The Jericho Iteration

by Allen Steele

Paperback, 1995

Status

Available

Call number

813

Publication

Ace (1995), Paperback, 288 pages

Description

A natural disaster reveals an unnatural conspiracy--"Steele keeps the action moving at a breathless pace right up to the nail-biting climax" (Publishers Weekly).   It takes only minutes for the earthquake to demolish St. Louis. The city's oldest structures crumble, its finest bridge collapses into the Mississippi, and the observation deck of the famous arch falls to earth, killing five. Seven months later, all those who can afford to leave have gone, abandoning the poor, sick, and desperate to scrap for survival. Gerry Rosen, a reporter for the Big Muddy Inquirer, isn't going anywhere. Whether thriving or ruined, this is his town. After months of reporting on the earthquake's aftermath, with electricity, security, and food in short supply, Rosen stumbles on something that takes his breath away. Beneath the rubble of old St. Louis lurks a stunning government conspiracy, the details of which are almost too dangerous to print. Rosen goes underground, running from the army in a desperate attempt to save his city--and his life.  … (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member RandyStafford
A St. Louis trashed out from an earthquake on the New Madrid fault in 2012 and under the management of the sinister Emergency Relief Agency forms the backdrop to this well done thriller.
When dead scientists start turning up, Gerry Rosen, reporter for an alternate weekly, realizes that a local
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defense contractor and the ERA have something to hide. That something isn't a new idea to science fiction, but Steele still tells an exciting story greatly helped out by the setting of a devastated St. Louis occuppied by government thugs.
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LibraryThing member John_Warner
St. Louis has been devastated by a 7.5 earthquake. The Emergency Relief Agency (ERA) was mobilized and martial law was declared. Gerry Rosen, the novel's wise-cracking protagonist and reporter for the local Big Muddy Inquirer, has just learned that his friend and fellow reporter, John Tiernan, has
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been murdered after being shot with a laser beam. The only knowledge that Gerry has regarding the situation is what the woman looked like who requested the meeting through Gerry and the message that she requested that he pass along, "Ruby fulcrum."

This novel combines elements of both science-fiction and a murder mystery set in a dystopian environment. The ERA maintaining martial law, behaving more like swaggering Nazis, add a thriller element to this enjoyable novel.
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Original publication date

1994-11

Physical description

288 p.; 6.7 inches

ISBN

0441002714 / 9780441002719
Page: 0.4538 seconds