Promotional Information

/ Includes PS Section The worst storm in history seem from the wheelhouse of a doomed fishing trawler; a mesmerisingly vivid account of a natural hell from a perspective that offers no escape. / A Sunday Times no.3 bestseller / 'The Perfect Storm' will be published to coincide with Junger's new book, 'A Death in Belmont'. / 'The Perfect Storm' was a major Hollywood movie starring George Clooney and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, that was released in spring 2000.

About the Author

Sebastian Junger grew up in New England and has worked as a tree-feller, Bosnian correspondent, journalist and adventurer. His first book, The Perfect Storm, has spent over four years on the bestseller lists and its film adaptation was a huge box-office success. Junger is a contributing editor to Vanity Fair, and winner of the National Magazine Award for Reporting. He has also written for magazines including Harper's, the New York Times Magazine, and National Geographic Adventure.

Reviews

'(It) will become a classic for a jaded modern world' The Independent 'Writes like a poet who has been to meteorology school' Ruth Rendell 'Terrifying, sad, exhilarating, humbling and unforgettable' Daily Mail 'A magnificent sea-yarn ! it deserves to storm these shores' Observer

Toward the end of October 1991, a storm of colossal scale plagued much of the East Coast with devastating floods. At sea, the New England fishing boat Andrea Gail suddenly found herself in the very center of the tempest. A Perfect Storm chronicles the boat's ill-fated voyage in horrifying detail. The boat is armed with the latest navigational tools and signaling systems, but the wind-swept sea brushes all precautions aside with careless ease. The boat and its crew disappear suddenly and completely. At times, the author seems to dwell unnecessarily on gruesome detail. In one passage, he discusses the physiology of drowning at excruciating and tasteless length. But for the most part, this is a thrilling and suspenseful tale, full of fine writing and haunting images. The abridgment seems to depersonalize the Andrea Gail's crew while ironically accentuating the animal-like fury of the storm. The listener is left with a clear and intimate portrait of the storm's "personality" and a mere shadowy sketch of the tragedy's victims. Stanley Tucci's measured and compassionate narration is uniformly excellent. Recommended for public libaries.‘John Owen, Advanced Micro Devices Technical Lib., Sunnyvale, Cal.

In meteorological jargon, a "perfect storm" is one unsurpassed in ferocity and duration‘a description that fits the so-called Halloween Gale of October 1991 in the western Atlantic. Junger, who has written for American Heritage and Outside, masterfully handles his account of that storm and its devastation. He begins with a look at the seedy town of Gloucester, Mass., which has been sliding downhill ever since the North Atlantic fishing industry declined, then focuses his attention on the captain and the five-man crew of the Andrea Gail, a swordfishing vessel. He then charts the storm‘particularly formidable because three storms had converged from the south, the west and the north‘that created winds up to 100 miles an hour and waves that topped 110 feet. He reconstructs what the situation must have been aboard the ship during the final hours of its losing battle with the sea, and the moments when it went down with the loss of all hands. He recaps the courageous flight of an Air National Guard helicopter, which had to be ditched in the ocean‘leaving one man dead while the other four were rescued‘then returns to Gloucester and describes the reaction to the loss of the Andrea Gail. Even with the inclusion of technical information, this tale of the "Storm of the Century" is a thrilling read and seems a natural for filming. BOMC main selection and QPB selection; Reader's Digest Today's Best Nonfiction selection; first serial to Esquire; $235,000 paperback floor; simultaneous Random House Audio; British rights: Fourth Estate. (May)