Tremor by Craig Dirgo

The book Tremor starts in the late 1890s when an inventor named Nikola Tesla is poised to test his latest invention - transmission of electrical currents without wires. With his experiment set up he successfully transmits electrical currents without wires a short distance. He invests most of his money into this new invention. It leaves him nearly bankrupt. Nearly 10 years later he sets up his experiment one last time. This time the electrical currents are transmitted from Colorada to San Francisco. The day is April 18, 1906 - the day of the San Francisco earthquake. Unbeknown to Nikola Tesla his invention has caused one of the greatest natural disasters on U.S. soil.

The book then flash forwards to current date when John Taft, a special agent for the NIA (National Intelligence Agency), is called into action after a series of unusual earthquakes hits Italy and then Spain. We later discover the sinister plot of a fanatical Serbian nationalist to destroy the U.S. economy by knocking out the largest power grid in the United States. This would raise gold prices and reduce the value of the dollar at the same time. It's up to Agent Taft to uncover who is behind the series of earthquakes and stop the terrorist before the US economy is destroyed.

I found this book at the library several weeks ago. It caught my attention because this author has co-authored two books with Clive Cussler -- Sacred Stone and Golden Buddha. I enjoyed Sacred Stone but I was not thrilled with Golden Buddha. I decided to give this book a try.

Out of 5 stars I would give it 2.5 stars. I really liked the idea of this devise, used to emit electrical currents without wires. And I liked how it was being used to create earthquakes. It's an interesting paradox we have with new technology. Even the greatest technology that sounds great can be used for great evil.

I struggled with how the story was written, though I had a hard time sticking with the plot. The story moved from point to another and I became lost trying to keep up. There weren't a lot of story sidebars to follow but I didn't find the story really flowing smoothly.

I also found it difficult to keep the characters straight. Some of the character's names were similar so as I was reading I couldn't keep straight who was was. There could have been a bit more character development so I knew who each person was. This apparently is the second book in the John Taft series so perhaps if I had read the first book first I would have understood more of the characters. When writing a series of books the author must write with the expectation that his audience has not read any of the others books so it's good to develop a character in each book. In all of Clive Cussler's books you learn that Dirk Pitt has deep green eyes and is an owner of classic cars. You get from Cussler's description he's a tall, blond man, who walks with confidence, and women pick up on his aura quickly.

I didn't like John Taft all that much either. He sounded wimpy to me. Near the beginning of the book we read that he wants to retire for not apparent good reason. He's then later pulled from the investigation and instead of fighting to stay on the job he allows himself to be pulled. He shows some anger with what happens but there is no passion. I imagine someone with passion for what he was trying to do would have disobeyed orders, gone in with guns blazing, and saved the day. Instead John just happens to be in the right place as none of his own doing and is able to be part of the rescue.

The book also ends pretty week with us not knowing if John Taft is alive or living as a vegetable. The book doesn't end with a strong sense that John Taft is a hero. Instead it comes across feeling we just got lucky.

If you like reading action books then pick this one up. Just be sure to keep a pen and paper close to write down the characters and what they are responsibly for doing as otherwise I think you may end up as lost as I did.