The son of one of the first men to fly to Mars and back, Ray Garcia-Strickland is now a disgruntled Martian, tired of the Red Planet's overdevelopment and the gravity-dependent tourist Earthies. But that doesn't stop him from fearing the worst when Earth is struck by an unknown object, causing a massive tsunami. Living high on his father's glory was okay, but now Ray must literally come down to Earth-and solve one of its greatest mysteries.

From Publishers Weekly

Ray Garcia-Strickland is just another Martian teenager. Sure, his parents are two of the ultra-famous original Mars colonists (as detailed in Varley's rollicking Red Thunder), but who cares when he's got school, girls and airboard tricks to think about? Then an object traveling at the speed of light slams into Earth, causing a massive tsunami that swamps Atlantic islands and coasts, including Ray's grandmother's Florida home. When the Garcia-Stricklands return from wading through the horrifying aftermath in search of survivors, they find that Ray's eccentric uncle, Jubal, has developed a gizmo that stops time and used it to mail himself to Mars. Drawing unabashedly on current events from 9/11 to Hurricane Katrina, the author mixes space opera–esque adventure and merriment with uncensored images of disaster areas and teenage sex. At his Heinlein-channeling best, Varley preaches the gospel of individual responsibility with all the fervor of a space-age libertarian revival preacher. (Apr.)
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From Booklist

Mars sucks, but it has all the comforts of home for Ray Garcia-Strickland, son of Martian explorer and hotel owner Manny Garcia. The family still has connections to Earth, though, and when an unidentified object strikes the Atlantic, destroying a huge percentage of the U.S. East Coast and several Caribbean islands, they head for Florida to get Grandmother, who owns a hotel on the coast, out of the disaster zone. Then there's mad genius Uncle Jubal, singlehandedly responsible for the incomprehensible Squeezers technology that creates incredibly cheap energy and makes space travel possible, who lives surrounded by a web of "security" in the Falklands. Just as the family thinks the worst is over, Jubal vanishes, and there are earthly powers that will stop at nothing to find him. The epic disaster has caused a whole stewpot of political unrest and power plays to come to a head, and Mars is a major pawn in the game, with Ray smack dab in the middle of an epic battle for truth and sovereignty. Regina Schroeder
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