Without Warning (edition 2010)

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Take one part clumsier Tom Clancy, add one part S.M. Stirling, shake it up with an anti-Muslim bias, and you get this 2009 novel by an Aussie. Set just days prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, it's an apocalyptic read, full of military exploits.

A strange inexplicable energy wave abruptly covers most of North America and all mammalian life disappears or is melted into a pile of goo. At least I think it's all mammalian life; only humans are of concern in this book. Only the Seattle area, Alaska, & Hawaii are left of the U.S. states. Also most of Canada's populated areas, most of Mexico, and most of Cuba. There are a lot of narratives to follow, a bit too many for my liking: an undercover assassin woman working for the U.S. & embedded in France, a general at Guantanamo Bay, the city engineer in Seattle, a couple of hot babe pirates, and a former ranger journalist in Qatar. I think that's all of them. Anyway the storylines jump around and take place just after the event, then 1 week after, then 1 month after. They depict what happens to the rest of the world after the U.S. is effectively gone (except for most of the military and a few million expats). Chaos, lots of fighting, lots of brains and heads getting splattered, France really goes to hell (oh those Muslims and their cheese eating surrender monkey sympathizers- if you don't like phrases like that, don't pick up this book), the Arab world is entirely unhelpful and basically has no sanity or restraint whatsoever (but Israel is still around so don't be happy for too long, Arab world), and the U.S. military must step in to save those city goverment buffoons in Seattle who can't run their freaked out city without them. Olympia, Washington's capitol, seems to have survived but the governor and Seattle's mayor were out of state and apparently the rest of the Olympia legislative and judicial folk aren't worth bringing into the story. Neither is Vancouver, BC. Why would the two surviving major population centers in N.A., 3 hours away from each other, chat with each other. They're busy, after all. Luckily a few military folk and the city engineer are still interested in the Constitution, despite the unruly liberal military-hating Seattle populace and the ineffectual city councillors. Scientists suck and are useless in this book, but that Bill Gates, he's all right.

Can you tell this book annoyed me a lot? Still, it's action filled and has a coherent storyline, so it'll have its fans. Especially if they love the military. There are further volumes. ( )

It's been a while since I read this book. I usually try to do a review immediately after finishing, so my thoughts and emotions are fresh. Still, I feel the need to put in my two cents about this story, primarily because even months after finishing the book, it is still with me.

The premise hooked me from the beginning. I'm a disaster story junkie and while this isn't a disaster in the typical sense, it is certainly an event with stunningly disasterous consequences. The idea of the vast majority of the population of American simply vanishing into thin air is both frightening and thought-provoking. As I read, I found that I could completely believe the events that this disappearance triggered. From the celebrations in Europe to the reaction of Israel finding it's greatest and most powerful ally suddenly gone and the global upheaval and chaos that sets in after the initial reactions die down, it all seemed quite plausible. The panicked scrambling of the remaining military to prop up someone, almost anyone, as a new "civilian" leader so that at least the semblance of the American democracy could be maintained was also believable to me.

I went into the book knowing that it was part of a series and so didn't expect any sort of real "closure" at the end. I was still both annoyed and caught by the fact that to the very last page, there isn't any real explanation for the cause of the event. Part of what kept me reading was the hope that some hint of how it had happened might be revealed. I'm the inquisitive sort, so the hows of a disaster interest me just as much as the drama and emotion of it all. It is hard for me to believe that I still haven't gotten around to reading the second book in the series just to see what sort of questions about the event might have been answered. Generally, I saw this book as a better than average story that caught and held my interest from start to finish. Since it isn't a particularly new series, some of the politics are a bit outdated, but that's easy enough to overlook. It was an enjoyable read that left me wanting more and wanting to talk about the book with others. That's more than I get with a sad majority of the books I read. ( )

When I started this novel I thought it was a bit trashy but I read its follow up as well. Great plot and food for thought. It could have done with a good editor - the characters got a bit out of hand. and seemed to run away from the author. Not badly written and it is good to see Australian writers making it on the international scene. ( )

The United States is still there...just uninhabited and unaccessable. Our enemies in Irag, Iran, Venezuala, etc...are attacking and the world is rushing towards disaster. As the military struggles to regroup the survivors work to bring something of America from the rubble. Overall a good book but the multiple storylines make the reading somewhat disjointed. ( )