Book Title: Hydrocarbon
ISBN 9781465869760
Part of Series: Integra,
Run! ,
Ransom,
Tsunami,
Hydrocarbon ,
Lost!, Population,
Meteor Impact ,
Recovery! , Virus
Author: Nicole Stuart
Available at: Smashwords
, Barnes and Noble
, Kobo
, Apple , Diesel , Baker-Taylor, Sony
Price: $4.99
Number of words (approximately): 77 114
Star Rating (of five): Four
Summary: Jeff meets
Dianne, a chemical analyst, at a lake, and see how a fiberglass boat dissolves
in the water. They investigate and find
that a bacterial infestation of the water has occurred. The bacteria consume any form of hydrocarbon,
threatening to destroy almost every modern product while generating masses of
Carbon Dioxide gas that will precipitate an irreversible climate change. They find a business partner with the
imagination and power to support their campaign to eradicate the infestation,
in the face of opposition from an extremist religious organization that sees it
as an Act of God.
Extract:
- They walked on, silent now, until they could see
their car. They angled off to approach
the road some distance behind the car.
At first glance, all appeared to be clear. Resisting the urge to go to the car
immediately, they stayed in the shelter of the bushes, and watched for another
minute.
“Look over there, under that big tree to the right of
the car!” Dianne hissed very quietly,
and pointed. Jim looked where she
indicated, and saw the shape of a man lying in the shadow of the tree. They watched a few seconds longer, and saw
how the man shifted his weight, lifting a hunting rifle to a more comfortable
position. Jim indicated to Dianne that
they should withdraw a little. They
moved back into a depression, out of sight of the road. He put his mouth close to her ear and
whispered.
“They have set an ambush for us, and they’re
armed! We can’t take any chances.” She nodded her agreement. “I’ll go back up the road a short distance,
and see if I can break into their car.
If I can, I’ll create a diversion.
If that man moves away, you can throw the container into my car and
drive off. I’ll meet you further down
the road, out of sight of the men there!”
Dianne nodded again. Jim fished
the keys to his car out of his pocket, and handed them to her, then giving her
a quick kiss, he crawled away to the left.
He encountered the road about three hundred yards
further on, and quickly saw a car parked behind a bush. It matched the description that Susan had
given. Jim memorised the registration
number, and saw the fish symbol next to the back light. ‘A reborn Christian!’ he thought. He looked carefully around the area, but
could see no one. He crawled carefully
closer, taking care not to make any sound, until he was across the road from
the car. Taking a chance, he lifted up,
then sprinted silently across the road to the car. There was no sound. Looking inside the car, he saw that the keys
were in the ignition switch. He grinned
to himself. ‘They’re obviously amateurs’
he thought. He eased the door open, and
slid in, holding the door slightly ajar.
Gathering himself, he started the engine and reversed the car swiftly
from its concealment. When he was on the
road, he engaged drive, and accelerated down the road. When he reached the position where his car
was parked, he swung the wheel to drive over the low bushes alongside the road,
intending to give his car a wide clearance.
To his astonishment, two men jumped clear of the car as it hurtled down
on them. He corrected the steering and
returned to the road, accelerating past his car. The man who had been concealed under the tree
jumped up and joined his companions as they ran after their car. Jim drove around the sharp bend in the road,
seeing that the road straightened and ran down a long slope. Jim looked quickly around the car for a
weight, finding a full six-pack of beer.
He picked that up, and saw that it held a bunch of papers down on the
seat. He braked quickly, slowing enough
to exit the car, grabbed the bunch of papers, then jammed the six-pack on the
accelerator pedal, keeping his foot pressed on the brake pedal. He swung the door open and rolled out of the
car as it speeded up. The door slammed
shut behind him as he hit the grass at the side of the road, rolling to absorb
the energy of his forward motion. He
rolled into the bushes, and lay there in concealment as the three men came
running past him, obviously hoping to catch the car as it turned into the
hairpin bend at the bottom of the slope.
As soon as they were past, Jim lifted himself to his feet, and sprinted
back up the slope, around the bend that had concealed him from the men. He soon reached the place where he had parked
the car, to find that Dianne was sitting in the driver’s seat, the can of water
on the back seat floor. Jim jumped in,
and Dianne started the engine and raced down the road in the direction opposite
to that the men had taken. In the
distance, they heard a dull thump that indicated that the other car had run off
the road and hit something solid.
“That will keep them out of action for a while!” he
said with satisfaction.
Reviewer’s Comments:
Structure: As always,
Nicole Stuart’s books are examples of how an eBook should be formatted – easy
to read, smoothly flowing, and well-written with good use of language.
Content: The
hydrocarbon-eating bacteria in the book are based on a type of bacteria that actually
existed in pre-historic times. The
amount of destruction that such bacteria could wreak in the modern world is
almost beyond imagination. The methods
used by the characters to counter the threat are all scientifically possible,
and the book turns the potential disaster into an opportunity, as do so many of
Nicole Stuart’s characters.
Reviewer’s Comments: Nicole Stuart
does it again! This is another of her
books that demand your attention from the first page to the last, leaving you,
at the end, with many questions and thoughts in your mind: How would you react?
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the people in it.
Karin B
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