Morrison, B. (2012). The Tsunami Countdown [E-book]. Sphere. (Original work published Little, Brown Book Group)
Annotation:
As a mega-tsunami is making its way towards the Hawaiian Islands, Kai Tamaka, an assistant director at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center on Oahu, must send a warning in the hopes of saving as many lives as possible, while also trying rescue his family and survive in Honolulu. This is a quick-paced book spanning 4 hours on Memorial Day, starting at 8:41 a.m. and commencing at 12:37 p.m.. It is marked by chronological timestamps and a tsunami countdown alert at the start of each chapter, contextualizing the race-against-the-clock adrenaline-rush. Readers follow the perspectives of Kai, his wife Rachel who is a hotel manager, his co-worker Reggie, his daughter Lani, their family friend Teresa and her daughter Mia who are visiting from Washington, and additional characters impacted by the inevitable, looming waves. Sacrifice, loss, hope, suspense and adrenaline fill the chapters as characters make difficult decisions to help others while trying to survive.
Discussion:
The suspense and adrenaline genre make it challenging to put books down without knowing what happens next and if characters will survive. To help create a rushed and race-against-the-clock/time-is-of-the-essence mood, authors can use timestamps at the start of chapters, or throughout chapters, to contextualize events as they unfold and place readers within the timeline. Readers can be given alerts unknown to the characters in the book, increasing the reader’s understanding of the looming dangers, building suspense and adding to the reader’s adrenaline.
To inspire readers to find suspense/adrenaline books, they can hone-in on themes such as:
- Natural disasters
- Murder mystery
- Surviving against the odds
Their personal interests can help them engage with a book and make it challenging to take a break from the book and leave it mid-way.
The image above is from Hachette UK Limited.
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