SOJALS rating:

Good (3/5)

I first read this in 1973 and most recently on the 31st December 2012

Dr Cameron is a successful nuclear physicist. Involved rather against his will in appraising an astronomical project in Australia, he discovers - with the aid of the associated astronomers - that there is a cosmic cataclysm happening now and that Earth is directly in the path of the whirlwind of destruction.

This is an extinction-level event. Cleverly, our cunning Cameron gets himself tout-suite back to Scotland to hunker down through the future firestorm.

Now I know why I've never been to Scotland. I'd completely forgotten that this was the book that put me off visiting Scotland. I'm of MacDonald descent, yet this slim novel had dissuaded me from ever buying a MacIntosh and venturing up North. It's no stretch of the imagination, that even with the Earth nearly destroyed by a blistering inferno covering just about the entire globe, Scotland remains bloody wet. And when the survivors come out of their stone cottages into the New Dawn, it's still bloody freezing cold and raining.

Actually a great book, grippingly written and with well-drawn characters. I was delighted to enjoy rereading it, even though it's a bit of a grim read. Our protagonist is brilliant but in my English view, rather unpleasant. However, you can't help but be stimulated by the several episodes of scientific deduction and in particular the tour-de-force of scientific reasoning as Camperon explains to his audience the catastrophe that is to come.