- Paperback: 608 pages
- Publisher: Pan Books (3 Oct 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0330412477
- ISBN-13: 978-0330412476
- Product Dimensions: 17.6 x 11 x 4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 792,871 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Review
'Nance knows how to build suspense...with plenty of aerospace jargon and heroic stunts' BOOKLIST
Product Description
Further nail-biting suspense from the master of the airborne disaster thriller The "boomerang box" is a high-tech computer program designed to save an aircraft experiencing flight trouble, and Dr Ben Coles looks upon it as his baby. But, after a test run over the Gulf of Alaska goes awry, he suspects someone may have sabotaged the plane's computer systems. And, mysteriously, April Rosen is horrified to learn that almost simultaneously her father's amphibian Albatross has narrowly escaped a mid-air collision over the same patch of sea. While Dr Coles considers the uncomfortable notion that someone within his own company might wish him harm, April begins her search for the cause of her father's chilling near-miss. But what they don't know is that their fears have a common source. And meanwhile they are being watched by people in the Pentagon who fear that the two may stumble on a secret that will destroy them all before Skyhook has a chance to succeed. But what is Skyhook's real purpose?
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First Sentence
Whoa! What's this thing doing?" Captain Gene Hammond asked. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Whoa! What's this thing doing?" Captain Gene Hammond asked. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Nance has written another beauty that tests the readers patience until the last few pages.
This time he is writing about an Airforce based black project that should provide autonomic flight capabilities from the ground to prevent pilots going wild and losing a plane in the process. During a test the plane hits a civilian aircraft and the civilian aircraft goes down out on the sea. This event is the start of a exciting times as the project might be blown right open for the public And on the other side the civilians and the FAA as the pilot who flew the civilian airliner loses his license while beeing an Senior 747 pilot. The story once again is gripping you by the throat and doesn't let go until the last few chapters. A must read if you love airthrillers like I do. Way to go Nance, I hope you write another beauty like this soon.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
14 reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
The Hook Gets Set Slowly
20 May 2003
Format:Hardcover
John Nance has given us several lawyer/aviation stories, beginning with the excellent Pandora's Clock about disease spreading quickly worldwide through airline travel (SARS anyone?). Many of his books have been suspenseful and gripping. Some have not been as good as others. Skyhook, unfortunately, tends more to the latter than the former. The first half is a very slow read, and I came close several times to putting it down. I persevered, however, and was satisfied at the end.
This book is more lawyer than aviation, and the protagonist is neither. April Jensen is a cruise line executive based in Vancouver. Her best friend and almost-sister is a young, rising lawyer with a prestigious Seattle firm. Her father is an airline captain who owns a restored, made into a recreational vehicle, WWII flying boat. When her parents disappear while flying in Alaskan waters, April practically has to force authorities to make a search. When they find her parents afloat in a life raft nearly dead from exposure, her pressure appears to have been justified. Then a belligerent FAA inspector accuses her father of all sorts of violations, including drinking, and gets his license revoked. This is serious, because flying is not only his occupation, it is his life. The lawyer friend becomes involved to try to save his career.
Meanwhile, there is a secret Air Force research project going on, to create the computer software and links to enable a ground-based pilot to take control of a plane in flight, ostensibly so that a plane with incapacitated pilots can be landed safely. The civilian applications post 911 are obvious, but not stated until later. The project is in trouble, and the chief software developer is having real concerns about sabotage. These two plots just avoid a midair collision, and merge into a common trajectory, with a smooth three-point landing. You may have to buckle your seat belt to get to the ending, but on the whole, this is a good read.
This book is more lawyer than aviation, and the protagonist is neither. April Jensen is a cruise line executive based in Vancouver. Her best friend and almost-sister is a young, rising lawyer with a prestigious Seattle firm. Her father is an airline captain who owns a restored, made into a recreational vehicle, WWII flying boat. When her parents disappear while flying in Alaskan waters, April practically has to force authorities to make a search. When they find her parents afloat in a life raft nearly dead from exposure, her pressure appears to have been justified. Then a belligerent FAA inspector accuses her father of all sorts of violations, including drinking, and gets his license revoked. This is serious, because flying is not only his occupation, it is his life. The lawyer friend becomes involved to try to save his career.
Meanwhile, there is a secret Air Force research project going on, to create the computer software and links to enable a ground-based pilot to take control of a plane in flight, ostensibly so that a plane with incapacitated pilots can be landed safely. The civilian applications post 911 are obvious, but not stated until later. The project is in trouble, and the chief software developer is having real concerns about sabotage. These two plots just avoid a midair collision, and merge into a common trajectory, with a smooth three-point landing. You may have to buckle your seat belt to get to the ending, but on the whole, this is a good read.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Just "OK," I am afraid
18 Dec 2003
Format:Hardcover
This was very slow to start for me, and as the book progressed from the cockpit, to the Pentagon, to the ocean, to the courtroom, to the White House I kept thinking "So what?"
Its a little implausable that a pilot who "just happens" to be flying in a top secret military test zone gets wrapped up in the plot they way he does, and that it gets elevated to the level it does - just for the sake of reinstating his pilot's license?
Pretty far fetched in terms of the story, but I enjoyed the technical side of the plot - as flawed as it was.
A decent read, but I never really did buy in...
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Another Enticing Read
11 Feb 2004
Format:Paperback
Another enticing reader by aviation journeyman, John J. Nance, is scripted against the format of that ever-present military/industrial complex we are in the grip of wherein an improbable plane accident occurs. The establishment firmly resists an investigative intrusion into the unthinkable but the author uses deft characterization to sort myriad personal complexities into not only the probable but the possible.
The occasional use of a quirky feline personage, Schroedinger, who gets impatient with loss of priorities by the human clan, will foster recall of similar relationships by readers who are owned by a cat lends a now-and-then break from the mind-numbing attention this book of suspenseful travail demands. Another Keeper!
The occasional use of a quirky feline personage, Schroedinger, who gets impatient with loss of priorities by the human clan, will foster recall of similar relationships by readers who are owned by a cat lends a now-and-then break from the mind-numbing attention this book of suspenseful travail demands. Another Keeper!
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