Review: Volcano Watch by Toni Dwiggins

Volcano Watch is the second book in the Forensic Geology series by Toni Dwiggins. Being a bit *ahem* of a science geek I thoroughly enjoyed the first book is the series Bad Water and was eager to get my hands on Volcano Watch. It did not disappoint.

Volcano Watch follows Cassie Oldfield as she returns to her home town of Mammoth Lakes which is situated on a giant Caldera. After years of the volcano being dormant, the rumblings begin - the volcano has awakened. To add to the town’s panic the mayor has disappeared, leaving only a cryptic note saying No Way Out. Cassie is sure that the note relates to the plans for an eruption, and decides to find out what the mayor meant before it is too late.

Volcano Watch has a nice cosy feel to it; the author creates characters that, in the most part, are well developed and memorable. The sense of small town America that Dwiggins weaves was easy to identify with, even for a big-city raised Brit. This focus on the characters and their back-story inevitably comes with a slower plot line at the start, while the scene is set and characters are introduced – there is still tension, but muted. Later on the pace picks up and you are pulled along in the fear and panic of the characters as the towns worst fears are realised. The only character that didn’t grab me was Krom – who felt a bit too stereotypical and cardboard for my liking. As with Badwater, there is the use of unusual spellings to convey accents such as “o-kigh” which was jarring for me as a reader, but is part of Dwiggins’ writing style. rt of a book like this, and where real world examples were used, these were true and precise. The only time believably wavered for me was in the actions of Krom, the emergency planner, who seemed to have his own agenda.

Overall, a almost-unique science-thriller, which will especially appeal to those with a interest in volcanology or disaster novels. It is available from Amazon UK for 77p and from Amazon US for 99c.

Review: Badwater by Toni Dwiggins

Badwater follows a team of forensic geologists (think CSI with rocks) as they race against time to stop a catastrophic release of nuclear waste in unspoiled Death Valley. The premise of the book fascinated me from the start, although, to my shame, I could not see how rocks could be that interesting. I was however pleasantly surprised.

The book has a trilling start, a road crash site in the middle of the desert with a murdered driver and a missing barrel of nuclear waste. The thrills continue throughout the book, which has a good pace, and whist the reader is aware of the culprit from the start due to his narrative in one of the first chapters, the reader is kept guessing as to who else can be trusted, which keeps things interesting. The forensic geology is well integrated into the plot, and is not just brushed to the side as can happen in these types of ‘CSI’ books; and I found both the geology and the nuclear science very accurate and interesting. I had a good chuckle at some of the more sciencey jokes in the book too – such as the analogy of the three types of radiation as the Three Little Pigs. There are numerous references to different places in Death Valley in the book – and the inclusion of a map at the start is a nice touch and makes it easier to picture the places when they are mentioned.

The only slight source of irritation for me was the, at times, heavy use of colloquial spelling such as “Shore Thang” which tended to jar me out my flow of reading. I can understand the author trying to get across the local accent, but I felt in this case it wasn't needed and was inconsistently used. There were also a few grammatical issues (such as mixed used of the first and third person) but these did not affect my enjoyment of the book.

Overall a quick, but very enjoyable read which should appeal to any fan of science based thrillers. I will be looking forward to reading the second book in the series – Volcano Watch. Badwater was awarded the 2012 Best Indie Whodunnit award from Wired.com.

Badwater is available as an e-book for £2.36 from Amazon, and is also available in dead-tree and audio-book formats

[Review copy provided by the author]