The Rift

Walter Jon Williams

May 2015 · Walter Jon Williams

About this ebook

"The Rift would be a very good beach book, if you could put it down long enough to get into the water." —— The San Diego Union Tribune

FRACTURE LINES PERMEATE THE CENTRAL UNITED STATES.  Some comprise the New Madrid fault, the most dangerous earthquake zone in the world.  Other fracture lines are social—— economic, religious, racial, and ethnic.  

What happens when they all crack at once?

Caught in the disaster as cities burn and bridges tumble, young Jason Adams finds himself adrift on the Mississippi with African-American engineer Nick Ruford.  A modern-day Huck and Jim, they spin helplessly down the river and into the widening faults in American society, encountering violence and hope, compassion and despair, and the primal wilderness that threatens to engulf not only them, but all they love...

" A breakout book that you'll swear the author lived" —— SF Age

"I don't like disaster novels. I would not have even glanced at The Rift if it weren't backed by Walter Jon Williams' reputation for excellence. And I definitely would not have kept reading if Williams hadn't demonstrated on every page that he deserves his reputation. The result? I was so engrossed in—— and engaged by ——The Rift that I forgot that I don't like disaster novels. This book is an impressive achievement.”
 —— Stephen R. Donaldson, New York Times bestselling author of The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant

"The Rift is bloody wonderful! Williams brings an historic disaster back for an encore and metaphorically flattens it again. This is the stuff for which sleep is lost--and awards are made." —— Dean Ing

"The Rift shakes up the world like it's never been shaken before." —— Fred Saberhagen

"[For fans of the disaster novel] Williams delivers the requisite thrills and setpieces—— but he also, to paraphrase Conrad, offers a bit of that truth for which they forgot to ask." —— Locus

Ratings and reviews

A perfectly narrated, realistic disaster fiction. Though it could have been shorter, I have enjoyed every detail of the story.

Third time I've read it. I would like to see a short story or a novella detailing the lives of Jason, Arlette and Nick. Manon is a waste of space as is Jason's Dad.

one of the most boring books I have ever attempted to read. Something to do with the stock market and earthquakes? maybe floods as well? too many characters to care about, interspersed with twaddle about earthquakes in 1812 or whatever... essentially, after almost 200 pages, i still had no f'ing idea what the book was about so I just gave up in the end.