This is a no-brainer thriller from a master of the genre. Set in Hawaii on the big island, the plot revolves around two interrelated stories at the same point on the island and both dealing with Hawaiian gods and volcanoes, including Pele and all three active volcanoes on the island. In the first story, Eleanor Perry, a single college professor, has come to the new fancy resort on holiday; Cordei Stumpf is the very self-sufficient woman who is the big prize winner from Indiana of a fully paid holiday; Byron Trumbo is the owner of the resort trying desperately to sell it off to his Japanese investors while keeping his ex-wife and two girlfriends far apart from each other. The resort is having a spate of bad events including missing guests (or missing pieces of guests), and the weather is just getting worse. The second story is told in journal entries kept by Eleanor’s distant Aunt Kidder about her experiences on the island with a young Samuel Clemens, and how they dealt with similar horrors. There’s a lot of action involving a shark, a pig, and a dog, and the story races through to its conclusion. I enjoyed the read, but I like most of Simmons’ work. It’s not world-class literature, but it’s a fun thriller. ( )

Its definitly not bad, I enjoyed it quite a bit, actually. But compared to Simmons other novels, this pales in comparison. If you're a fan, I would recommend it. Cheeky B-Movie-esque. ( )

Sadly, not nearly as good as The Terror, but since it's quite a bit earlier, I guess that's not unexpected. But this was more on a Dean Koontz level than the excellent writing I'd enjoyed in Simmons' most recent book. ( )

Dan Simmons wanting to show he could write a standard type novel? Got this because of the setting, somewhere that we lived.

Set around the resorts, as well as some of the travel on the saddle road over the middle, a bit of a low key thriller.

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2006/12... ( )