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I saw Ballard's Hello America on my bookshelf and read the blurb and thought I had already read it but after further review I discovered its setting was something I read before in Ballard's The Drought. In both books, the primary characters are traveling through drought-stricken lands.

In Hello America, set in the early 22nd century, the United States' climate has been severely altered by a dam built by the Russians in the Bering Strait. The dam altered the ocean currents and the end result was the majority of the US turning in to a desert with an exception of lands west of the Rockies being turned in to a tropical rain forest complete with exotic animals and plant life. Most citizens of the United States relocated to colonies on the other continents, and there are very few people left in the country.

The story kicks off with a steamship expedition from Europe consisting of folks with a variety of skills to the US to explore and look for the cause of rising radioactivity, which was detected in Europe. After scraping the ship's hull on the fallen Statue of Liberty, they land in New York City and begin to explore and set up scientific experiments.

I really enjoyed the first two-thirds of the book in which the group explore New York, along the east coast, and then head west. A number of interesting discoveries are made in the strange arid setting. Once they get to Las Vegas and discover other folks it felt like the novel dragged somewhat. And like many other future dystopian novels I've read the characters in Vegas were fascinated with the history / historical figures / pop culture of when the author wrote the novel. You mean to tell me that one hundred years from now people will be obsessed over the criminals and presidents of today? I don't buy that. I don't go around talking about Calvin Coolidge or Baby Face Nelson. It's as if there weren't any notable people of note to admire between 1989 and 2100.

The ending was strong and redeemed the one-third or so which I felt dragged and was sometimes nonsensical. The central mystery was solved and the climax was quite intense and dramatic. I would recommend this to any fans of the dystopian genre or any fans of Ballard. It is a short novel and I found the majority of it entertaining.