – not everyone we get to know over the course of a very long day makes it.
Worst Case Scenario is a fast-paced, exciting read. Even though everything apart from the Coda at the end takes place in less than one day, there was still enough characterisation for me to care about the characters. I kept hoping for a miracle when it wasn’t possible. I felt for certain characters who had lost so much already, losing even more.
I would have liked a little more detail on some things. Was Vinny alone when he died? Had he been given any pain relief at least? Did he have a family he spoke to before the end? There were some other things but to be more specific would be too spoilery. However, there was enough in the book to paint a full picture and tell a complete story. Me, being the literal person I am, want just a titch more specificity than that one line about the President near the end. I think I got. I’d like to have been sure.
For all I know, the scenario painted in the novel is actually possible which is the scariest thing of all.
Like all of TJ Newman’s previous books, it would make a great movie. Both Falling and Drowning are set to hit the big screen. I’m sure this one will too.
Related
Kaetrin
Kaetrin started reading romance as a teen and then took a long break, detouring into fantasy and thrillers. She returned to romance in 2008 and has been blogging since 2010. She reads contemporary, historical, a little paranormal, urban fantasy and romantic suspense, as well as erotic romance and more recently, new adult. She loves angsty books, funny books, long books and short books. The only thing mandatory is the HEA. Favourite authors include Mary Balogh, Susanna Kearsley, Joanna Bourne, Tammara Webber, Kristen Ashley, Shannon Stacey, Sarah Mayberry, JD Robb/Nora Roberts, KA Mitchell, Marie Sexton, Patricia Briggs, Ilona Andrews, just to name a few. You can find her on Twitter: @kaetrin67.
