Final Approach

This is perhaps my favorite John Nance novel. Of course, I love the attention to detail he gives the airline industry - he is a pilot, after all. Final approach gives drama to an aircraft accident investigation and still finds the emotion involved too. The irony of many investigations and Nance finds this in Approach as well is that the true cause is often not dramatic at all, but the outcome is still deadly. Nance almost entices me into quitting the pilot job and becoming an accident investigator.

With less than twenty-five pages into the book, I had to stop and get a box of tissues as Mr. Nance had painted the details of the crash in such gripping details that it seemed like I was walking through the victims. Especially when the husband that was watching through the window of the boarding area rushed out and found his wife and two young children in the smoking ruins and then . . . The protagonist, Joe Wallingford, is the lead investigator for the National Transportation and Safety Board and has to determine the cause of the crash. Was it sabotage, wind-sheer, human error, or mechanical failure that caused the landing plane to slice into the plane waiting to take off? All of these are possibilities according to Nance's well crafted prose with twists and turns all the way to the very surprising conclusion. Why not five stars for such a book? That would have elevated it to Medusa's Child and Pandora's Clock and they both were a notch above this novel. Nance is my favorite author as I like aviation thrillers and most of his books are five stars. Author al-Qaeda Strikes Again

John Nance continues to impress me, and "Final Approach" only solidifies that. The book kept me picking it up and reading it when I should have been doing other things. His insight into the avaiation industry is amazing, and his ability to bring that insight out in a fictional novel is superb. People interested in the "behind the scenes" of airlines, the NTSB, FAA, and Washington will enjoy the plot.

Author Nance is a well-seasoned commercial aviator. He also writes a good yarn in Final Approach. Though not as captivating as Trevanian and Ludlum, he does do an outstanding job in capturing the mind-set of a pilot, the main character (his own Jack Ryan?). Much better than Pandora's Clock (one of his other novels). Technically on-target and accurate with virtually all aspects to aviation and NTSB accident investigations: other authors shouldn't even try to dignify this sacred realm as well as Nance respects it and writes of it. Forget the Dinosaurs and Hollywood, put yourself on a real flight deck for a night or two with Final Approach.

If you want a real appreciation for what goes on "Behind the Scenes" in an airline investigation this book will crystalize it for you. The story that unfolds is itself riveting, but the machinations that the principal investigator has to endure are thought provoking. You might very well appreciate those folks you see at an airline disaster scene after reading this one. Written by someone definitely in the know.