Mayday

Rating:
Summary: A not so easy cover up
Review: Coupled with a person that has a life of aviation much like my own, Nelson Demille has pleased me with another book again! Thomas Block, the second author to Mayday, grew up around aviation. He started to fly airplanes when he was fourteen years old. At age seventeen he obtained his pilot's license and later joined the Air Force. The book Mayday is a book that I bought on my way to Dallas. I was waiting in the airport terminal and I wanted something to read. After browsing through magazine rack, this book caught my eye. Knowing that Nelson Demille writes about airplane and army related issues and predicaments and reading books of his before, I had to give this one a try.
The Straton, a large Trans united passenger jumbo jet, is flying just above Hawaii when it is struck by a drone missile. At sixty thousand feet above the earth this is a problem. Afflicting oxygen deprivation to most of the passengers and all of the flight crew, only a few lucky passengers are now faced with landing this airplane. This is a very suspenseful type of situation. Put yourself there, not knowing what any of the hundreds of flashing buttons and switches are meant to do while you are landing and flying this large aluminum bird. Now, the United States Army is wanting to just brush this asinine situation under the rug. How are they going to do that?. Things gone wrong thousands of feet off the ground tend to attracted attention.
If you like this book, or the writing style of Nelson Demille, you will definitely like the book CHARM SCHOOL. It follows a very different plot and has a bit of different pace as well. None the less, it is another master piece by one of my favorite authors.

Rating:
Summary: edge of the seat with plenty of cliches
Review: A high tech world meets the night of the living dead. It impresses me that even a ten year old reviewer who I read before responding to this challenge recognizes some of the weaknesses of the plot. Did this entertain me? Yes... for the three hours I spent reading it. Since I am not a speed reader, I guess I must admit that the predictable parts of the plot did not keep me attached to the text. Should a prospective purchaser purchase it? Compared to Plum Island, this is not much of a book. It is, however, laden with some technical details I found fascinating. Good triumphs, which should surprise no one, and helps at the end. I came away feeling that this was a better short story than novel. It was worth an afternoon. My slower reading friends who spent days in it might not have spent their time as productively. If you want a potboiler and plan to make a quick read of it, go for it. If you want the best book I have read by DeMille, get Plum Island. The characters are more interesting and the suspense is real, not contrived. By the way, before writing this review, I found and purchased another book by DeMille. I may have my doubts but enjoy DeMille's work.

Rating:
Summary: FOR SOMEONE WHO NEVER READS A BOOK ALL THE WAY THROUGH
Review: This book had me from the first page i read. I am the type of person who likes the thought that im actually reading a book. Then , after about 50 pages i put it down for ever. well not with this book. If you are the type of person who gets bored with books or doesnt like reading this is the book for you. This novel would not let me put it down. The plot is constantly changing and keeping me interested until the last page. I highly reccomend this to everyone.

Rating:
Summary: Don't count on sleeping
Review: MAYDAY

By Nelson DeMille and Thomas Block

My first thought when I finished this book was damn. Damnit, this is too short and should NOT be ending now, it is TOO good a book to end. I found myself putting it down after a couple of pages to think about it. I was just trying to find a way to stretch it out and delay turning the page and finding that last chapter. Yes, Real Readers, THAT kind of book. Okay, here's the setup: Disaster novel. New supersonic airliner zooming along at 62,000 feet when some Navy clones, pretending they didn't catch the news release about a newly signed treaty AGAINST testing the missile they were about to test, tell their pilot to let er rip. Oh, oops, the pilot saw two images on his radar, but what the hell, had to be a glitch, yes? It worked. Sudden decompression at 62K feet isn't a good thing. Five survive permanent brain damage or being sucked out of the big holes in the side by being in a pressurized space, like the head, when the plane got whacked. One survivor, a good guy, with a private pilots license takes over and the cover-ups start. The Navy covering their butts and the airline covering their butts. Guess what? They want the airliner to crash. Or explode. Or just disappear. Call me a cynic, but I buy into comparing our politicians, bureaucrats, or any high brass with lawyers. If their lips are moving they are lying. The victims don't matter. All that matters is the 'make-it-go-away-save-my-job- for-the-good-of-the-country'[garbage]. The book is so well written and plotted that you will not be able to put it down until you know that bad guys are taken care of and the good guys win. Maybe they win. Buy this book readers. Immerse yourself in vintage Nelson DeMille. You will absolutely love it.

Rating:
Summary: Great action-packed read
Review: This was a very good read in the typical "movie for your mind" style of DeMille. It had a solid plot, and didn't stray from it. The crippling of this airliner has major effects on the lives of several characters in this book, and DeMille does a wonderful job of getting into the different mindsets of each of those characters.

The dialogue is flawless and the plot is very solid. I thought the characters could have been a little more detailed. It is still a very good read, and I'd recommend it to anyone that likes a fast paced action/adventure book. It's one that leaves you wondering how the protagonist is going to get out of this situation.

The only reason I gave it a 4 is because, as a huge DeMille fan, I didn't think it was a good (detailed) as his later works. The aviation expertise that Block added to the book are a huge plus though.

Enjoy this one, then read Plum Island, The Lion's Game, and Cathedral.

Rating:
Summary: No Tom Clancey
Review: When I read the back cover at the book store, I thought I was buying a good thriller. However, I was soon dissapointed. After reading through half the book, I saw it as I see many bad adventure movies that rely on gore to cover up a bad plot. This could have been a great story but did it need an passenger compliment of brain damaged people to make this story good. Or the fact that almost everyone on the ground is an evil monster. I thought I was going to be reading a good book about desperate people trying to save the passengers with help from the ground. Also, the suspense is lame, I was waiting to find out at the end that he only had 3 minutes to make it to his dinner appointment, and oh my, oh my, oh my, the traffic is heavy, oh my, he isn't going to make it, what is he going to do!! Read the true story of FedEx Flight 705 for a true thriller instead.

Rating:
Summary: The First and the Worst of the Nelson Demille books
Review: If you've read The Gold Coast, Up Country, The Charm School and Word of Honor, you would never guess that Mayday was co-written by DeMille. The characters are flat, their dialog is hollow, and they're devoid of personality. The author tells you how to think and feel rather than the reader making those decisions for themselves. A page turner, but only to get to the end of the book. In fairness, the book started out presenting an interesting scenario of the chaos found when a supersonic plane is hit by a missile but it was all downhill from there.

Rating:
Summary: Couldn't put this one down
Review: I read this book in two days. This is actually one of Demille's earlier books that was updated and rereleased in the late 90's. An Airliner very similar to the Concord is accidently hit by a missle while flying above 60'000 feet. The drama that follows is classic Demille. The survivors must deal with villains who would prefer that this plane went down instead of landing safely in order to cover up their crimes.

If you like Nelson Demille this is a must read. If you have not be sure to read Charm School, his best novel.

Rating:
Summary: BAd day all around
Review: It is bad enough when your SST gets hit by a stray US Navy missile. It gets worse when the home office figures it would be cheaper for everyone to die in a hurricane rather than face the horrendous insurance costs, and it really turns south when the Navy decides to bury their mistake.

This is a great read by Demille and Block. It has been updated to handle some of the modern issues concerning airflight, but you keep wondering if they are going to make it back.

Don't miss this one.

Rating:
Summary: msavage
Review: Clasic DeMille. Awesome book! You can't go wrong with this one!