I give 8.4 a 3.0. This book is obviously about earthquakes. The New Madrid Faultline (NMSZ) - think Memphis - is infamous for the historical triad of earthquakes that happened in 1811-1812. It's present day, and one of our heroes, Elizabeth Holleran (seismologist), comes into some information that leads her to believe that it's probably going to happen again.
As she's on her way to Memphis, to tell the Big Earthquake Guys, the first earthquake hits (great & scary descriptions of what an earthquake IS exactly - how the earth is shifting) - at a 7.1 on the Richter scale.
Of course we have to go through the scene where all the politicians (and our other hero, John Atkins - geologist) don't believe Holleran's theory, dismiss her ... and we all know what happens next. The 8.4 earthquake hits, and this causes massive destruction all across the land. The fault line has doubled in size! Holleran reiterates her belief that the 7.1 and 8.4 earthquakes that strike along the NMSZ are just a precursor to the really big one.
The character development and the unnecessary romantic storyline are what garnered this a 3.0 and not a 5.0. Atkins and Holleran aren't very interesting characters - and I just never grew to like Atkins. He was kinda slow on figuring things out (ignoring classic earthquake signs, totally dismissing the Triad-Earthquake theory) - especially considering he's supposed to be 'an expert' in the field. Although, my mom pointed out that the main character of the book is the earthquake - not Atkins or Holleran. So, I guess if you look at it that way, the main character rocked my world.
My mom read this book 2 weeks before needing to go to Memphis for a conference ... it shook her up a bit. We live only three hours from Memphis, and it is a bit disturbing to hear of how far the destruction from an earthquake there would reach. In the 1811-1812 quakes, lakes formed in Tennessee, church bells rang in Boston, and the mighty Mississippi ran backward. Isn't the earth amazing?
Wow. sounds like a really interesting book. I may have to read it at some point.