Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner
Sea Change
Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
James Powlik
Class/Genre: Mystery
Delacorte, Sep 1999, $24.95, 352 pp.
Residents of the Pacific Northwest begin to panic as the nearby ocean has turned hotter and deadly. Even some of the coastline has become dangerous to the innocent, as Dr. Ellie Bridges can testify after witnessing the brutal death of a little girl. The media smells a sensational story and descends en masse on the area. The government and the scientific community also migrate into the vicinity of the deadly deaths.
Oceanographer Brock Garner claims he has found watery dead zones, but politically he is considered a pariah even among his peers. He joins forces with Ellie in an attempt to learn the truth. What they find is a colony of deadly microbe fish, Pfisteria, that have merged into a floating tide of poison that transmits through the air as well as the water. The path of the Pfisteria makes Seattle a certain target.
If you place Jurassic Park floating as a current of the Pacific, readers will have the underlying concept of SEA CHANGE. The story line is fast-paced and menacing with much scientific explanation as to why the danger occurred. Though the lead human characters never fully develop, the audience will feel the rising terror as more people agonizingly die and the colony creeps towards Seattle. James Powlik provides eco-terror fans with an action-packed novel that entertains but warns of dire consequences if society fails to face what's going on around the globe
Harriet Klausner
Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner
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