The authors describe The Vortex as a book of narrative nonfiction, and it certainly is that, the product of more than 200 interviews and multiple trips to Bangladesh, undertaken to help build dramatic (and occasionally theatrical) reconstructions of events.

Carney and conflict and crisis researcher Miklian reveal a long-concealed and profoundly shocking confluence of geopolitical crimes and crises.

Absorbing.

Carney and Miklian write vividly in the fashion of a cinematic disaster flick, introducing a string of real-life characters — including a Pakistani soccer star and a heroic American expat couple — in the months and years before the storm, then following their travails as the cyclone ravaged the region.

A disturbing study.

he authors effectively translate their exhaustive research into a compelling narrative, cleverly alternating chapters among the perspectives of a diverse range of protagonists.