Boiling Point by Karen Dionne, a Mysterious Review.

Review: An ecological catastrophe of global proportions may result if a long dormant volcano in Chile erupts — and to the fear of many, it soon may — in Boiling Point, the second eco-thriller by K. L. Dionne.

Research partners Ross Roundtree and Sheila Kennedy have traveled to Chaiten, a small city in southern Chile, to study the regeneration of microbial life in the wake of a retreating glacier when the ground beneath them begins to rumble, a strong smell of sulfur permeating the air. A nearby volcano, dormant for over 9000 years, has suddenly come to life. But the caldera of the volcano has been used as a dumping ground for the toxic residue from the local El Diabo foundry of the Corporacion Nacional del Cobre de Chile, the country's state-owned copper mining operation. If the volcano were to erupt, tons of toxic ash would be blown into the atmosphere, to be spread around the world. Ross and Sheila set out to learn how a company could allow this to happen … and discover that the person behind the dumping actually believes he is saving the planet, even if thousands — or millions — of people die in the process.

Thrills abound and there's adventure aplenty in Boiling Point, yet the book succeeds in large part due to its principal characters, Ross and Sheila, and Ross's sister Rebecca, who joins the team. The plot is fast-paced, the vividly-detailed setting both exotic and terrifying. The author creatively juxtaposes the sincere efforts of those who work towards solving the problems of global warming against those who are equally passionate but who pursue more extreme measures toward achieving their goal. And yet neither is a match for Mother Nature herself. Readers need not take a stand, one way or the other, to enjoy this novel of suspense.

Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Boiling Point.

Freezing Point
Jove (Mass Market Paperback), September 2008
ISBN-13: 9780515145366; ISBN-10: 051514536X