A Review of The Wind Guardian,

by Frank Scozzari

“The Wind Guardian” interweaves the reader into the action, inside, and within the environs, of Mal Loma, a nuclear power plant evocative of the Diablo Canyon plant near San Luis Obispo, California. The story comes at us so deeply immersed in the minds of key characters, that one almost roots for the bad guys.

Nuclear energy produces the cheapest electricity, with the smallest carbon footprint, but it risks appalling consequences: fatal radiation and nuclear explosion. Much is done to control the risks, but is it enough? What if someone sabotaged a nuclear power plant? “The Wind Guardian,” by Frank Scozzari, Published 2015, by Creativia, wonders about that very question.

This is no made-for-TV shoot ‘em up, although there is ample shooting and vivid imagery. The book rests on well-researched detail about setting, weapons, machinery, security routines, and bureaucracy.  The characters have complex backstories. The geography, including its archeological history, is itself a character, playing a providential role in the drama. There is even a walk-on, almost a speaking, part for the memory of the Chumash Indians, whose pre-colonial range was on the California coast.

They are all here: the well intended, the experts-at-what-they-do, the screw-ups, the mindless bureaucrats, the mercenaries, the ideologues, the spirits of the long dead, and the lovers. In the end, as with the narrative of life, chance becomes a significant player, thwarting some efforts and enabling others. Read this book for its drama and human insight, and learn a little something about living with unthinkable risk.