An excellent effort by a good writer is the best way to describe this one from Michael Crichton. But unlike his other novels, this one has 3 strong underlying themes: one a dominating theme and the other two subdued but equally thought-provoking
Which brings me to my usual line: The title of my review says it all!
But before we delve a little more into the book per se, it is essential to get a little background on the book.
BACKGROUND
The book is actually based on real life incidents in the American aviation space, involving some pretty serious accidents that happened - as anyone interested in the History channel will readily testify. The specific incidents escape my memory{even a simple google search will not reveal them}, but the entire range of technical aspects is based TO SOME EXTENT on those incidents.
I say to some extent: the reason cannot be explained without revealing the ending of the book. Suffice it to say that the technicalities in relation to in-flight problems described are factual and have actually taken place in USA in the mid seventies to mid-eighties. There was a major investigation which grabbed media attention and lead to improvements in aviation technology. That much is cold, hard fact - and was very well covered in The History Channel. The book has used that as the basis
Interestingly, these incidents do not find mention anywhere in the book: the only factual reference was to the infamous MD-DC10 flight 191 of American Airlines{also highlighted in The History Channel}
The reason is not far from notice: avoiding controversy. Although a fictional company has been used, the inference as to the actual company referred to is inescapable. I shall leave that to all of you to discover for yourselves!
AIRFRAME
The major theme explored is air safety, with the author concentrating on the viewpoint of the aircraft manufacturers. Nothing wrong with that - in fact, it is a big help in the overall context of the plot and the story. The story revolves around Casey Singelton and John Marder in this theme. C. Singleton is from Quality Assurance - and Vice President, whereas John Marder is the COO of the Company.
But you cant have a page - turner based on this alone. This is where the second theme comes into play: the deal of no less than 40 - odd aircraft worth 8 Billion Dollars that is in the offing.
The themes intertwine for the simple reason that the deal involves in an Aircraft Model N-22 - whose air-worthiness has been brought into question because of an in-flight incident. This incident resulted in 3 dead, 56 injured.
3 dead, 56 injured? So why all the hullabaloo, the screaming blue murder? Especially when Kanishka involved more than 300 fatalalities, Charkhi Dadri caused more than 400 casualties - you may ask?
Problem is, this happened at 37000 feet, destroying the entire interior of the craft. Now that, you will admit, is highly out of the ordinary. You put something in the air: it should stay there. This one does stay in the air, but just about. What happened in the air that caused 3 dead people and 56 injured?
That is the whole point of the theme. Now this happened in the N-22 aircraft - which was being finaised by the chinese for an order of 40 numbers! Naturally, that would put the whole deal under the shredder. The entire novel is about the race to identify the cause of the crash and certify the Aircraft as excellent.
To make matters more complicated, enter the Media in the person of Of J. Malone from Newsline! As it happened, several recordings were made by several passengers during the flight - one of which reaches the CNN. This leads Malone to do some investigative journalism, in the hope of a scoop in the form of a story of a big bad corporate peddling bad stuff. The reporter is helped by the rather unsavoury fact the the self same N-22 model HAD some tehnical snags which were susequently corrected.
Add up all the parts, and you have goodly material for a pot-boiler.
THE ANALYSIS
This is one of the best books of Michael Crichton: I rank it alongside Timeline in terms of readability.{I have not read Jurassic Park, so cant compare.} It is decidedly better than Sphere, State of Fear, Congo, The Andromeda Strain and Next. In fact, personally speaking I liked it better than Timeline also.
The reason for the above is simply overall plot - including the sub-plots, which does not allow the story the meander at all, unlike some of his other works. The story is a very tightly knit one and keeps to the basics
Of course, vintage Crichton is in evidence everywhere in the technical details deescribed, which make all of his books a must read at least once. The usage of subtle sub-plots in this book mark a major shift from his earlier efforts - and is fast becoming his style.
There are those who may claim that the book is too technical. Yes, it is - no doubt about that. That is beyond dispute. But remember, that is the hallmark of Michael Chrichton, it is his Signature style.
If you want a tghtly knit immensely readable and knowledge imparting book - read it. I have read some other views on it, which state that this book increases fear psychosis towards flying, or that you shouldn’t read it while flying. Well: I dont think so. It in fact re-assures you regarding flying, as it de-mystifies flying, as well as puts aerial accidents in perspective.
Yes there are holes - like for example no less than 2 - 4 video recordings in existence from INSIDE the aircraft AT THE TIME OF THE INCIDENT. Now that, I submit, is a bit much. But these are not major gaffes - and can be ignored
An eminently readable book, it is a relentless page-turner. I could not put it down till I had the whole book licked! Read it by all means if you enjoy good writing.