In many ways, The Abyssal Plain is an apoplectic novel. It tells a very imaginative tale of
what might happen if never ending wars break the bank of the United States and
the result is the deterioration of essential services, the erosion of the
infrastructure that supports commerce and the loss of law and order.
Almost sounds contemporary and almost is. The novel begins
in the year 2020.
As noted in the prologue: “The cities erupted into riots,
into frenzies of self-destruction, and every passing day, the TVs and radios
that still worked brought worse and worse news.”
But this is not a story that focuses upon gang warfare in
the streets of the major cities. Instead it focus on a limited number of
characters, two young women for the most part, who manage to avoid the worst
aspects of a society falling apart by being “chosen” to find their way to an
elaborate shelter tunneled deep into a mountain in West Virginia.
Chosen - who knows how or why? - by the wealthy
genius who had this amazing underground world created for just such an
apoplectic event.
I found this to be a well written tale that brought me along
as I became more and more interested in these two young women whose paths met,
separated, to meet again in an ending that surprised me and will certainly
surprise you.
This is a novel for those who love to imagine and exercise
their brains.
About the author
Born in Decatur, Georgia, Sim has lived in Baton Rouge,
Dallas, and New York City although most of his growing years was in Northern
Virginia, where he graduated from George Mason University in 1972. He got a
Ph.D. in English from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1997. Now
teaching at Louisiana Tech University, Sim looks forward to eventual retirement
with a rather large extended family in the New Orleans area.
Other books include: Pleasant Hurricanes, Basilisk, Krewe of
Hecate and Yarilo’s Dance.
Summary: Highly
Recommended, especially for those who love to imagine what the future might
hold if we don’t get our act together.
Reviewer: Peter Klein Allbooks Reviews.
Title: The Abyssal Plain
Author: Sim Shattuck
Publisher: Dream Catcher Publishing, Inc.
ISBN-:
ISBN-13:
Pages: 284
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