Footprints of Thunder

Dinos are stomping all over the fall fiction list: Crichton's upcoming Lost World, Bakker's Raptor Red and now this overblown tale in which wrinkles in time send the giant lizards into our near future. David's first novel is set up like a classic disaster yarn: he follows several individuals and groups as they grapple with the approach, onslaught and aftermath of the cataclysmic ``time wave''--a culmination of all those nuclear tests--that exchanges parcels of today's land, including much of Manhattan, with their prehistoric counterparts. That's a nifty premise, but David works it ragged. His human cast is too large--the U.S. president, scientists, tourists, bikers, gang members, a little old lady, a dysfunctional family out sailing, etc.--to inspire sympathy with anyone in particular. His dinos, with a couple of exceptions, are too hazily drawn to inspire the sort of fear or awe that Crichton's did in Jurassic Park. There's far-fetched science too, as a frantic White House comes up with a solution that could just lead to doomsday. Despite a few memorable moments (most notably, that little old lady domesticating a duckbill dino with bags of sugar) it's all too much, as overbearing as the ancient beasts themselves. (Oct.)