Blackout

Rating:
Summary: The perils of Kat Bronsky
Review: John Nance's newest book is a pulse pounding chase book which only falters (slightly) at the end. Kat Bronsky, the FBI's best known and most attractive hostage negotiator finds herself in Hong Kong to address a symposium on terrorisim when she is drawn into a a life and death struggle with unknown forces who are causing airliners to crash. Her chance meeting with Robert McCabe, a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist from the Washington Post is the beginning of some deadly events beginning with the crash of a 747 that Kat is supposed to be on and the Robert is on. The plane is brought down by a mystery weapon which blinds the pilots. Six survive the crash and the rest of the book is given over to their trying to escape the unknown forces that are trying to kill them because of what they have seen and because of what they believe McCabe has stored in his computer about them. The book sails along from encounter and escape in Viet Nam all the way to Idaho and in so doing it is a real page turner. My only problem is that I thought the ending was a little too pat after such a complicated build up and it also seemed reminiscent of another book I have read. It's still well worth your time and money. When the story is in the air, Nance is at his best.

Rating:
Summary: Very Fast-Paced
Review: Nance's thriller is a good one. He illustrates his usual impeccable knowledge of aircraft and the reader benefits from his knowledge. The story is fast-paced and exciting, and only falters a bit at the end. The heroine is great - quick-witted, a bit "hard-bitten", and of course a whiz on the keyboard. I liked this story.

Rating:
Summary: Tough to put down
Review: Not having read any of Nance's works, I decided to take a chance and picked up Blackout from the bargain book table. I'm glad I did. Nance takes the reader on a page-turning adventure than starts with the unexplained crash of a U.S. passenger jet in the Caribbean. The story quickly shifts to a meeting in Hong Kong where an FBI agent Kat Bronsky (who specializes in airline terrorism) meets up with Washington Post reporter Robert McCabe (who claims to know something about the downing of the plane). Nance then chronicles the efforts of this pair to uncover the truth regarding the downing of the first jet (and those that come later). Blackout is clearly a page turner that grabs the reader early and keeps him guessing. Prepare for some level of sleep deprivation as you stay up too late in order to read "just one more chapter."

Rating:
Summary: Tough to put down
Review: Not having read any of Nance's works, I decided to take a chance and picked up Blackout from the bargain book table. I'm glad I did. Nance takes the reader on a page-turning adventure than starts with the unexplained crash of a U.S. passenger jet in the Caribbean. The story quickly shifts to a meeting in Hong Kong where an FBI agent Kat Bronsky (who specializes in airline terrorism) meets up with Washington Post reporter Robert McCabe (who claims to know something about the downing of the plane). Nance then chronicles the efforts of this pair to uncover the truth regarding the downing of the first jet (and those that come later). Blackout is clearly a page turner that grabs the reader early and keeps him guessing. Prepare for some level of sleep deprivation as you stay up too late in order to read "just one more chapter."

Rating:
Summary: Magnificient and spellbinding
Review: Once again John Nance has written a winner. As a reader of all of his previous novels, I was thrilled to pick up his latest. From the minute I began reading this latest Airplane disaster, it was impossible to put it down. The explicit detail that Mr. Nance uses makes you feel as if you are on the plane with Mr. Mcabe and Kate Bronsky. The only negative in finishing this book is now I have to wait for the next one. You can bet I will be first in line when it comes out.

Rating:
Summary: MY review
Review: The Book Blackout, by author John Nance, was a very exciting book. Having this be the first book of his I've read, I found this book interesting at all times leaving me wondering, "what happens now. The story evolves around 2 characters running from an terrorist group out to keep them from taking. Kat Bronsky a very well know FBI hostage negotiator is out to save the survivors of a plane crash over Vietnam jungle and also find out what keeps bringing down al these jumbo jets. One of the survivors that she is trying to keep alive is Robert McCabe a polister prize winning writer thinks he knows the answers, but his contact is dead and the only person who can tell him what is going on is lost somewhere in the U.S. This is the only book I've read that I have found interesting enough to keep my attention. I am only 15 years old and don't really like to read all that much. The readers who enjoy fast pace interesting books would really enjoy reading this book. The only thing I really found in this book that I didn't like was the ending of it. I guess John Nance leave the ending of the book for the reader to decide.

