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Overview
Page-turning suspense with a shocker ending — a spine-chilling thriller as fresh as today's headlines about a former National Transportation Safety Board investigator drawn back into action when he suspects a bomber has caused a ghastly aviation crash.
Never before has a novel explored the grimly fascinating world of NTSB crash investigators in such riveting, authentic detail. Opening with a grisly crash site scene, Terminal Event follows NTSB investigator Joe Durant on his hunt for clues. His search is obsessive: his wife was on the plane and died in the crash.
Desperate to find answers for his devastated fifteen-year-old daughter, Sarah, Durant sets out to prove that the aircraft was destroyed by an evil bomber. With others determined to blame the crash on pilot error, Durant painstakingly searches through the tiny metal fragments, twisted chunks of aluminum, scattered body parts, and charred bits of flesh and bone that will point him to the killer. His pursuit turns frantic when the bomber sends the investigators a taunting "signature" — a fragment of the same kind of metal used in the explosive device, something only the bomber would know — and promises to bring down another plane in ten days. Durant races to find the bomber before he can strike again.
Combining high-voltage suspense with the kind of steely reporting that made The Perfect Storm and Into Thin Air bestsellers, Terminal Event is a spellbinding, moving story of a man who rediscovers his soul in the single-handed pursuit of a monster.
Editorials
From the Publisher
Clive Cussler An intriguing, brutal tale from a master storyteller, Terminal Event takes readers into a realm they've never experienced before. It surges from a horrifying prologue to a spellbinding epilogue.Jeffery Deaver author of The Coffin Dancer and The Devil's Teardrop. What a thriller! James Thayer's Terminal Event manages to captivate us an every page — with fascinating details of an air crash investigation, a dozen unexpected twists, and a plot that speeds from start to finish like a jet plane.
Wagner
An airline crash affects thousands of lives besides those of its unfortunate passengers. There are the authorities, such as the police and rescue personnel who must deal with the grim aftermath; the frenzied media; the employees of the affected airline; and, of course, the families and friends left to mourn their dead. Finally, there are the employees of the National Transportation Safety Board, who are charged with explaining the tragedy. The inquiries made by these investigators are meant to correct fatal flaws or bring killers to justice.One such individual is Joe Durant, the hero of James Thayer's latest thriller, Terminal Event . Readers first encounter Joe as he arrives at the crash site of an Emerald Airlines passenger jet named Sacajewea. As Joe moves about the site, readers experience the devastation firsthand through his eyes. Equipment, luggage, and human remains are strewn everywhere, nauseating even Joe, a veteran of dozens of such tragedies. Readers with weak stomachs are cautioned -- seldom has such carnage been rendered so graphically, effectively, or movingly.
In the course of his grisly pilgrimage across the crash site, we discover that Joe has a personal interest in the crash -- his wife, possibly visiting Seattle to reconcile with him after a long period of estrangement, was a passenger on the plane. In addition to this sad news, we learn the crash also represents a grim homecoming for Joe, who, unable to cope with the pressures of his job, recently resigned from the NTSB. His instincts kicking in, Joe directs rescue efforts until NTSB officials arrive on the scene. Due to his unfortunate connection to the incident, he requests and receives permission to work as a consultant on the case.
Thus begins a grim but fascinating journey to determine just why Sacajewea dropped from the sky. The investigation, given special urgency due to a plausible threat to down another plane within ten days, leads Joe and his FBI liaison, Special Agent Linda Dillon, from the backwoods near Seattle, where they investigate a militia group, to the testing facilities of the NTSB, where Joe pursues his pet theory of an electrical fault. Over the course of their inquiry, several theories are proposed and tested, hundreds of leads are investigated, and dozens of lives impacted. Slowly, the relentless investigators close in on the answer, one guaranteed to startle even the most careful reader.
Terminal Event brings to mind "Fate Is the Hunter," a 1964 feature film starring Glenn Ford (based on Ernest K. Gann's bestselling book), and Michael Crichton's Airframe , the former due to its emphasis on the human side of an airliner crash, the latter because of its fascinating level of technical detail. Thayer effectively mixes the two approaches, treating readers to a wealth of technical knowledge even while manipulating their emotions. He also delivers a number of potent action scenes, as when the investigators raid a militia member's house, or when, in an ancillary investigation, they capture a drug dealer who had used the flight to transport illicit cargo.
At the center of the action is Joe Durant, a middle-aged single father. Joe isn't your stereotypical action hero -- he's just an average guy who happens to be good at what he does, an Everyman trying to cope with the problems life and his job throw at him. As well-drawn a character as I've encountered lately, Joe is realistic and appealing, a protagonist readers can relate to. You find yourself rooting for him, even in his weakest moments.
As fresh as today's headlines (the story bears striking parallels to the crash of TWA Flight 800 and Pan Am Flight 103), Terminal Event is a highly charged tale of suspense. As in previous novels such as White Star and Five Past Midnight , Thayer has created a fast-paced, spellbinding narrative. Part quest, part clinical investigation, part race against time, Terminal Event features a well-constructed plot, plenty of tension, and a good blend of the serious and humorous sides of human nature. Notable too is the intensive research Thayer must have done to make the backgrounds of his entire cast of characters sound plausible -- his attention to detail shows on every page. Gripping and authoritative, Terminal Event is a reading experience thriller fans can savor.
--Hank Wagner