false 3 0 false false Mon May 25 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed May 27 10:00:18 -0700 2009 Wed May 27 10:41:25 -0700 2009
The Ninth Wave was Burdick's first novel and a Book-of-the-Month club selection. It's a sprawling California epic the main themes of which are power, personal ambition and politics. The book, which is flawed in many ways (e.g., there are too many long, descriptive passages and some characters -- especially the female characters -- are thinly drawn and lack credibility), takes a very dark and disturbing view of humanity, perhaps befitting a combat veteran who saw action at Guadalcanal.

That Burdick is scarcely remembered today is probably due to his untimely end. He suffered a heart attack and died on a San Diego tennis court at age 46. The obituaries inevitably noted that he won the match. ]]>