Author:Richard Doyle
Flood is a devastating and compulsive thriller that reads like fact. The country has suffered floods on an unprecedented scale in recent years, but have we seen the worst, an inundation that threatens millions of lives? Doyle's vision is incontestable, backed up by over twenty-five years of research. Flood is the disaster novel of today. A storm rages over the north of Britain, a troop carrier founders in the Irish Sea, flood indicators go off the scale, the seas are mountainous and a spring tide is about to strike the East Coast. Air sea rescue and military personnel struggle to save lives all down the coast. The worse is yet to come. When the storm reaches the south the two forces of wind and tide will combine and send a huge one-in-a-thousand tidal surge up the Thames. But surely London is safe: the Thames Barrier will save the capital from disaster as it was intended to do? The river is a titanic presence by now, higher than anyone has known it, and the surge thunders towards the Barrier. Scientists begin to talk of the possibility of overtopping. Can fifty feet high gates be overwhelmed by a wave? Then there is an explosion the size of a small Hiroshima: a supertanker is ablaze in the estuary and most of the Essex petrochemical works are going up with it. The Thames catches fire and the wall of fire and water thunders towards Britain's capital. This is the story of what happens next, and the desperate attempts to save the capital from destruction.
Wondrous...brilliantly inventive...dazzling. Not simply the most original novel I've read in years - it's also one of the best
—— The TimesExceptional by any standards. Both funny and deeply moving
—— Sunday TelegraphOutstanding. Heartening as well as richly entertaining. A stunningly good read
—— IndependentSuperbly realised. A funny as well as a sad book. Brilliant
—— GuardianA remarkable book. An impressive achievement and a rewarding read
—— Time OutA magical book. It's one of those books that makes you feel as though you have been on an emotional rollercoaster.
—— Carrie Grant, Sunday ExpressBrilliantly empathetic. Believe the hype: a brilliant, heart-warming book
—— ScotsmanIn telling a painful story in the voice of a 15-year-old boy with Asperger's, Haddon broadens ordinary minds and helps to understand how they work, too.
—— Daily TelegraphMark Haddon's portrayal of an emotionally dissociated mind is a superb achievement. He is a wise and bleakly funny writer with rare gifts of empathy
—— Ian McEwanI have never read anything quite like Mark Haddon's funny and agonizingly honest book, or encountered a narrator more vivid and memorable. I advise you to buy two copies; you won't want to lend yours out
—— Arthur Golden, author of 'Memoirs of a Geisha'Original, moving and entertaining for adults as well as for older children
—— Julia Donaldson , Daily ExpressA deservedly acclaimed read.
—— Time Out London