Flood by Stephen Baxter

From the Publisher

The "deeply scary"(BBC Focus) new novel from a national bestselling and critically acclaimed author.

Four hostages are rescued from a group of religious extremists in Barcelona. After five years of being held captive together, they make a vow to always watch out for one another. But they never expected this...

The world they have returned to has been transformed by water-and the water is rising. As it continues to flow from the earth's mantle, entire countries disappear. High ground becomes a precious commodity. And finally, the dreadful truth is revealed: before fifty years have passed, there will be nowhere left to run...

The Washington Post - Sara Sklaroff

While Baxter doesn't spend a lot of time on individual psychology, he deftly captures the way people as a group delude themselves into thinking that things are going to be okay, even when clearly they are not. In that sense, the story is horrifyingly believable.

Publishers Weekly

In an engrossing, daring and occasionally overambitious novel, Baxter (Weaver) narrates the final 42 years of dry land on earth. Four political hostages are freed in Barcelona in 2016, and their stories through the years show the attempts to save the planet even as rapidly rising ocean levels wipe out major cities. USAF Capt. Lily Brooke works with billionaire Nathan Lammockson to build a haven, while oceanographer Thandie Jones attempts to determine the causes of the flooding. Baxter skips ahead years at a time, often eliding major conflict resolutions, character development and deaths; this choice disrupts the storytelling but smartly underscores the isolation in which the characters often operate. Readers who push through will be rewarded with a fascinating apocalyptic vision-but little resolution-a nice setup for a sequel. (May)

Jackie Cassada - Library Journal

Four hostages freed after five years of captivity by a Spanish extremist group vow to keep in touch. But with the oceans steadily rising and governments, corporations, and determined individuals battling for a solution, the hostages find themselves caught in currents of intrigue and politics. The best-selling author of the "Time's Tapestry" series takes a familiar doomsday scenario and gives it an unexpected twist of mythical proportions. The first of two books, this sf horror thriller presents hard science and theoretical plausibilities in a visceral and immediate style. A new postapocalyptic sf classic that should appeal to fans of disaster fiction and Kim Stanley Robinson's eco-trilogy (e.g., Forty Signs of Rain).

Product Details