Medusa's Child

The book was different from the movie but both were thrillers. I watched the movie eight times, then made a tape so I could watch it with all my friends. Then I bought the book and could not put it down until I had read the last page. It now ranks up there as the number one fiction book in my library. My first novel recently published. al-Qaeda Strikes Again I have ordered most of John Nance's books to pick up some of his techniques for making the pages come to life with drama and excitement. It is truly a fantastic and exciting book. Author of al-Qaeda Strikes Again

This book by Nance ranks right up there with Pandora's Clock. When I was in a bookstore a few years ago, I bought Pandora's Clock and Medusa's Child together, and read them in that order. Never had I read back-to-back books that were so thrilling and suspenseful. Medusa's Child has a plot that may be a little farfetched, but if you can get that out of your mind, then this book's supercharged plot will easily grip you, keeping you turning the pages until the last page. If you havent' read this book yet, read it now.

A former disgruntled U.S. nuclear scientist wills his ex-wife the unthinkable, a thermonuclear bomb. The scientist, before his death, con's his ex-wife into taking a so-called 'model' of a Medusa device to the Pentagon for analysis. A working Medusa bomb, the theory goes, would knock out all of the working computers in North America, while killing a few million people at the same time. For the purposes of national security, the former Machiavellian husband argues that this information belongs in the hands of our military to study and defend against. But in transit to the Nation's Capitol, the model comes alive in the belly of a Boeing 727 air cargo jet, and its inventor speaks from the grave. MEDUSA's CHILD maybe author John Nance's finest aviation thriller. The heroes of this novel not only have to battle a bomb to survive, they have to battle horrendous weather, fuel limitations, a screwed up military, a paranoid FBI, and the limitations of their own aging 727. One adversarial situation after another, they just keep coming. And one after another, the pilots keep on flying. Suspense thrillers just don't get much better than this.

I was drawn to this book entirely because of how much I enjoyed 'Pandora's Clock'. I was a bit skeptical as to whether or not I would enjoy it as much, but I assure you, for MY dollar, 'Medusa's Child' more than surpassed 'Pandora's Clock'. The premise is sorta improbable at best...however just suspend your belief for a little while and suddenly the story kicks into overdrive--turbo-charged, too. 'Medua's Child' has all of the elements of a classic adventure story, with a few others thrown in for good measure. We have a slightly mad scientist--YEARS ahead of anyone else, who develops a fully working nuclear weapon that can (in theory) literally cripple pretty much the entire United States. It all has to do with the electromagnetic pulse which is a secondary effect of a nuclear detonation. As you may know, an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) fuses practically EVERYTHING with a computer chip, from car engines, computers to sophisticated toaster ovens and even more dangerous, nuclear power plants, dams and well as you can imagine, the results would be catastrophic to say the least. But how could one single nuclear weapon damage such a large area? Good question, this is where Mr. Nance asks us to suspend our belief a bit. He proposes that the 'Medusa Wave' in theory is a weapon that dramatically increases the size of the EMP...so much that it could almost reach from coast-to-coast. The story flies with the speed of an F-14 being launched from a carrier at sea. Never once does it lag once it gets going--which doesn't take too long. Nance has given us a fantastic 'what if' scenario that plays out nicely, and like I said, even though the premise is improbable at best, it sure was FUN and ENTERTAINING. Give Nance a go and I think you'll be back for more really soon.

This book was even better than his last. The suspense was undaunting. Again, they had to make this into a lame TV movie. This could have been a great movie. Mr. Nance needs to hold out for the major studios, he's got the idea's that sell.