Dorothy Van Soest, author of Nuclear Option, had two amazing book reviews from the Readers Views and Midwest Book Reviews! Thank you to both for the great reviews, go check them out!
Reviewed by D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review
Nuclear Option tells the story of Sylvia Jensen, who had an affair back in 1984 with a fellow activist in the nuclear disarmament movement. Decades later, in her seventies, she’s moved on from both activism and her former lover, but Norton’s troubled son lures her into danger with a mystery that involves a new probe by herself and investigative reporter J.B. Harrell.
As a result, Sylvia is drawn into a combination of sleuthing and a battle for justice and truth that is akin to her younger years, but more complex and deadly in nature.
Dorothy Van Soest does an outstanding job of capturing the politics, special interests, activist perspective, and events of both past and present society. She places a myriad of characters in the center of a story that comes packed not just with mystery and suspense, but a sense of responsibility and love in a protagonist whose memories are challenged by death.
Having an older protagonist who has lost none of her spunk and savvy despite setting aside her youthful enthusiasm and optimism is a breath of fresh air, as is her introspective examination of the lasting legacy of her past: “…to those of us in the last row, Norton was a man who, despite facing a premature and unjust death, had channeled his rage and desire for revenge into positive action, a man committed to the truth regardless of the consequences. To me, Norton was the only man I had loved and the only man I had ever felt loved by, the man who’d entrusted his briefcase to me and only me, the man who had left to me a secret that I would hug for the next thirty-five years as tightly as I held it in that moment.”
Alarm bells ringing in her head bring another character, Corey, along for a wild ride through the radical perspectives and literature of yesterday and modern-day challenges to both as readers are treated to a romp through social, political, psychological, and investigative worlds. A simmering revolutionary spirit tinges Sylvia’s perspectives on justice and truth as powerful women emerge who address modern nuclear threats, struggles for social change, the impact of violent and peaceful confrontations on world survival, and the legacy of activism and atomic veterans on future generations. Nuclear Option is more than just an investigative work, but a story replete with social and political inspections of nuclear issues.
Readers interested in a strong woman-centered suspense thriller that is centered both on individual responsibility and the nuclear arms race will find Nuclear Option an unusual, astute read that brings to life the revitalized purpose of a single woman who reassesses her choices and impact upon the modern world.
Its story of sacrifices and saving lives will linger in the mind long after Sylvia’s final revelations.
Short blurb:
Readers interested in a strong woman-centered suspense thriller that is centered on individual responsibility will find Nuclear Option an unusual, astute read that brings to life the revitalized purpose of a single woman who reassesses her choices and impact upon the modern world. Its story of sacrifices and saving lives will linger in the mind long after sleuth Sylvia Jensen’s final revelations. —D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review
Reader Views Review: https://readerviewsarchives.wordpress.com/2020/05/25/nuclear-option-by-dorothy-van-soest/
