The book starts with a commercial bus full of passengers arriving in the small town of Garfield, TX. On board is a cast of colorful characters ranging from a rodeo cowboy, a school teacher, a farmer, and an old grizzled sailor. But Nilsen's two main characters are on board as well, an undercover Denver detective named Bowman and his prey, a drug dealer named Palermo. Bowman knows Palermo is holding a suitcase filled with $500K worth of heroin, which will eventually lead to a drug trade empire. But, the bus driver is forced to stop in this dusty rural town because of tornado reports.
After Nilsen introduces the bus and its passengers, two more characters join the story - Garfield police officers Roblez and Youngblood. These two lawmen are in a scramble to move most of the small town into the civic auditorium before the deadly cyclone touches down. While the passengers and cops move around in the backstory, a radio DJ named Bob runs the town's radio station from across town. He dishes out the hits and the weather reports for readers and the town's inhabitants.
Like most disaster films and books, the setup has to be perfect. The idea of caring about the characters who are in danger allows for a more emotional experience. For the most part, the first 30 or 40 pages of Cyclone set up the inevitable destruction very well. When the tornado begins to rage, the book takes off.
Roblez and Youngblood are both involved in a number of rescue attempts, the most fascinating being a nine-year-old girl trapped beneath a wrecked trailer. There's also Bob's lonely ordeal at the radio station and his efforts to report the chaos. Meanwhile, the municipal auditorium and a local dive bar are full to capacity and the stressed human interaction ends up turning into violence. At the end of the book, Bowman's quest to bring Palermo to justice is carefully closed, but with a surprise.
Cyclone isn't a must-read disaster novel. But, considering this is an unknown author and Manor is one of the lowliest publishers of disposable fiction, it was a fun read. With the lack of profanity and detailed violence, it reads like a long Scholastic book. Or, what would have made a fast-paced made-for-television movie of the week. If you find a cheap enough copy it's worth a read.
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Great review. Love that cover, the reds and greens really pop. Did this Eric Nilsen write anything else?
ReplyDeleteI wasn’t able to locate anything.
DeleteYes, Eric Nilsen wrote several novels using different names. I know this because I am his wife, now his widow. Train Wreck is another disaster novel by Manor Books published in 1975 also. He used Jeremiah Jack as his name on that one. Warner Paperback published The Parajacker a year earlier under that penname as well. Both are fun reads. Zebra Books published his White Dynasty novel The Missouri under the name of Helen Lee Poole (they thought women reading these kinds of books wanted a female author). After that my husband used his own name, Jack Nelson. To Die In Kanab is still readily available and is a mystery within a mystery, based on historical events. He was a great man and a great writer. I have many of his unpublished manuscripts but just paid 35 bucks for
ReplyDeletecyclone! (and grateful to get a copy)
Thanks so much for sharing this. We have had a few people ask about Cyclone and the identity of the author. I’d love to talk with you more about his life and literary career. Feel free to email me at paperbackwarrior@yahoo.com.
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