Eruption

General Mark Rivers is an archetypal general in the US Army. He is in late middle age, very tall (6’ 6”), and with the “rugged good looks of the actor Pierce Brosnan” (187). He is the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The chairman is the highest-ranking military officer and the principal military advisor to the president, Secretary of Defense, and the National Security Council. It is unusual for such a high-ranking member of the military to be on the ground supervising a mission. His physical presence during the crisis demonstrates both the dire nature of the situation and Rivers’s commitment to hard work. In the lead-up to the eruption, Mac finds him with the troops fortifying the Ice Tube out of uniform. Mac notes “he seemed delighted to look like a grunt [a low-ranking soldier], even if he was the one barking out orders” (327).

Rivers demonstrates a great aptitude for managing the various personalities and expertise to address the impending crisis. As he tells Mac, “I’m a smart bastard. But really smart bastards know what they don’t know and know when they’re out of their depth” (244-45). He gives Mac a leadership role in the response efforts and turns to him for advice. He also brings on J. P. Brett despite Brett’s challenging personality because he recognizes that Brett has resources like tanker trucks and private jets that will be essential for confronting the crisis. Rivers also recognizes the importance of managing the media and public perception more generally. For instance, he does not reveal the potentially world-ending threat they are facing to the public to avoid panic. While the New York Times reporters and the biologist Rachel Sherrill contest this decision, insisting the public has a right to know, River is uncompromising on his instance of secrecy about the potential biological hazard of Agent Black.

J. P. Brett is a “billionaire tech guy” who believes they can use technology to prevent destruction from lava flows (80). Brett acts as the narrative’s antagonist and Mac’s foil, or a character who provides a point of contrast to highlight specific qualities. Like Mac at the beginning of the narrative, Brett is a cowboy. He is impulsive and willing to take risks to do what he wants. They also share a passion for volcanoes. The authors best show Brett’s reckless behavior in his disregard for the fact that the airspace over Mauna Loa is closed. Despite this order, he has pilot, Jake Rogers, take him, the Cutlers, the Italian volcanologists, and a videographer over the rift zone to get footage. When Rogers tells him they have to pull out, Brett orders him to stay “just a few more seconds” (294). This reckless behavior results in the death of Morgan. A similarly reckless decision to go up in an aircraft during the eruption itself results in his death and the death of the Cutlers when it crashes.

Unlike Mac, Brett does not learn the importance of working together to confront the crisis. Brett is explicit about his worldview and his motivation for his actions: “everything’s a competition […] and people who don’t want to compete need to get the hell out of my way” (276). This leads him to undermine Mac at every point. Brett goes to Rivers directly and insinuates that Mac is not capable of managing the situation. He poaches two members of Mac’s team and steals their data. Unaware of the true stakes of the crisis, Brett acts with a billionaire’s arrogance and selfishness and imperils the whole response as a result.

Jenny Kimura and Rebecca Cruz are members of the crisis response team who are Mac’s love interests. Like many female protagonists in Michael Crichton’s work, such as Dr. Ellie Sattler in Jurassic Park or Kate Erickson in Timeline, they are successful, tough, smart, and beautiful. They both have technical ability and are unafraid of physical dangers.

Jenny Kimura is the 32-year-old lab director of the Hawaii Volcano Observatory. She was born in Honolulu. She is Mac’s right-hand woman, and they have a strong rapport. The authors show their intimacy in small ways, such as when she goes over to Mac’s house and he offers her a yogurt to eat. She asks him, skeptically, “Don’t take this the wrong way, but how old is it?” (75). This shows her understanding that, since his wife left him, Mac has been living a bachelor lifestyle and not keeping up with the grocery shopping. There is sexual tension between them, most clearly shown when she kisses him before departing for the Galápagos Islands. She dies there when a volcanic tremor causes the cliff she is standing on to collapse. Mac is devastated and feels responsible for her death because he volunteered her for the mission.

Rebecca Cruz is a 30-year-old demolitions expert who works for her family company, Cruz Demolition. She and Mac have instant chemistry when she is brought in to help place timed explosives to vent the volcano. Her competence and leadership impress Mac. Upon their first meeting, he thinks, “her energy was as appealing as she was” (151). Later, Mac feels like he is in high school when they exchange numbers, suggesting a kind of giddy crush is developing. At the end of the book, Mac is planning to move to Houston to be with Rebecca, demonstrating their relationship’s development and newfound commitment.