Eyewall

I cannot believe this book has so many good reviews. It was terribly written with one-dimensional characters, ridiculous dialogue, so many cliche and soap opera elements that I actually laughed out loud a few times (and I'm surprised that my eyes came back down after how many times they rolled back in my head). The science was questionable in spots and the whole premise of a weather channel that doesn't care about weather was pretty dumb too. Ugh. I gave it 1-1/2 stars because I have actually read worse.

I started this book this morning around 10 and finished at 4:55 this afternoon. Could not put it down but unfortunately had to a few times. Eyewall is written by retired meteorologist H.W."Buzz" Bernard from The Weather Channel. He has written a book so real that you feel like you are there.

A category 1 hurricane swiftly turns into a category 5 and it's up to veteran hurricane expert Nicholas Obermeyer to convince his boss and everyone else to evacuate the Georgia coastline before it's too late.

On St. Simons Island, Georgia the father of a vacationing family says there is nothing to worry about. But things go from bad to worse when they discover their 15 year old daughter missing and the hurricane is now a cat 5 and bearing down on show more them. Can he find his daughter and save his family.

A group of Air Force reservists called Hurrican Hunters take off to fly into the storm to messure wind speed thinking it's a cat 1. Once they break through and and are in the eye do they realize that it is a category 5 and their plane is crippled. Can they get out and safely back home.

This book had me at times on the edge of my seat. I am so glad that I won this book and if I could give it more than 5 stars I would. Word of warning: Start this book when you have nothing to do because you will want to read it in one sitting. show less

When you fly a Hurricane Hunter, somewhere deep in your soul you have a death wish. As do all of your crew. The crew flying with Maj. Arlen Walker had no idea what they would be flying into that day. No one did except one weather forecaster no one would listen to. Walker had gone to a carnival the day before and the palm-reader told him “This does not end well.” Maybe it was a trick, maybe she knew but she nailed it either way.
The Hurricane named Janet was only barely a category one, not worth the trouble except they had to go to the eye and see what they could see. While they were getting ready to fly, Alan Grant has just discovered his teenage daughter snuck out the night before. The weather on St. Simons Island, Georgia is show more getting a bit unsettled and now he has to go out and search for Sandy. Always in charge Alan makes a really bad decision. He leaves wife and son while he goes off in search of daughter. This does not allow them enough time.
While these two stories are melding together, you will be sitting on the edge of your sofa/chair/hammock. I had no idea the math of hurricanes and not sure I want to know now, but I do. This book tells it like it is and the hurricane in it was a real hurricane, just many years ago. Read up on Janet and why the name was retired. A great job of writing, teaching and scaring, Mr. Bernard. Congratulations! show less

It seems like Eyewall by H.W. Buzz Bernard should have been a guaranteed winner, after all it features a category 5 hurricane making landfall in Georgia. I'm a long-time weather geek and have followed storms and systems with rapt enthusiasm for years. Additionally I gave my highest endorsement to Bernard's second book, Plague shetreadssoftly.blogspot.com/2012/10/plague.html so I was really looking forward to Eyewall. Alas, there were a few flaws in this debut novel. There were also a few things he did right.

Hurricane Janet starts out as a category 1, but it soon begins to intensify due to rapidly changing weather conditions. Bernard's story basically follows three different men: a weather channel expert forecaster Dr. Nicholas show more Obermeyer; Air Force Hurricane hunter Major Arly Walker; vacationing family man Alan Grant. As Obermeyer fights his boss to air an evacuation warning when he realizes the hurricane is strengthening, Walker and crew fly into the storm unaware of the danger they are facing. Grant and his family are on St. Simons Island, which is now the targeted area where the hurricane will make landfall.

All of the weather information, the changing conditions are based on solid information and years of personal experience, so this was a definite plus in Bernard's novel. The crew flying into the hurricane and what they experience, is all very captivating and riveting. The Grant family... not so much.

I didn't like one character associated with the Grant family and found that whole storyline annoying at best. One reviewer somewhere mentioned that he felt this might be more of a guy's novel. He's right. There is not one woman I have ever known who wakes up very early in the morning, worried about the approaching hurricane, and then decides they want to make coffee for their man, bring it to him, and then talk like a pirate wench while initiating sex. And oops, while this scenario was playing out their 15 yr. old daughter slipped out of the house to meet a strange guy she met online. Now they must rescue her. I won't even go into the other issues I had with this group.

I was good with the other characters, but good grief, the female characters were all a joke. Okay, Donna the shrewish wife of the Major was so over-the-top in her venomous comments it was cartoonish. And, again, what's with the fantasy material? In the event that a young woman and her older co-worker are fired from their forecasting jobs because they have tried to warn people about an approaching catastrophic storm and they head to his place for breakfast, what young woman is going to start making eggs, excuse herself to go to the bathroom, and come out in her sexy underwear to seduce said older co-worker? Really? really?

Toward the end I had to ignore a couple of other events/actions that had me shaking my head.

In conclusion: the science is solid, and presented in a way that is easily understood and follow even if you aren't a weather geek, and following the flight into the storm and the subsequent crises was gripping-nail-biting suspense, but there are a few problems that prevent me from going more than Recommended.


