Blackout

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Fly the Deadly Skies

An involving novel of terrorism and highly placed corruption, Blackout is the latest from John J. Nance, the bestselling author of such well-received heart-stoppers as Pandora's Clock and Medusa's Child. With Blackout the proclaimed master of the airplane-disaster thriller once again melds all of his aeronautic expertise into a perilous, action-packed foray that adds enough new ingredients to his signature formula to keep the story fresh and exciting -- and the reader hooked until the novel's shattering denouement.

When an American MD-11 mysteriously crashes in Cuban waters killing all on board, the "cold war" with Castro suddenly begins to heat up. Did Cuba fire on the plane for entering its air space? To confound matters further, the black box flight recorders seem to have been tampered with; the last several minutes have been erased.

Kat Bronsky, an FBI agent who is also a specialist in terrorism, is on assignment in Hong Kong while delivering a seminar on the latest in antiterrorist protocol. While there she's sought out by Robert MacCabe, a journalist claiming to know inside information regarding the cause of the MD-11 crash. While Kat has nothing to do with that particular investigation, she's willing to hear MacCabe out.

Suddenly MacCabe, who has barely begun to tell Kat what he knows, is attacked by two assassins and barely escapes. Promising to tell the rest of his story to Kat back in Los Angeles, MacCabe boards a Boeing 747-400. When a bizarre explosion shortly after takeoff kills the captain and leaves the copilot blinded, the crew and passengers of the 747 must work together in order to overcome their dire situation and get the plane safely back on the ground. While MacCabe struggles 30,000 feet in the air to aid in whatever way he can, Kat is given the task of investigating the phantom Global Express aircraft seen in the skies just before the explosion. As each battles to stay alive in the midst of a growing conspiracy, Kat and McCabe sail closer to the answers that they seek. But will the answers come in time to save MacCabe and 300 innocent others from a horrible fate?

Compelling, nonstop action makes Blackout a genuine page-turning, breathtaking shocker. While the lives of various passengers are touched upon, characterization takes a back seat to the forward momentum of the gripping story line. Still, we do grow to become involved with those put into horrendous jeopardy, so that each travail and horror endured on board affects us as well.

Nance's natural fluidity of voice is what holds this tightly woven tale together. The surrounding elements of a conspiracy capable of taking out aircraft in the middle of flight are engaging and terrifying, with Nance never letting up on the throttle of his narrative speed. If you're looking for a single-sitting read, Blackout is guaranteed to keep you grounded in your seat for the duration.

—Tom Piccirilli

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Arguably the king of the modern-day aviation thriller, Nance is in top form in this white-knuckle adventure about terrorism and heroism in the air and on land. From the jungles of Vietnam to the forests around Seattle and on several harrowing plane trips in between, FBI Agent Kat Bronsky and Washington Post reporter Robert MacCabe investigate why American jumbo jets are falling out of the sky. All the crashes have striking similarities: pilots were either killed or left blind by bright flashes that exploded just in front of the cockpit while the planes were in midair. Equally confusing is the appearance, then disappearance, of a corporate jet in the vicinity of all the crashes. And whoever is orchestrating the fatal air campaign has neither taken credit nor made any demands. After weathering many attempts on their lives by a shadowy terrorist group, Bronsky and MacCabe finally figure out what's happening: the terrorists are using a special ray gun stolen from the government to disable airplanes in flight. Their intent is to cause so much panic in the travel industry that it will disable the U.S. airline fleet. But why? The author's seventh aviation thriller (Pandora's Clock; The Lost Hostage) features, as usual, a completely new cast of characters who mix like old friends and enemies amid the non-stop action, never-say-die theatrics and stealth conspiracies. While the silly romance between MacCabe and Bronsky should have been jettisoned on takeoff, Nance continues to craft brilliantly hair-raising in-flight emergency scenes and brings this turbulent ride to a rousing, well-developed finale that comes together smoothly on final approach. Author tour. (Feb.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Here, aviation analyst, former commercial pilot, and novelist Nance plunges readers into a terrying nosedive as Sea Air Flight 122, an MD-11, drops precipitously and inexplicably from the sky, killing all aboard. Investigate journalist Robert MacCabe has information implicating an unknown terrorist group that has made him its next target and is willing to bring down a 747 to keep him from unmasking the people behind a secret weapon of devastating force. For help, MacCabe turns to FBI agent Kat Bronsky (heroine of Nance's The Last Hostage), and soon they find themselves in a deadly race to learn the truth, while elements of the government (CIA? FBI?) seem arrayed against them. Nance is at his best in several gripping flight sequences, particularly that of a doomed 747. Though the situations are sometimes implausible and the characters are thin, the melodramatic action, bolstered by an ever-increasing threat, will propel readers at breakneck speed to the final confrontation. For all public libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 10/01/99.]-Ronnie H. Terpening, Univ. of Arizona, Tucson

School Library Journal

YA-Opening with a Boeing 747 rising from the Hong Kong airport, this gripping novel grabs readers from the first page. Within minutes, a flash of light illuminates the cockpit, blinds the pilot, and causes the jet to plummet, killing everyone onboard. Kat Bronsky, an FBI agent and terrorism specialist, is called in to investigate. Questions soon arise as to the involvement of outside forces. When another commercial jet suffers the same fate, Kat finds that other government agencies are asking questions as well as covering up information. Readers are taken on a spine-tingling adventure as passengers in yet another doomed jet struggle to save themselves and discover that someone does not want any witnesses. Thus, Agent Bronsky and the remaining survivors must go on the run. They cannot trust anyone except themselves as there appear to be governmental leaks, and several attempts are made on their lives. Bronsky tracks the mystery from the Orient, across the Pacific to the American Northwest where readers are treated to vivid descriptions of both the varying landscapes and cultural influences. A fast-paced adventure with many ups and downs ending in a surprise, edge-of-your-seat showdown.-Anita Short, W. T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|