Reviews & Overviews by Rod Cameron

Sixty Days and Counting - Kim Stanley Robinson

Publisher:	Harper
Date:	2007
Size:	504 Pages
Format:	Paperback
Price:	£6.99
ISBN:	978-0-00-714894-3
Reviewed by:	Rod Cameron
Review Date:	November 2007

Sixty Days and Counting is the third part of Kim Stanley Robinson’s topical thriller about climate change set largely in Washington DC, the characters from the first two parts - Forty Signs of Rain (2004) and Fifty Degrees Below (2005) continue their lives. Scientist Frank Vanderwal continues to try to save the world despite being unable to keep his own life in order. His political boss, Phil Chase has been elected president of America and is determined to make significant changes in his first sixty days of office. Unfortunately, the whole world and especially China is in melt-down; the secret service appears to have its own agenda; and Frank has lost his girlfriend.

Following on in the same style has the previous parts, Sixty Days & Counting is a readable account of what will probably happen in the near future. Unfortunately, because of differences in scale – Frank’s personal life and the melt-down in China, the story tends to fall “between two stools” at times. I would have liked to have read more about the problems in China, and more about the machinations of the secret agencies. Please don’t misunderstand what I am saying. This book was very readable, and follows on from the first two to the extent that I would suggest that anyone reading this would benefit from having read the first two beforehand.

Of particular interest was the proposed solution for rising sea-levels – floating pump platforms to move large quantities into sub-sea level depressions in deserts and other accommodating land areas such as in central Antarctica.