Out of Crisis by Richard Caldwell

I received this book for free from NetGalley to facilitate my review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

"A pulsating page-turner, Out of Crisis seamlessly blends the thrill of disaster movies such as The Day After Tomorrow and the political maneuvering found in shows like The West Wing ... Readers who enjoy political thrillers or books about natural disasters should definitely grab a copy of Out of Crisis." - Readers' Favorite

In the not-too-distant future, a radical new movement is poised to disrupt the corrupt two-party political system that has held power in the United States since the 1800s. Politically left of conservative and right of liberal, the new Centrist Party pins its hope for a better future on presidential candidate David Stakley, the former US secretary of state. As David assumes center stage with determination, intelligence, and humility, another kind of disruption rumbles deep below the earth's surface.

In Yellowstone National Park, one of the world's two supervolcanoes awakens with an explosive roar from a fitful 640,000-year sleep.

Through the eyes of several different players, author Richard Caldwell weaves a political/natural-disaster thriller around the collision of events that will reshape the physical and sociopolitical landscapes of the United States and North America forever.

I have to admit, I don’t like politics. I find them to be far too divisive and honestly, they get boring after a while. Which is why I have no clue why I enjoy political thrillers as much as I do. For some reason, they are one of my favorite types of book to read.

Out of Crisis was no exception. An interesting mix of time periods – the days leading up to and just after a huge natural disaster and two years prior to that disaster. There is also another time period that we go through, but it is more for background information than anything else.

This book gives a fictional glimpse into what could happen should a third major political party make an attempt to rise to power – and what could happen if that party did rise to power. The part in question – Centrist – wants to make Constitutional changes that they believe will be for the better, but they need the right candidate and the right circumstances. Enter David Stakley as the right candidate. Enter a major natural disaster as the right circumstances.

The book bounces between the time periods but it is done in a clean manner – the majority of the time jumps are done at chapter changes and are clearly marked as to what time period you are currently reading about. This makes the time jumps easy to follow along with and the timelines with their accompanying story lines are easy to keep track of – you won’t get lost in the mix when switching back and forth. They’re very clear and distinct until they finally merge together at which point it won’t matter as you won’t need to keep track of them separately any longer.

Out of Crisis is very well written. While it does deal with Constitutional law in some places, the basics are given in terms that the reader can understand. Of course, these laws may not be real, but even if they aren’t, they’re still easy to understand for the reader. The plot lines are easy to follow and they are written in a manner that is easy to read and has a medium paced flow. According to my Kindle, the book would take around 8 hours to read and I found that all told it did take about that long. Of course, as that is based on my reading speed, your mileage may vary.

Some people may be annoyed or offended by the scripture quotes – there aren’t many and they’re not meant to be used in a religious context so much as a wisdom context. Still, if you aren’t a fan of Christian faiths, you may find this to be irritating or offensive. If you are a Christian, be aware there is cursing in the book, so if you find that offensive, you may want to skip this book.

I’d recommend this book to people who like political thrillers. If you aren’t into political books you probably won’t like this one. However, if you’re looking to try out the political thriller sub-genre, I’d recommend this one as a good starting place.