Review: ‘Cascadia’

‘Buzz” Bernard is a former senior meteorologist for The Weather Channel and before that, he was a weather officer with the Air Force. His weather experience is lengthy and makes it only natural for him to write about weather catastrophes. He has previously written books about hurricanes, tornadoes and blizzards in his weather thrillers.

In his newest book, 'Cascadia,” the setting is the beautiful Oregon coastline. Bernard introduces us to Rob, a geologist, who has 'visions” of a megaquake followed by a tsunami that hits his beloved Manzanita area.

The quake appears in his dreams as bigger than the one researchers have studied that hit the same coastal area in the 1700s. Johnny is one of those men who has been studying the area, looking for buried treasure left behind by Native Americans after a quake hit in the 1700s.

We also meet a retired Air Force veteran who comes to Manzanita to make amends with his past. These characters and others converge on Manzanita over Fourth of July weekend and their lives collide in a way none of them expected.

'Cascadia” is fast-paced and doesn't get bogged down with the technical side of earthquakes. It gives enough information to understand the devastating effects of a megaquake on the entire coastline.

In the prologue, we are given a folk tale that has been passed down through generations of Native Americans foretelling the power of a megaquake and forthcoming tsunami. The 'Thunderbird and Whale” narrative gives one perspective of understanding the weather long before seismology and meteorologists.

'Cascadia” is predictable in that murder mysteries are predictable. You know that a murder is going to happen, you just don't know who is going to die and who will commit the murder. I know enough about Bernard's books to know an earthquake is coming, or there wouldn't be a story to tell. You just don't know how all the characters are going to connect and what will happen to each of them once the quake hits.

Bernard packs a powerful story into a quick read that can easily be consumed over a weekend. You just may not want to read it if you are traveling to the Northwest Coastal Region. Save it for when you get home.