Airframe

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Summary: Airframe
Review: Airframe is a very realistic novel by Michael Crichton, which shows the real way that the plane industry works. This novel gives you and inside look at the ways that planes are made, how investigations are conducted, and how much the media complicates things. The only real main character in the book in Casey Singleton, a single mom that has just been premoted to the Vice-President position of the Incident Review Team, IRT, at Norton. She is a very plausible character, much like all of the characters in this book. She represents the good in people; the will to do whatever it takes to bring peace to chaos, which she demonstrated many times during the novel. The evil in the book is represented mostly by the media, who is always trying to get their story no matter how many people get hurt by there selfish actions. Evil is also present in Casey's boss, John Marder. He becomes greedy with his rise to success, and ends up putting Norton in danger.

You first learn of two incidents concerning the Norton N-22, their wide body plane. On both of the planes all of the evidence, the little that there is, points toward an un-commanded slats deployment. Such a mistake would cause the plane to fell a little turbulence, but then before any real damage could happen the autopilot would take over. The problem is that one of the flights, Trans Pacific flight 545, had four deaths and over fifty injuries. After a few days of investigation, Casey and her crew conclude that the slats did in fact deploy, but they are not sure the reason. Casey cannot really understand what happened until the data recorder is found. While doing a search of the plane itself she finds what she is looking for. With the help of the data box and a home video found in the plane, she discovers the reason of the accident. What the team finds shocks everyone. Casey and the rest of the IRT recreate the first flight, to show exactly how the planes problems began. After the test the give a press release and relate to the press the real reason to the flights problems and who will blamed.

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Summary: Another tour de force!
Review: I could not stop turning the pages in this well written book!

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Summary: Crichton does his research
Review: A plane crashes, a company fights for survival, the Unions are mad, and a woman tries to solve it all. Only Crichton could construct this novel. Taking a perfectly plausible idea, and turning it into an action and information packed page-turner.

Its apparent Crichton has two things going for him - he can write fluidity, and he can write informatively. He brings the user to world of aviation without confusing or boring the reader. More importantly, he can do it while incorporating it into excitement and intrigue of the plot. This is classic Crichton.

This is a great, though non-typical mystery. It's not a who done it, but why it happened mystery. This book is not all great however. It is, after all, a book revolving around the aftermath of an airplane crash in an aviation company. The ending is a little unsatisfying, the main character evokes no feeling, and the aggressiveness of the Unions is not too believable.

It's a very good book, but it's not in the class of Sphere or The Great Train Robbery.

Rating:
Summary: Solid read
Review: Airframe is 100% completely standard Crichton, which is to say that it's an immediately engaging story with enough facts to both make the reader feel he's learned something and feel the story is more than just imaginary. Ostensibly the novel focuses on the airline industry. But for me the more compelling story line was how the media interacts with big business and how it chooses to tell its stories. Though the television story developer and her star reporter are a bit too extreme, seeming more parodies than believable characters, Crichton's points retain their validity.

The ending snippets supposedly culled from various news sources put a nice finishing touch on the novel, both wrapping up its plot lines and emphasizing Crichton's media theme. I imagine he must have been grinning mischievously when penning the final snippet--a brilliant ending to a solid read.

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Summary: Not something you'd want to read on an airplane!
Review: Fifty-nine casualties. Severe problems in the cockpit. The interior destroyed. Yet somehow, the pilot successfully lands the plane. When a jet liner from Hong Cong to Denver hits disaster, it is up to TransPacific airlines to see why and how the plane was virtually destroyed. However, a nosy reporter might beat them to the solution. Everything is put on the line when a drastic test is done to keep TransPacific and Norton Aircraft's squeaky clean reputation. Even though I didn't enjoy "Airframe" as much as some of Crichton's other masterpieces, this was suspenseful nonetheless. A New York Time's bestseller, this is a must-read about safety and death in the skies; a thrilling work of art that will keep you on the edge of your seat. (Hint: don't read this when you're on an airplane like I did. The result isn't too good.)

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Summary: He keeps getting better
Review: -Michael Crichton, has excelled in this book, he has used his amazing ability to make a story informational as well as compelling at the smae time. I have read all of his books and I beleive this is the best book he has written. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I have. :)

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Summary: Best aircraft story in a long time!!
Review: Coming from a background in aircraft maintenance, it is great to see a story like this come along that not only kept my attention but didnt put me off with an over abundance of deep technical jargon. Great characters and briliantly constructed story, a job well done for Mr. Crichton

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Summary: It pains me to say this, but Airframe is just okay...
Review: I am a HUGE Michael Crichton fan, and I was absolutely thrilled when I picked up a copy of Airframe...coming off what I thought was a perfect sequel to Jurassic Park, I figured that he was on a roll. To say that Crichton does his homework on his subjects is like saying a brain surgeon must do a little schooling in order to perform operations...this is NOT in debate. I found the research to be absolutely facinating, and if I were to judge Airframe based on pure background work, it'd be a 5-Star plus novel...however I am somewhat more picky and base my reviews on the total package, and in that, I am sorely afraid that Airframe left me wanting. That isn't to say that it isn't a facinating and fun read, but compared to some of his other novels, it just fell short--for ME anyway.

I would be hard pressed to cite specific details of the 'why' but based upon content, the storyline and the ultimate outcome of the novel, I just felt that it left me flat. It starts off as exciting as pretty much any of his previous novels, and the investigation following the *incident* is thoroughly entertaining--but even though I can't seem to put my finger on exactly what it is, Airframe just didn't do *it* for me. I must say however, that his next novel, 'Timeline', was a very pleasant surprise, one that I enjoyed very much.

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Summary: Cudos to Crichton
Review: Another nearly excellent thriller from Crichton, he's done his homework on the subject again (the ins and outs of the airline production and sales market), and provides the reader with a decent amount of suspense. Although it's a very decent read, somehow this book doesn't quite do it for me (but then I'm overly critical), characters don't seem to make much impact or get little or no real explanation: making it difficult to really sympathise with any of them. Nuff' said about the cons', cause in all honesty Crichton has once again made himself a nifty, quite unpredictable thriller wich will leave you thinking how the mystery of the fateful flight 545 could have been so simple. This is what the writer does best, boggle you with little clues all the way through, not letting you in on things the characters already know, and finally delivering an outright frustratingly logical explanation. Don't let me put you off with my habitually harsh low rating, this one is worth a read!

Rating:
Summary: great
Review: This is the second book that I read in one sitting.The first was Andromeda Strain, and this was equally entertaining. Better technical information than Clancy and a good story, with good charactors. No low parts for me I liked the whole story