I really enjoyed Birmingham's last series, so I was very happy when I got his new book as an ARC. In his last series, he explored what would happen if a modern (or slightly futuristic) international task force was dropped into WWII. In this book, he explores the effect of the vast majority of North America disappearing and how removal of American military might would influence world politics and balance of power. The story gets a bit bogged down in the second half, but it's still an enjoyable read. ( )

This was an inventive and creative book. It was a pleasure to read it, and I hope to read more from Birmingham in the near future. Truly a wonderful novel.

-Philip Troy

What would happen if America and Canada suddenly vanished? John Birmingham takes this premise and runs with it, creating a cast of well rounded characters in a charged military and political setting.

A fascinating take on 'alternate history', it's a page turner and definitely something worth picking up if you're a fan of this genre! ( )

The premise was interesting but the execution was lacking. What happened? We never find out.

Book Review
Without Warning (John Birmingham)
Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Characters: A
Character Development: C
Plot: B
Pacing: C
Narrative: C
Dialogue: C
OVERALL: C+ (***)

The strengths of this novel lie in the characters and the plot. The former are varied, ranging from an engineering civil servant to a bunch of smugglers operating in the gray area of the moral spectrum to an American assassin and agent to a mover-and-shaker glad-hander to a variety of believable military types. On the negative side, as is typical in thrillers, there is little, if any, character development in any of those characters as the story progresses.

The premise of the story is interesting and its focal point is the strange annihilation of the vast majority of Americans and North America. I won't say more so that I don't create spoilers beyond those widely known, but suffice it to say that the event is never explained, but always present. And it is a wonderful plot device.

Still, that interesting premise quickly begins to suffer under a slow-moving narrative, which could have used some additional trimming and editing at various points. Either that, or the fact that the novel never really grabbed me made it seem more drawn out than it really was. In addition, the rapid deterioration of some areas of the world post-event seem to challenge plausibility. While it's certainly understandable that things would change in the aftermath of such a momentous event, it's hard to believe that the changes would be as quick and as drastic as the story makes them out to be.

Lastly, dialogue is only average, which is always a disappointment to me, as I love snappy dialogue of the sort that a Nelson DeMille type consistently delivers. Of course, authors like DeMille often use dialogue and certain character exchanges to break the tension of the story with lighthearted moments, and Without Warning suffers from an absolute lack of lighthearted moments. Granted, the premise makes it hard, but it could still have been done.

Apparently, there will be a sequel to this novel released in 2010. If it follows up on the paths of some of the principal characters in this book, I will probably read it at some point, but it will not be placed at the top of my reading list. ( )