Rating:
Summary: MY review
Review: The Book Blackout, by author John Nance, was a very exciting book. Having this be the first book of his I've read, I found this book interesting at all times leaving me wondering, "what happens now. The story evolves around 2 characters running from an terrorist group out to keep them from taking. Kat Bronsky a very well know FBI hostage negotiator is out to save the survivors of a plane crash over Vietnam jungle and also find out what keeps bringing down al these jumbo jets. One of the survivors that she is trying to keep alive is Robert McCabe a polister prize winning writer thinks he knows the answers, but his contact is dead and the only person who can tell him what is going on is lost somewhere in the U.S. This is the only book I've read that I have found interesting enough to keep my attention. I am only 15 years old and don't really like to read all that much. The readers who enjoy fast pace interesting books would really enjoy reading this book. The only thing I really found in this book that I didn't like was the ending of it. I guess John Nance leave the ending of the book for the reader to decide.

Rating:
Summary: FBI Superwoman keeps the airlines profitable
Review: The first half of BLACKOUT by author John Nance, a commercial pilot himself, is an edge-of-your-seat ride maybe best left at home on your next plane trip. It makes severe air turbulence the event of choice for the truly discriminating road warrior. Meridian #5, a 747 on a flight from Hong Kong to the States, has its pilot killed and the co-pilot completely blinded by a mysterious flash of light shortly after take-off. As there's no other qualified pilot aboard, uh-oh, who's going to land the aircraft? How about that smart-alecky 14 year old kid in coach? You think? And what is the relationship of this incident to the other airliner that nosedived into the Caribbean just two months earlier?

Enter FBI agent Katherine Bronsky. Kat can fly planes, both jets and prop jobs. (Too bad she's not on Meridian 5.) She can also pilot helicopters and drive a Sno-Cat. Best of all, she can disguise herself to look like a blond and expensive workin' girl. (Now, that's my kind of woman!) In this potboiler's second half, she mothers a group of Meridian 5's passengers as they're pursued from the jungles of Vietnam to the snowfields of Idaho by murderous villains. (How did the plane land, you ask? Well, read the book.)

BLACKOUT is perfect escapist entertainment for a day at the beach or the ski lodge. The first half is infinitely better than the second because of the in-flight action. The latter suffers from being a more-or-less ordinary and extended chase sequence built around several mighty close shaves. There is indeed an element of mystery as the reader wonders which of the Good Guys back at FBI HQ is actually one of the Bad Guys trying to eliminate Kat and her charges before they spill the beans on the nefarious conspiracy that got Meridian 5 into Deep Bandini, and is about to send commercial air travel into the toilet. Unfortunately, the conclusion seems just too pat, and several threads are left hanging. It's like the author had to finish by a too soon publishing deadline. However, I'll still award 3.5 stars, rounded out to 4.

Rating:
Summary: Somewhat disappointing
Review: The first half of this book was enjoyable. However, the ending felt tacked on - it ends with a whimper. I thought the author's other books were far superior, particularly Pandoras Clock. That was a book with a terrific ending.

Rating:
Summary: Real page-turner!
Review: The strongest point of this book is that it's a well-written suspenseful page-turner with no visible factual bloopers. With this book, you're guaranteed a day or so of compelling reading.
As the other reviews mention, this book could benefit from more complex characters. Most characters are totally "good" or "bad" (except for one revelation at the end).
One chilling sentence in light of recent events is the book's prediction on future terrorism: "So who's next? Are we going to get a 747 impacting the World Trade Center...?"
I agree with the other review that the ending is inconsistent with the book. When the responsible parties are revealed, it is just inconceivable (even with fictional poetic license) that such parties would take the actions they did for the purpose they did. It's also never cleared up how the communications were intercepted (if we believe the "I really tried to stop them" statement), and it's a bit inconsistent that the "bad guys" could so convincingly pretend to be FBI agents, down to minute behavior and ID, and yet not know the location of the FBI academy.