Airframe: A Novel
(OverDrive Listen)
Description
At a moment when the issue of safety and death in the skies is paramount in the public mind, a lethal midair disaster aboard a commercial twin-jet airliner bound from Hong Kong to Denver triggers a pressured and frantic investigation.
AIRFRAME is nonstop reading: the extraordinary mixture of super suspense and authentic information on a subject of compelling interest that has been a Crichton landmark since The Andromeda Strain.
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Published Reviews
Booklist Review
On its way over the Pacific, a Chinese charter flight from Hong Kong to Denver "porpoises," or steeply dives and climbs in rapid succession, for two minutes without warning. This "incident" produces plenty of lost lunches--and 3 (eventually 4) deaths and 56 injuries. Norton Aircraft, maker of the plane's airframe (i.e., fuselage, tail, and wing), has to find out what happened and why pronto or lose a huge sale of the same model to China--and have to pink-slip all its employees, sending ripples throughout the economy as subcontractors do likewise. Norton VP Casey Singleton is point person for the investigation: she has to stay on top of the overall inquiry and keep the top brass and the media apprised of progress. Making her job harder is the chief operating officer, chafing over not being company president and friendly as a snapping turtle, anyway; a pesky--and mysterious--new "assistant" ; labor unrest over rumors that Norton will let the Chinese assemble the wings (the most labor-intensive part of plane building) as part of the sale; and a careless-with-the-truth TV producer eager to expose a flying death trap. Loading it with interesting detail on airliner construction, aerodynamics, the international trade in commercial aircraft, and air safety, Crichton produces a taut, absorbing suspenser, anyway. Knopf has ordered a two million^-copy first printing. Order heavily; they'll all circulate, deservedly. --Ray Olson
Publisher's Weekly Review
Like his role model, H.G. Wells, Crichton likes to moralize in his novels. In this slight, enjoyable thriller, the moral is the superficiality of TV, especially of its simplistic news coverage. Readers willing to overlook the irony of this message being broadcast by the man who created TV's top-rated drama (E.R.) will marvel again at Crichton's uncanny commercial instincts. The event that launches the story, conceived long before TWA Flight 800's last takeoff, is an airline disaster. Why did a passenger plane "porpoise"-pitch and dive repeatedly-enroute from Hong Kong to Denver, killing four and injuring 56? That's what Casey Singleton, v-p for quality assurance for Norton Aircraft, has to find out fast. If Norton's design is to blame, its imminent deal with China may collapse, and the huge company along with it. With Casey as his unsubtle focus-she's one of the few Crichton heroines, an all-American gal who's more plot device than character-Crichton works readers through a brisk course in airline mechanics and safety. The accretion of technical detail, though fascinating, makes for initially slow reading that speeds up only fitfully when Casey is menaced by what seem to be union men angry over the Chinese deal. But as she uncovers numerous anomalies about the accident, and as high corporate intrigue and a ratings-hungry TV news team enter the picture, the plot complicates and suspense rises, peaking high above the earth in an exciting re-creation of the flight. It's possible that Crichton has invented a new subgenre here-the industrial thriller-despite elements (video-generated clues, for one) recycled from his earlier work. It's certain that, while this is no Jurassic Park, he's concocted another slick, bestselling, cinema-ready entertainment. 2,000,000 first printing; Literary Guild main selection; film rights sold to Disney for a reported $8-$10 million; simultaneous large-print edition and Random House audio and CD editions. (Dec.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Library Journal Review
On the heels of several timely successes (e.g., The Lost World, Audio Reviews, LJ 11/15/95) comes this latest novel from Crichton, which, contrary to what you may have been led to believe by the hype, should reassure even the most jaded U.S. air traveler. The tale begins with the problematic flight of a foreign carrier, during which the plane dives and climbs rapidly for unknown reasons. Although the plane lands safely, several people are killed. Enter Casey Singleton and a team of investigators from Norton Aircraft, manufacturer of the airframe, who must search for the cause. Crichton's talent lies in making arcane sciences fascinating to even the most spirited Luddite, and fans won't be disappointed by his descriptions of the technology employed in the making of passenger planes and, in particular, the precision with which the aircraft's wings are designed. Blair Brown does a nice job with the narration. Most popular collections should have a copy or two.Mark Annichiarico, "Library Journal" (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Citations
Michael Crichton. (2007). Airframe: A Novel. Unabridged Books on Tape.
Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)Michael Crichton. 2007. Airframe: A Novel. Books on Tape.
Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)Michael Crichton, Airframe: A Novel. Books on Tape, 2007.
MLA Citation (style guide)Michael Crichton. Airframe: A Novel. Unabridged Books on Tape, 2007.
Copy Details
| Library | Owned | Available |
|---|---|---|
| Shared Digital Collection | 1 | 1 |
| Clearview Library District | 0 | 0 |
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At a moment when the issue of safety and death in the skies is paramount in the public mind, a lethal midair disaster aboard a commercial twin-jet airliner bound from Hong Kong to Denver triggers a pressured and frantic investigation.
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