Pan Am 103: The Bombing, the Begrayals, and a Bereaved Family's Search for Justice

After reading this book, you are changed forever in a little way. It is hard to imagine the Cohen's hell since December 21, 1988. They vividly describe that day with such clarity despite their personal loss. Who was Theo Cohen? She was returning home from a semester abroad. To Dan and Susan Cohen, she was their life, their gift from God, and to be taken in such a manner. They were robbed of her! Of course, they're bitter! angry! Why shouldn't they? They have done nothing to deserve this! I am sad to see some of the negative reviews of this book. I hope that now with September 11, 2001 being a distant memory. We can now recall what happened on December 21, 1988 as the beginning of terrorism on Americans. MAybe if we had listened to the people like the Cohens, the events of September 11, 2001 could have ended differently. Sadly, the COhens are good decent human beings who have contributed so much to literature themselves. Sadly, their best work is Pan Am 103 and their fight. I hope you can reread now. The Cohens and so many others have experienced so much pain and terror. They deserve justice and peace. After doing much research on Lockerbie and the plane explosion, I believe people's short-term memories have forgotten it happened on the shortest day of the year. The crash destroyed the potential lives of 259 aboard and 11 on ground. Lockerbie, Scotland will always have the memory of December 21, 1988 in its minds. Sadly, the Cohens and myself seek to know what happened to lead to that disaster. After reading this book, I can imagine the COhen's life before and after the crash. IT would never be the same again. They have moved on but they still are fighting not just for Theo's memory but for the rest of us. I don't think the Cohens are terrible people. But after reading your reviews, some of the reviews are quite devastating towards this extraordinary couple who have withered hell and back. When you read the first chapter of the book, DAn and Sue appear like any other couple. They were preparing to pick up their aspiring daughter, Theo from JFK airport after a semester abroad. Then their nightmare begins, reading this book has brought me closer to two people who I grew to admire and respect even more. They are candid, truthful, and painfully honest about their loss. Their Christmas holiday like the other families had turned into a nightmare. Sue's devastation and pain is never far behind. The fact that she gets up in the morning is seen as a miracle. Her world has been shattered. Dan himself has been there keeping their family life together. Other couples would have divorced after this. Just remember the next anniversary of December 21 while you're eating, working and complaining. Dan and SUe will making their trip to ARlington to commemorate their loss with other families. They never forgot the others who died as well.

The Cohens, parents of a daughter lost on Pan Am 103, have written the best and most comprehensive book on the tragedy to date. In addition to coping with their own personal grief, the Cohens had to withstand government reluctance to pursue the Libyan sponsors of the Pan Am sabotage. And they had to confront conspiracy nuts and frauds who sought to profit from the tragedy by purveying their own theories. The book clearly describes the shock of the disaster itself, and documents each development in the investigation that finally led to the conviction of a Libyan intelligence agent in a Netherlands court. Read this book to clear away the fog generated by Libyan propagandists and their surrogates in the West. A fine read.

I must say this is the most powerful book I ever read. Susan and Daniel tell you like it is. I admire Susan and Daniel for all they have done to keep the memory of Theo alive, and Pan Am 103 as well. Theo's death wasn't expected, she wasn't slowly fading away, she was murdered by faceless cowards! How would you feel if your only child was murdered, and the murder could have been prevented? This book doesn't have a happy ending, and why should it? Theo was murdered when it could have been prevented by Pan Am or even the State Department. I never experienced anything that Susan and Daniel have, but I myself get mad over what happened to Theo and 269 others. Susan and Daniel I encourage you to keep fighting for what you believe in.

I'm appaled that an unknown christian coward has the gall to talk about "hope" in a situation like this. Do you think this girl is in hell for not believing in the glib lies of the church? Is that what you are impling? These people have been though more than you could comprehend but you have the callousness to judge them for it? This is a couragous book about a horrible crime and it is sad to see you disparage people who are better and brighter than you are. I'm glad this "jesus" isn't in my life.

The emotions poured out in this book are openly honest, clear, concise and heartrending. It is the aftermath of the tragedy of Pan Am 103's from parents' perspective, parents who lost their most precious and only child in a totally preventable air disaster. Unless a reader has experienced a sudden, unexpected, horrific loss as the Cohen's have, it is impossible to put oneself in the shoes of the authors. It is journey that never ends and there is no "closure" as many is the medical profession term "getting on with life" following such a tragic loss. Yes, life does go on for most people, but you are never the same person you were before that loss. As I read the book, I felt the parallel to my own life having lost a twenty-four year old, wonderful son in a totally preventable air disaster in the last five years.