Mayday

Edge of the seat excitement, maintained throughout the entire book, and satisfying ending...what more can one expect from DeMille. But Block holds his own against the master storyteller.

It is bad enough when your SST gets hit by a stray US Navy missile. It gets worse when the home office figures it would be cheaper for everyone to die in a hurricane rather than face the horrendous insurance costs, and it really turns south when the Navy decides to bury their mistake. This is a great read by Demille and Block. It has been updated to handle some of the modern issues concerning airflight, but you keep wondering if they are going to make it back.Don't miss this one.

Ever suspect some underhanded cover ups by our own military and government? Ever think that TWA 800 out of NY was part of some ghastly hush-hush job by higher ups?DeMille urges us to believe anything is possible. He and co-author Tom Block are right on target in this updated and re-released disaster novel. In "Mayday", we meet John Berry, a survior of an errant missle blasted Straton Flight 52. He is a private pilot and takes on the responsibilty of landing this flying coffin. The dead and brain damaged souls aboard are grahically depicted as decompression at 66,000 feet would dictate. I am an avid DeMille fan and have been working my way through all of his books since "The Lions Game". DeMilles talent for drawing us in with smooth dialouge, taut as tight-rope riveting action, and dabs of comic or romantic relief with his well defined characters makes him one of my favorite authors. I could go on and on about this laser paced read. However, I'll let you find your own copy. Simply put..."Mayday" is to the sky what "Jaws" is to the sea.Thanks for your interest in my comments--CDS

I have read all of Nelson Demille's books and while some are better than others, I think this is one of his most captivating. I couldn't put it down! It's thrilling to read although not very thought provoking and maybe not the best choice for a plane ride! However, I highly recommend it.

From the first page to the last, the action carrys you in the cockpit with all the fear and excitement possible. As with all his books he does not leave much time for anything else until you are done and then want another. I have read all his books and only wait for his next to make my day.

I was coerced into buying this book because of an interest in flying and action/adventure novels. But once I started reading it I didn't remember why I needed coersion. It simply a terrific read from begginning to end. I thought that it would be similar to books like Arthur Hailey's 'Airport' which I had read years ago and quite enjoyed but I wondered how DeMille was going to do anything new with the genre. Although a big fan of the 'X-Files' and the like I was just about "conspiracied" out. But DeMille makes the missile tragedy and cover-up very believable. The attention to detail (as he acknowledged, Thomas Block's aeronautical knowledge was vital)is excellent but he never lets the technicalities (either the problems experienced at the altitude or the militaria) bog the story down. You find yourself in the cockpit right next to John Berry with your heart pounding. Interestingly the romantic sub plot was barely touched on and was refreshing in this age of sex/sexual tension influencing everything. Rightly, the protaganists put this to one side to concentrate on the more important issues at hand. This leads to the sexual tension being there, just in the periphery. 'Mayday' is brilliantly written and while originally published in the late 1970s, the version that I bought was updated for the 1990s (in much the same way the Stephen King updated 'The Stand') and I can honestly say it's an excellent book. I bought 'Mayday' about 3 months ago and quickly got my hands on and read 'Spencerville' and 'The General's Daughter' by DeMille (both of which are excellent) and we also now have 'Gold Coast', 'Plum Island' 'Word of Honour', 'The Talbot Odyssey' and 'By the Rivers of Babylon' in our bookcase.For fans of the action side of the story, I can also recommend Clive Cussler, whose earlier books resemble 'Mayday', including coincidentally one called 'Mayday', although I think its American title was 'The Mediterranean Caper'.