Skyfall

Thomas Block had a huge hit with his best seller "Mayday" co-authored with his (more famous) friend Nelson DeMille. Block, an long-time pilot by profession, then cranked out five more books of varying success on his own. We just completed the reading of his bibliography and were quite disappointed with his 1990 swan song "Open Skies", a weak detective story that only came alive toward the end when the principals are fighting head to head inside an airplane! "Skyfall" was his next to last effort published a few years earlier, but is a much better, exciting novel! An attempted hijacking of a jumbo jet flying from the U.S. to Japan goes really bad: a lot of people are killed by an onboard explosion -- but not everybody. A "nice guy" ex-pilot traveling with his wife and daughter, who happens to be the ex-flame of the first class flight attendant (for added sexual tension), winds up flying the disabled craft at low altitude. Trouble is, he has heart problems and the stresses are starting to render him helpless! Meanwhile, we readers get to enjoy the background of the disaster as the scenes alternate between the plane and the Chinese Embassy villains who are monitoring what is happening via computer link. Whether a second bomb on board will finish the job, and whether the bad guys will achieve a clever attempt to recoup their losses and twist the whole caper to a different political front, sustains suspense till right near the end.Block is always most effective when writing about action in the cockpit and "Skyfall" is no exception. The intrigue created by what we learn as readers about the whole plot versus what the people on board are trying to figure out, plus belated efforts by airline HQ control room efforts to help, combine to create a first-rate thriller that entertains throughout. Following a poignant conclusion, a movie-style capsule summary of what happened to all the leading characters about a year after the incident was a neat way to tie up the whole story with ribbons. We commend this niche effort, but enjoyable novel, to your attention!