Nearly all the books I read about aviation are nonfiction. They are about history (mostly second world war), autobiographies or personal flying stories. This (e-)book is a fiction story about the crash of an airliner and the events that lead to that crash. Whether the author is a pilot himself I don’t know but the technical aspects of aviation and the description of the life of airline employees involved shows a thorough research because I could not find any inaccuracies. On the contrary the book gives a good picture of what is happening in the cockpit and cabin during flight and in case of emergency procedures.
The dramatic event itself and the attempts to prevent the crash gives the reader a good insight in what can happen in reality and is told in a terrifying way. The story starts a couple of hours before the actual event and then steps back in the months before unfolding how this could happen.
The main character, Kevin McSorley an airline pilot, is involved in a fight in a parking garage saving a stewardess from being raped and murdered. He also ends up in the cockpit of the crippled airliner where he discoveres a very special situation and tries to save the plane with the 300 passengers. His constant fight against the weather, the fuel shortage, the planes malfunctions that are unfolding and the passengers who are trying to sabotage his attempts create an exiting environment and keeps you sitting on the tip of your chair.
A chain of dramatic but realistic described events at different geographical locations lead to the downfall of the big jet and gives the book from start till the end a hair raising tension. The author is referring in his story to other actual crashes and happenings and therefore this book has an amazing level of reality however neither one of us can be sure because we never witnessed it ourselves. For lovers of thrillers and aviation it is nice reading especially when reading it in a safe place on the ground preferably not shortly before your flight departs.
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