Quotes:

AIRBORNE, 175 MILES SOUTHEAST OF THE GEORGIA COASTLABOR DAY SUNDAY, 0800 HOURS Dead ahead of the aircraft, a massive redoubt of roiling clouds, the eyewall of Hurricane Janet, billowed toward the heavens and poked into the underbelly of the stratosphere. Between the aircraft, an Air Force Hurricane Hunter, and the towering wall, layers of white and gray clouds, innocuous outliers of the storm, cluttered the skyscape. But the eyewall itself was obsidian, foreboding. opening


“Don’t be such a dick head. At least admit it was our decision. I thought we agreed your career in the Reserve was shot to hell. No more promotions. Stuck in-grade.”
“It doesn’t matter, I love to fly.”
“The point is, not only is your Reserve job in the toilet, so is your bank job,” she snapped. “Your real job.”
“I’m an assistant vice president.”
“Dime-a-dozen. You should be an executive vice president by now, climbing the corporate ladder, investing your extra time at the bank instead of tootling around in cloud formations with your tin-soldier flyboy buds.” Location 251-263


For thirty years, he’d studied rapidly intensifying hurricanes, and over the last ten had forged a theory, the essence of which he’d scribbled onto an old-fashioned paper checklist. Inflow, outflow. Stability, instability. An upper-air low pressure center here. A high pressure ridge there. On and on. Twenty-two factors. Until this morning, he’d never seen them all positive, all favorable. Now he was looking at a monster-in-the-making. Location 468-473


Again McSwanson fell silent. When he finally spoke, his words came out wrapped in a growl. “Although I know it’s a stretch, just give it to me straight. What are ya seein’ that nobody else is?” Obermeyer started to speak, but to his surprise, no words came out. He cleared his throat and tried again. “A cat four or five landfalling somewhere along the south Georgia coast by early evening.” Location 1048-1054

You gotta squeeze people off that island like they were coming out of a sausage grinder at warp speed. You’ve got Andrew’s big sister coming at you.”Location 3825-3826

“It’s not a mother-thing, it’s a woman-thing. Don’t you know it’s a female prerogative to comfort, to soothe, to give approbation?” Location 5763-5764 show less

A sleepless night, because I started reading EYEWALL and could not put it down until the last page. At first, I thought I would scan the book and move on to another more peaceful activity. Reading about a hurricane seemed to be too much for my emotions since I had just sat in a hotel room waiting for tornadoes to pass through the area of my vacation. But after the first page, I was hooked, and the author did a fantastic job in describing every aspect of a storm, a hurricane, and the terrror involved for those in the middle of the horror. Each character was described in such a way that an immediate connection was made, and the emotions concerning each part of the plot became a part of what I was feeling on each page. When the daughter show more disappeared, I wanted to yell at her for putting her family in jeopardy as they looked for her in the hurricane winds. When the hurricane hunters embarked on their journey into the middle of Hurricane Janet, I could feel the plane being tossed and thrown around; I could feel the fear of the reporter on board, who had come along on what was to be a normal, uneventful flight. Many plots were intertwined by the author, in a believable way, and each character's personality was crucial to the overall novel. Choices had to be made by many, and once a choice was made, the consequences affected many. Having one character die was also important to me, as in such a situation, it would be unbelievable that everyone came out safely. Plane crashes, flooding, high winds, hurricane eyes and torrential rains were described by Mr. Bernard in such believable ways that the reader will not be able to lay the book down until the end. I tried at one time to stop reading for the evening, but the plot called me back to see what was going to happen as the flood waters rose, and the plane lost its engines. This is a novel, but after the horrific tornado season we are now in, I see this not as fiction, but as a reminder that the forces of nature are something we must never take for granted. A huge thanks for a magnificent novel, written by a retired meteorologist who has a wonderful storytelling talent and uses it to thrill his readers. A perfect book for thrill eaders. show less

I was supposed to receive this book for free 7 years ago but never did. So I decided to get it on my own and get caught up on my TBR list. I'm glad I did. This was a very informative and enjoyable story and close to home. I don't live too far from St. Simon's Island so reference to my city and the fact this book was written by an author not far from me was great. My only vice was the fact that the father in the story left his son and eventually his daughter under the tarp in the back of the truck while riding through a hurricane did not go over well for me. Otherwise the rest of the story was great and the ending was very sweet.

This is one of those books I could not put down. Maybe it is because here in Florida we have just entered hurricane season. Maybe it is because I’ve lived here long enough to have gone through several. Although my city has not had a direct hit in years this book was so spot on, it reminded me that it could happen right where I live. I was right there with the family trapped on St. Simons Island. It reminded me of a few years ago when I worked at a hotel on the beach. They shut everything down and evacuated everyone as a hurricane headed our way. Two co-workers left to secure things did not get off before the bridge to the island was closed and they had to ride the storm out in the hotel. I had the same scared feelings for the family show more as I had for my friends. The information was so good but not like reading an informational text, that I felt as if I was in the plane with the hurricane hunters. This is truly a job I would never want and I greatly admire the people who put their lives on the line for us.
This is a wonderful book to read. If you live in a hurricane prone area I definitely recommend this book to you, but not during a hurricane. I look forward to more work from this author. show less