- Mass Market Paperback: 292 pages
- Publisher: Ballantine Books Inc.; 1st Mass Market Ed edition (1 May 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0345421841
- ISBN-13: 978-0345421845
- Product Dimensions: 17 x 10.4 x 2.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 4,456,952 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Veteran TV correspondent Peter Dees--hard-living, wisecracking, hungry for a scoop--seizes upon a story that could rock the world. Deep behind volatile Middle Eastern borders, a madman is stockpiling a lethal arsenal of chemical weapons. And someone on the outside is helping him. But as Dees tears back the layers of intrigue, his sources, many of them friends, begin to die--shot in the head, a bullet to the left eye.
From Port-au-Prince and Cairo to the scorched deserts of Saudi Arabia and Iraq, Dees finds the conspiracy much deeper than he ever imagined. For it seems that everyone--even the U.S. government--is hiding deep, damning secrets. His search for answers propels him into the very heart of a death-charred war zone. And the closer Dees gets to the truth, the likelier it becomes that he will never live to report it. . . .
From Port-au-Prince and Cairo to the scorched deserts of Saudi Arabia and Iraq, Dees finds the conspiracy much deeper than he ever imagined. For it seems that everyone--even the U.S. government--is hiding deep, damning secrets. His search for answers propels him into the very heart of a death-charred war zone. And the closer Dees gets to the truth, the likelier it becomes that he will never live to report it. . . .
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Hardcover
When most two-bit hacks write an adventure story, they write themselves as the dashing rogue, and live vicariously through their characters, submitting themselves to the intrigue and danger that they - in real life - have never faced. It's much the same for Jaco with "Dead Air," except here it's the other way around. He's lived through the excitement and now he wants to try his hand at being an author. As a result, he ends up just as much a hack; in his case, the facts are there, but the writing's not. The characters come off as stilted stereotypes instead of breathing, passionate people. Next time, Mr. Jaco, snag a ghost writer and let him or her put your experiences into a more appealing story.
Format:Hardcover
This was an engrossing book. Most of the time I was reading it I was wondering just how much of this "fiction" was actually true--Jaco makes it all so believeble. I'm sure his own experience reporting the Gulf War is to thank for that. Even though I selected and read the book for entertainment, I found it to be more than that. I found myself wondering if this was a real, true story disguised as fiction. I can't wait to read the sequel.
Format:Hardcover
For those of us born after 1964, the Vietnam War is a distant blur. Sure, we've heard stories about it, and some of us even vaguely remember a big round green table in Europe where Kissinger and company tried to settle the turmoil in Southeast Asia. Thoroughout the 70s and 80s, we LEARNED what happened in war, but we didn't LIVE it.
All of that changed in 1991. The Gulf War helped shape our view of international conflict and resolution...we saw war, we EXPERIENCED it firsthand. And in a couple of ways, we experienced it like no other generation before: First of all, this war was on TV 24 hours a day. And secondly, this war was won quickly with few American casualties. Aside from a few isolated incidents (the Challenger tragedy, the Iranian hostage crisis ending to name two), the war with Saddam probably represents the most important geopolitical event for the 20 to 30-something crowd.
Jaco has written a novel here that will please the occasional reader of historical fiction, especially one that falls, like I do, into the aforementioned category. The tale of a news reporter trying to uncover the truth, while not a new plot, is given a nice treatment as it moves from Haiti to Washington to the Middle East. One starts to wonder if Peter Dees, the gritty correspondent for GTV (read "CNN") will get to the bottom of chemical warfare shipments between the U.S. and Saddam Hussein. The book reads almost like a movie: I could almost see Bruce Willis as the reporter Dees, Alan Rickman as Dennis Kingen (the CIAesque contact, and Helen Hunt as Melinda, Dees' romantic interest. The main plot, while not always surprising, keeps the book moving. And even the minor characters Jaco introduces are interesting: an American-educated Iraqi stuck behind the lines, two GIs who work "psychological operations" against the enemy, and the mysterious Chairman of the Global Television Network to name a few. And who can't say they haven't known a Timothy Volga sometime in their lives--t! he boot-licking, brown-nosing enemy of Dees?
"Dead Air" is a fun read--entertaining and engaging. A fine novel for those of us for whom the Gulf War was our first, and hopefully our last. Bob Mendenall
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Superb - authentic - I read all night!
From its opening scenes in Haiti to the very last word in Washington DC, Dead Air, captured my imagination. Read more
Published on 23 May 1998
Clancy, Cussler, and a touch of Ludlum all rolled into one!
Drawing on real life experiences in Desert Storm, Charles Jaco is a combination of Tom Clancy and Clive Cussler with a hint of Robert Ludlum. Read more
Published on 7 April 1998
Ripped from the pages of the Gulf War...
Charles Jaco, former CNN reporter, has written a dynamite, fast-paced book which grabs a reader and puts them next to the title characters as they chase a chemical weapons... Read more
Published on 7 April 1998
Excellent! Couldn't put it down.
An outstanding first book. The years spent covering the gulf war and other foreign affairs have provided Jaco with a unique feel for the regions of the world in which Peter Dees... Read more
Published on 6 April 1998
Hot hot hot....
Charles Jaco's searing tale of Desert Storm is very fast paced and topical. Once you start reading you can't stop. Read more
Published on 31 Mar 1998
You can see the action unfold before your eyes.
I don't get to read novels very much, but I like the author so I thought I would read a couple of chapters. Once I picked it up to read I could not put it down. Read more
Published on 25 Mar 1998
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