“The International Nuclear Event Scale tracks nuclear disasters. It has seven levels. Level 7 is a Major Accident, with only two on record: Fukushima and Chernobyl. There has never been a Level 8. Until now.”
Worst Case Scenario, T.J. Newman
This was my first T.J. Newman book, and while it won’t be my last, I am going to need to wait a few months before I pick up another one! This was the most suspenseful book I’ve ever read, and I literally sat screaming in traffic while listening. Also, Joe Morton as a narrator was absolutely perfect at making me so stressed I wanted to pause every minute.
However, between the moments of absolutely insane intensity, this book was packed with the goodness of humanity. I was stressed because I genuinely cared about every single character I met. I wanted everyone to get their happy ending, even when I knew that wasn’t going to be a possibility. Each character felt fully developed, gave a unique point of view, and influenced how I felt about the plot. And with a list of 20 or so characters, that’s an impressive feat.
I will also note that I have zero knowledge about nuclear reactor meltdowns (surprise). But Newman made sure to include enough information throughout the book so that it was easy to understand how life-or-death every moment had become. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of seamless ways to include that much information, so chunks of the story felt more like a textbook excerpt. I knew the information helped ramp up my anxiety, but it was still difficult to not just fully skip forward to get back in the action.
Overall, if you’re looking for something that will grab your attention, this could definitely be an option! My only warning would be that three of the main characters are children and they are involved in very intense moments, including the death of parents. I know that can be an extremely sensitive subject, and wouldn’t want to gloss over it!
Thanks to Netgalley and Little, Brown & Company for the free advanced audiobook copy in exchange for an honest review!
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